chicagoareafire.com

Wheeling Fire Department news

click to download

Tags: chicagoareafire.com, Northwest Central Dispatch System, Red Center Emergency Dispatch, Wheeling Fire Department, Wheeling fire moving to Northwest Central Dispatch, Wheeling police moving to Northwest Central Dispatch

This entry was posted on January 18, 2023, 3:30 PM and is filed under Fire Department News. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

22 Comments

• #1 by Cmk420 on January 22, 2023 - 12:19 PM

  

  MABAS 22 is the same way. 11 departments, four centers & one frequency.

  SW Central–Crestwood & Palos Heights
  Oak Lawn–Alsip
  Orland–Merrionette Park, Blue Island, Garden Homes
  CalComm–Robbins, Calumet Park, Posen, Dixmoor (ENS only), Midlothian

• #2 by Ryan on January 22, 2023 - 10:49 AM

  

  Berkeley FD is no longer dispatched by Cook County. They are dispatched by Hillside Dispatch (Hillside, Westchester, Berkeley FD’s) (Hillside and Westchester PD’s).

  Side note to Drew Smith’s comments: Division 20 currently has 4 different dispatch centers between 15 departments, on only 1 channel (minus Rosemont on their own now).

  Norcomm: Bellwood, Melrose Park, Northlake, Leyden, Franklin Park, River Grove, Elmwood Park, Rosemont.

  IKE Dispatch: Broadview and Maywood

  Hillside Dispatch: Berkeley, Hillside, Westchester

  MCD: Schiller Park and Norwood Park

• #3 by Jeff Marino on January 21, 2023 - 12:52 PM

  

  Yes my bad, it is Berkeley

• #4 by thefiremang on January 21, 2023 - 10:16 AM

  

  Stickney fire and police are dispatched by Cicero Dispatch center. Cicero moved away from Norcom. Cicero hired back most of the dispatchers and made them town employees with very nice raises and benefits. Center is overseen by a few boss from ACDC. this is the town statement. After more than two decades, the Town of Cicero is bringing back their 911Center. This is an opportunity to be a part of a growing team of enthusiastic, community minded TCs working to provide the best public safety communications service to our citizens and first responders! Side note Cicero PD is encrypted radio system

  Cicero Consolidated Dispatch (CCD) Dispatches Police (STARCOM21 encrypted) and Fire (154.190, PL 77.0) for Cicero, Forest View and Stickney (DPL 432 used on 155.970 input).

  Also known as Consolidated Emergency Response Center of Cook County (CERC-CC). See wiki page for more information.

• #5 by Drew Smith on January 21, 2023 - 12:33 AM

  

  The numbering system for MABAS Division 3 is an extension of the RED Center numbering system. Sometime prior to 1981 RED Center began numbering the stations starting with the number one and then going on up. In the mid-1990s the system was extended to the remainder of MABAS Division 3. With the closing of Glenview Naval air Station, station number 19 which had been used by the GNAS FD was transferred to the Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Protection District around 1996/1997.

  In this same timeframe the Wheeling Fire Department opted to use stations 23 and 24. 23 and 24 were likely chosen because the Buffalo Grove FD had moved from stations 5 and 6 to stations 25, 26, and 27. Wheeling was dispatching themselves at this time but was on the same frequency as RED Center. Buffalo Grove was already being dispatched by NW Central. Hoffman Estates had long used 21, 22, 23, and eventually 24 but had not moved over to NW Central; they dispatched themselves perhaps as late as the early 1990s. Historical note: In the 1970s, 1980s, and even 1990s it was not uncommon for multiple suburban FDs to dispatch themselves and do so on the same frequency.

  With Wheeling’s first move to RED Center (Wheeling left RED Center for Glenview then rejoined RED Center – exact timeframes escape me presently) and Evanston dispatching themselves there wasn’t really any issue with the duplication of the numbers 23 and 24. Prior to opening its third firehouse Wheeling stood up the number 42 in its anticipation and also to try and manage their aerial/ambulance jump company. 42 was chosen because by this time other 20-series numbers were in use by NWCD/MABAS Division 1 and RED Center/MABAS Division 3. 42 was also the reverse of 24, the same station where the jump company was housed. Today, the WFD aerial/ambulance/squad jump company uses 24 and 42.

  If you wanted to have a station numbering system where neighboring departments didn’t overlap numbers you could look to the Public Land Survey System used for standard townships where the numbering of sections is standardized and when placed next to each other, each section is numerically separated from the other identical number. See diagram here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_(United_States_land_surveying)

  I also seem to recall that Cook County Sheriff dispatched Berkeley FD.

  RED Center bylaws require any member agency that wishes to leave provide written notice at least one year in advance so the next budget can be planned accordingly.

• #6 by Jeff Marino on January 20, 2023 - 9:36 PM

  

  Wayne, they dispatch for stickney FD.

• #7 by Wayne on January 20, 2023 - 3:31 PM

  

  The Cook County Sheriff doesn’t dispatch fire departments. They’ll act as a PSAP and dispatch police departments but they don’t do fire dispatch.

• #8 by Drew Smith on January 20, 2023 - 1:02 PM

  

  RED Center is going live on February 1 with an all-new VHF P25 digital radio system. This is not StarCom. We are in the final phase of testing currently. It will replace the over 20-year old analog system that was built out over time as FDs joined RED Center. This new system is the product of nearly three years of planning and execution.

