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

Agency Monitoring Profile: Westside Chatham County Fire Departments

This article was originally written for the November issue of Key Klix, the newsletter of the Amateur Radio Club of Savannah.

Bloomingdale Fire Department, Garden City Fire Department, Pooler Fire Department, and Port Wentworth Fire Department are the four municipal fire departments on the west side of Chatham County. All four departments are dispatched by Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department.

All of the westside fire departments are dispatched using the Chatham-Effingham Trunked Repeater System and VHF repeaters. Garden City FD and Port Wentworth FD are dispatched using Metro Fire Dispatch talkgroup (3568) on the Trunked System and on the 154.385 Metro Fire Dispatch Repeater (Isle of Hope Fire Department and Thunderbolt Fire Department are also dispatched using this talkgroup and repeater combination). Pooler FD and Bloomingdale FD are dispatched using the Pooler FD talkgroup (5424) and the 154.145 Pooler/Bloomingdale FD repeater.

The westside Fire Departments use callsign structures that indicate which department the personnel are from. Likewise, the apparatus and units of each department are numbered to indicate which unit they belong to. The callsigns and unit numbers correspond to the callsigns of the respective city Police Departments, making identification easier for everyone involved. 1000 is added to the PD callsign group to get the FD callsigns; for instance Garden City PD uses 2## callsigns and Garden City FD uses 12## callsigns. Apparatus and Unit numbers are two digit numbers that begin with the first digit of the PD callsign/second digit of the fire department callsign; for example Garden City's apparatus/unit numbers are 2# units.

Department Personnel Callsigns
12## Garden City Fire Department
14## Port Wentworth Fire Department
16## Pooler Fire Department
18## Bloomingdale Fire Department

Apparatus Unit Numbering
2# Garden City Fire Department
4# Port Wentworth Fire Department
6# Pooler Fire Department
8# Bloomingdale Fire Department

In addition to the Dispatch talkgroups, each department also has their own talkgroups on the Chatham-Effingham Trunked System.

5008 Garden City FD Fireground 1
5040 Garden City FD Fireground 2

4592 Port Wentworth FD
4624 Port Wentworth FD

5424 Pooler FD
5456 Pooler FD Admin

4400 Bloomingdale FD


Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

More Thunderstrom Related Activity

I suspect that this incident is probably related to the storms that have been moving through the area today as well.

GA 21 in Port Wentworth has been closed due to to an oak tree falling onto a pickup truck and tractor trailer south of Crossgate Rd. Port Wentworth FD is on scene, Garden City FD is en route; both are contacting their respective public works to get heavy equipment on scene to move the tree. Fire Common (TG 37072) is being used for communications as well as their respective city fire channels (TG 4592 for Port Wentworth and TG 5040 for Garden City).

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

West Chatham County Fire Department Callsigns and Unit Numbers

Since the beginning of the year, some of the West Chatham County Fire Departments have changed their callsigns and unit numbers. It appears that they have done this to align their callsigns with their respective Police Department callsigns. This numbering should also have the effect of making the department more easily recognized without using the city name along with the callsign.

It is worth noting that Garden City FD has used 12## for some time. The other department's use of 18##, 16##, 14## respectively is much more recent.

Bloomingdale Fire
8## - PD Unit Numbers
18## - Fire Department Personnel
1#, 2# - Unit Numbers

Garden City Fire
2## - PD Unit Numbers
12## - Fire Department Personnel
1#, 2# - Unit Numbers

Pooler Fire
6## - PD Unit Numbers
16## - Fire Department Personnel
6# - Unit Numbers

Port Wentworth Fire
4## - PD unit Numbers
14## - Fire Department Personnel
4# - Unit Numbers


Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Pooler Fire Department Apparatus Numbers

In an earlier post this month, I wrote about Pooler Fire Department using 16## callsigns for department personnel. In the last week or so, I've also heard them using new apparatus callsigns. Instead of the old 2# callsigns, they are now using 6# callsigns for apparatus, i.e. ENGINE 61, ENGINE 62, etc.

This continues the pattern I mentioned in the earlier post on the Roger Wood fire. Some of the callsigns have been in use for awhile (Garden City) and some are more recent (Port Wentworth and Pooler). Once again, notice how they mimic the callsigns for the respective Police Departments. The callsigns I have for the Westside Fire Departments now are:

Garden City: 12## for personnel, 2# for apparatus
Port Wentworth: 14## for personnel, 4# for apparatus
Pooler: 16## for personnel, 6# for apparatus

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Roger Wood Foods Fire

Last night shortly before 2030, Savannah Fire and Garden City Fire were dispatched to Roger Wood Foods on Alfred St. Eventually, this fire involved a good part of Savannah Fire and Emergency Services, the Garden City Fire Department, part of Port Wentworth Fire Department, and part of Pooler Fire Department. Units were on scene until well into this morning. Problems with trapped fire and ammonia complicated operations. Fire suppression and coordination communications were on the Chatham-Effingham TRS:

37072 Fire Common
36880 Savannah Fire Dispatch
36912 Savannah Fire Admin
36976 Savannah Fire Fireground 1

3568 Metro Fire Dispatch
5040 Garden City Fire 2
4592 Port Wentwort Fire 1
5424 Pooler Fire 1

I haven't had much time for public safety monitoring lately, so last night was the first time I heard Pooler FD using 16## callsigns (although some still referred to the Pooler Chief as 101). Garden City has long used 12## and Port Wentworth began using 14## after their recent reorganziation. It seems that they have adjusted callsigns to partner with their city PD callsigns (2## for Garden City, 4## for Port Wentworth, and 6## for Pooler). If this is the new pattern for westside fire department callsigns, I wonder if it follows that Bloomingdale Fire is using 18## callsigns?

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net