Metro Fire Dispatch Changes and Tac Channel Usage

In the last week or so, Savannah-Chatham Metro Dispatch and the municipal fire departments that they dispatch have made some modifications to how the departments are dispatched and the radio channels they operate on.

Previously, Garden City FD, Isle of Hope FD, Port Wentworth FD, and Thunderbolt FD were dispatched on the Metro Fire Dispatch talkgroup (of the Chatham-Effingham TRS) 3568. Pooler and Bloomingdale FD were dispatched on the Pooler FD talkgroup 5424. Over the last week, I have noticed that all of the above are now being dispatched on talkgroup 3568 (a change that makes complete sense, it must have been a pain for the dispatchers to switch talkgroups when working with the different departments).

They are also making use of the Fire Tac channels that have been listed for so long in the Radio Reference database but never heard. Once the units have been dispatched and arrive on scene to an active incident, Metro Dispatch pushes them to one of the Fire Tac channels for their fireground operations. The use of the Fire Tac channels keep tactical traffic off of the dispatch channel and enable Metro Dispatch to know where to find the units to do safety checks and communicate with the incident commander.

3632 = Fire Tac 1
3664 = Fire Tac 2
3696 = Fire Tac 3
3728 = Fire Tac 4
3760 = Fire Tac 5
3792 = Fire Tac 6


Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net