• #9 by Michael m on January 20, 2023 - 7:21 AM

  

  Sounds like there are a lot of public safety answering points in northwest Cook County! What all the towns should do is find some way to cut down the number of centers in Northwest Cook County.
  I think they can cut the number of dispatch centers to 3 NORCOMM NWCD and the Cook County Sheriffs Dispatch Center.
  Having fewer center would cut down on call transfer time and eliminate delays in other towns getting calls for assistance.
  I am sure there were a lot of similar issues in DuPage County before they consolidated.
  Since Skokie and Evanston Fire Departments are not Dispatched by RED Center where do their numbers come from? Are those numbers still RED Center numbers? Or did they change to those numbers to avoid their being multiple companies, with the same number from different towns.

• #10 by Jeff Marino on January 20, 2023 - 3:20 AM

  

  Park ridge pd is dispatched by cook county sheriffs dispatch. Park ridge FD is red center.

• #11 by Max Overholt on January 20, 2023 - 1:17 AM

  

  What is the radio problem that RED center has?

• #12 by Jim on January 19, 2023 - 9:24 PM

  

  I think there is a lot more to dispatching than picking a dispatch center. Every part, from taking the 911 call to transferring it to another agency to your automatic aid companies being dispatched by another agency leads to delays in response. Look at the fatal fire report from DesPlaines and look at the delays because of transfers and then alerting departments using other dispatch centers. One major efficiency Chicago has compared to the suburbs is one dispatch center. The ability to ring out any house in the city and not have to set off box tones for extra alarms to alert towns 3 towns over saves a lot of time.

• #13 by Rob on January 19, 2023 - 6:07 PM

  

  Another possibility would be Skokie. Back in the day Des Plaines and Park Ridge where all on the same frequency as Skokie Fire.

  As of now Skokie dispatches for fire and on the PD side it is Skokie and Lincolnwood PD.

  Does anyone know who dispatches Park Ridge PD and FD?

  Don’t forget Glenview, as they have 2nd center in the the Highland Park PD.

• #14 by Harry on January 19, 2023 - 5:27 PM

  

  Who cares why

• #15 by Chuck on January 19, 2023 - 4:57 PM

  

  Why would they be announcing this almost TWO YEARS in advance? A negotiating ploy?

• #16 by Tyler Tobolt on January 19, 2023 - 4:30 PM

  

  Des Plaines got turned down by Ducomm, AC/DC and Northwest Central – For ducomm and AC/DC I was told they couldn’t handle taking on another department just yet and for NWCD, I’m unsure on why they couldn’t but I’d assume the same reason.

• #17 by Bob on January 19, 2023 - 3:28 PM

  

  RED Center is about the best of all the dispatch centers. There problem is the radio part. It needs to be updated in a hurry. I can bet the more departments will leave RED Center if they don’t do something about the radio part

• #18 by Jeremy B. on January 19, 2023 - 9:59 AM

  

  The Des Plaines situation is *a lot* more complicated. Currently, they’re dispatched by RED center for the FD side, and Wheeling Police for the PD side. They attempted to join Northwest Central with Wheeling, but in the vote after accepting Wheeling, the Executive Committee turned down Des Plaines with a 6-6 vote (no tie-breaking vote). I guess in theory, Wheeling could be a 7th vote to break it now, BUT that would be after Wheeling’s transition, so it leaves them in limbo for a while.

  Des Plaines FD also jumped the gun on leaving RED and gave the notice they were leaving in January of 2022, before anything was finalized. That appears to have bitten them in the butt. They’re committed to leaving RED regardless now as far as I’ve read, but still yet to have found a replacement and got turned away by the obvious one.

  Both Chiefs for Des Plaines were previous DU-COMM Chiefs, which lends to speculation that is one of the reasons they reached out to DU-COMM, but I agree, it does not make sense to have a non-DuPage County city in DU-COMM. I think I heard they were also considering ACDC? Not sure why they’re looking out of the county, instead of Cook County Sheriff’s Police Center (conveniently located in… Des Plaines), or NORCOMM like Rosemont to their south.

• #19 by Michael m on January 19, 2023 - 7:58 AM

  

  My question is why after 17 years would they want to switch? Do they think it is cheaper to have 1 dispatch center do both fire and police dispatching?
  Wheeling FD and PD would get all new numbers as well. It would be interesting to see what numbers NWCD gives them. Since Hoffman Estates already has 23 and 24. NWCD might let them keep 42. Perhaps they would be assigned 41, 42 and 43? Barrington FD is 45 and 46 I believe.
  If Des Plaines is thinking about switching to Du-Comm in the next few years, how can that be allowed to happen? Des Plaines is in Cook County. How or why would a 911 center in one county be ok with taking a town that is not in their county?
  It would be interesting to know how well 911 consolidation has worked in DuPage County. DuPage county did have 22 911 centers at one point. Now they are down to three.

• #20 by Austin on January 19, 2023 - 7:52 AM

  

  I know nothing about Red Center, so pardon my potential ignorant questions. Why would they switch? Are they not getting the level of service they want? Is it too expensive? I’m just curious as to why they would switch.

• #21 by Big Moe on January 19, 2023 - 7:44 AM

  

  THE GRASS ALWAYS LOOKS GREENER. I WONDER IF IT WILL REALLY BE SO IN THE END…

• #22 by Daniel on January 18, 2023 - 9:24 PM

  

  Speaking of changes in dispatch centers, Des Plaines is thinking about switching to Du-Comm sometime in the next few years according to the Du-Comm executive board meetings.

Comments are closed.