InterceptRadio.com Forums

For anyone up early today, Seattle firefighters are battling a 4-alarm dock/ship blaze on the east side of Lake Union.

Anyone know what these uncommon apparatus may be?
http://www2.cityofseattle.net/fire/real ... 6&rad1=des

Such as "89", "M5317", "H317", and "TF1"

89 is I think the Assistant Chief. H317 is Hose 317, one of the 2 Hose Wagons. TF1 is the task force that was sent from Zone 1 on the Eastside.

Just a tidbit about 89 Radio call sign. This is the orignal Telegraph call sign that the A.C. of S.F.D. has had since the 1800's They would open the nearest Telegraph Gamewell type box and inside is a tap for Morris Code. This is also where we get "Tap Fire"

What about this one: "TEMP10" -- it was dispatched at about 11:30am this morning. Also, where do all these reserve units come from, like B22, M80, E91, E82, etc.?

All reserve units are generally speaking manned by firefighters called back to duty or are called in on overtime. They man extra apparatus from stations around Seattle. Based on the station or assignment they are from they will add the number 0, 1 or 2 to the apparatus number ie; Medic 80 is a reserve Medic Unit.

Richard

When Seattle Fire Dept calls in an off-shift Battalion Chief to "cover" a particular battalion while the regular on-duty BC is assigned to a lengthy incident like a multi alarm fire they will use a "double" number as a Unit Designator. For the Lake Union fire, Battalion 2 (B2) was assigned to the fire for a lengthy period of several hours so the "substitute" chief for the 2nd Battalion used the unit designator Battalion 22, or B22 as show in the dispatch log.

A previous practice that is still used is to man a reserve apparatus with off-shift personel and place it in service using it's "fleet", or "apparatus" number as it's unit designator. An example would be one of the 1981 vintage Mack MC/Anderson engines with a fleet number of F367 going in service as "Engine 367". I am not sure but that particular apparatus might be also known now as "Engine 87" or have been retrofitted as a specialty apparatus? (hey Pat, how about posting a fleet roster so we don't have to guess?) The "fleet" number is visable on the windshield as a series of black letter(s) and numbers on a white background, and I think they recently started placing the numbers on the side windows of the crew cab as well. There is also a red, rectangular placard with the fleet number that is used when that apparatus is not in service using a different assigned number.
That appears to be why there is a Medic unit shown as "M5317".

A more recent practice is when extra units are SCHEDULED to be on-duty for a special event like Fourth of July and Seafair they have used unit designators in the 80's like Medic 80 etc. This event was the first time I had seen a unit in the 90's (unless it was a Mercer Island unit), or the TEMPxx designator. There was an Engine 50 that was on the air that didn't show up in the dispatch log.

Unit "234" is the Chief of Department, a position currently held by Gregory Dean. You might have seen him on the TV news doing interviews with the red 234 on the front of his helmet.

Kerwin

Zone-3 had a Task Force there also...

Do you mean Zone 1 from the Eastside?

Is there a website with all the unit designations in the county? I took those 90 units to mean they were engines from the Eastside...also, looking through the CADs it looked like some Eastside units covered some regular calls downtown.

Was SFD on full mobilization for the 4th? I know down here in SoCal the scanner went crazy at 9pm due to all the fireworks related fires. Of note was Rose Bowl IC, where the show set off a fire that burned down their maintenance buildings.

Also, I know SFD has mutual aid agreements with King County Fire, but what about Northshore, or other adjoining districts?

No, I do not not mean just Zone-1. I mean, Zone-3 was there IN ADDITION to Zone-1.

Two Task Forces.

One of the best sources of info I have found on apparatus numbers and designations is on the Fire Levy page: http://www.seattle.gov/fleetsfacilities ... ations.htm

If you click on each station # - it will tell you what apparatus is housed there and also the apparatus designation number! (Including reserve units as well!)

One think I can't figure out from the CAD log is - what's the designation for the Chief Seattle fire boat? PTRL4 I believe is a SPD harbor boat. MARVAN is the Marine Van. Not 100% sure about R14?

The fire boats have always been Engine 3 & 4 . The Shipboard firefighting unit is out of Station 36 Unit 77 or 99 I always get the Haz-Mat Unit out of Station 10's confused with the Marine Unit. I thing it is 77. Rescue 14 is out of Station 14 cross manned with Ladder 7 and it used to be Aid-14.

The shipboard firefighting unit for Seattle is Unit 99 and the HazMat unit is Unit 77.
I believe Unit 99 is cross manned with Engine 36 and Unit 77 is cross manned with Ladder 1.
Engine 4 (Chief Seattle) is at Station 5 on the Seattle Waterfront next to the ferry terminal and Engine 3 (Duwamish or Alki?) is at Fishermen's Terminal close to Lake Union.
When Engine 3 is needed, the on duty boat crew responds to Fishermans terminal from Station 5 to man the boat. They do have a on duty firefighter stationed on Engine 3 to get things started so the on duty boat crew can respond faster after arrival from Station 5.

Rescue 14 did not use to be Aid 14. They are two totally different apparatus.

South King County
Renton Fire Department/Fire District #25 uses 11-14 and 16
North Highline Fire Department/Fire District #11 uses 18 and 19
Skyway Fire Department/Fire District #20 uses 20-25
South King Des Moines uses 26
Auburn Fire/Fire District #31 uses 31-36
Pacific Fire uses 38
Fairwood Spring Glen/Fire District #40 uses 41 and 42
Seatac uses 45-47
Tukwila uses 51-54
Vashon Island/Fire District #13 uses 55-59
South King Federal Way uses 61-66 and 68
Kent/Fire District #37 uses 71-79
Maple Valley Fire District #43 uses 80-86
Palmer Fire District #47 uses 88 and 89
Mountain View Fire District #44 uses 91-97
Black Diamond Fire District #17 uses 98 and 99
Enumclaw Fire District #28 uses 28 at the beginning of their apparatus except for the rescue units.
King County Medic One Medics 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 MSO 1, 2, 3

East King County
Redmond Fire District #34 uses 11-16
Kirkland Fire District #41 uses 21 and 22, 24-27
Woodinville Fire District #36 uses 31 and 33-35
Bothell uses 42, 43, 44, 45, 49
Northshore Fire District #16 uses 51, 52, 57 and 58
Shoreline Fire District #4 uses 61-65
Eastside Fire and Rescue uses 71-76, 78, 79, 81-83, 85-88
Mercer Island uses 91-94

Hope this helps

Nick

Wow, great summary of fire apparatus designators guys! This thread will be a keeper.

Thanks for the clarification on Chief Seattle (Engine 4) and the Alki (Engine 3). So - here's a brain teaser for you - why would Engine 4 be dispatched at 1:22:39AM on the initial callout, and then dispatched again at 3:46:33AM?

Like, someone noticed 2 hours into the fire that the fire boat never showed up so they figured they should rattle the boys out of bed again? (Just kidding, I love the SFD, but - makes you wonder?) I think I read in the times that it took them several hours to get there - I do own a boat myself and I know I could get from Elliott bay to Lake Union in less then two hours (yes, even going through the locks). I do wonder what happened there?