Communications

In the early days, the only means of communication was the telephone. Therefore, fire phones were placed in stores or in the member’s homes. When phones were placed in businesses, extensions were run from the business to a nearby home for nighttime calls. Fire fighter wives received most of the fire calls and would then make the necessary phone calls to locate the members to respond to the emergency. Fortunately, the department did not receive calls very often back then. Used radios came into the department in the late 1960’s and were placed in some of the apparatus. Base stations were run out of a member’s home who also had fire phones. In the early 1970’s, a few monitors were purchased to alert the members. As the number of calls increased, the base stations found it difficult to handle the call volume on a volunteer basis. In 1978, P.S.D.I. was contracted to handle the dispatching. P.S.D.I. dispatched until spring of 1981 when Total Security was awarded the contract. A backup system was set up in Station 6 with paid dispatchers. By late 1983, the system was relocated to Station 8 with paid Department dispatchers on a 24-hour schedule. Dispatch was relocated again to Station 9 and upgraded with newer style radios. All members were issued radio pagers to help the calls be properly dispatched. It was realized that we needed a structure that could sustain the abuse of a severe storm. The fire stations where dispatch had been housed were primarily sheet metal and brick fascia and would not hold up well in severe storms which could result in all loss of communications. The new center is now located at 9101 Wheatcross Drive near West Road. Again, the communication center was upgraded with newer style radios and screens. Many members now carry a combination pager handheld radio giving them real-time communication with dispatch in case of emergency.