[Scan-DC] Adaptive Response in Montgomery County

[Doug Kitchener]

I've been out of the system for a long time, but I think they have an elaborate setup for (questioning the caller(s) and) screening and determining the nature and severity of the call (I know this to be true for requests for EMS service; and I believe it holds true for fire calls also).  And of course there are different parameters for fires in single-family dwellings (for example) than for townhouses or apartments etc, etc.  Point is, it's not necessarily only when resources are thin... I remember years ago that the amount of stuff that was sent on a given type of call began to increase and increase - then allasudden during one of the energy crises, they chopped it 'way back.  And the cycle seems to be continuing and it seems to me to be on the upswing again... and I'm expecting it to be chopped back again very soon, given the state of finances in the county (not to mention the wear and tear on the apparatus, and the fuel consumed, etc) - especially if the ambulance fee question doesn't pass...

Having said all that out loud, so to speak, I also marvel at the state spending $72 million for new helicopters... wonder where they're getting that from (that's a lot of license plates!) and why the copters weren't / aren't replaced on a rotating basis, instead of buying a whole batch of them at once (outside of the fact that I suppose if they're all bought at the same time and are the same unit, they are easier to support and maintain... but I wonder how much that really saves...)

Not trying to second-guess anyone so much as being curious...

----------------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 23:00:17 -0400
> To: scan-dc at mailman.qth.net; scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
> From: jeff at krauss.ws
> Subject: [Scan-DC] Adaptive Response in Montgomery County
>
> I've noticed that at times when resources are stretched, Montgomery
> County Fire uses an "adaptive" response scheme where they don't
> dispatch the full box alarm provisioning (4E + 2T) if the dispatchers
> think it is unwarranted. But usually, smoke in or near the house
> from an unknown source with no evidence of fire will nonetheless send
> the full box assignment.
>
> I'm not sure what the criterion is in DC to distinguish between
> dispatching a box (4 or 5 + 2) vs. a local alarm (2 + 1).