Resgrid Blog
Resgrid.com Blog | Open Source Dispatch
A lot of readers asking why are fire hydrants different colors are looking at one from the curb right now and assuming the paint is mostly for visibility. On a fireground, that assumption gets people in trouble. A hydrant's color is field intelligence. It can tell you how much water you may get, whether the …
At 2:13 a.m., the CAD screen locks up right as a weather event starts pulling in mutual aid traffic. One dispatcher is writing details on paper. Another is trying to re-enter unit status from memory. Supervisors are on the phone with neighboring agencies because the old interface won't reliably pass updates. That's the moment many …
Your radio traffic is stacking up, one volunteer crew is still driving in from work, and the closest transport unit is already tied up at the hospital. Then a chest pain call drops on the edge of your district, followed by a rollover on the highway. That's where most department chiefs live now. Not in …
A unit is running hot to a call. The driver clears one green light, approaches the next intersection, and a civilian vehicle edges forward anyway. Nobody intends to crash. But intent doesn't matter when the closing speed is high, sightlines are poor, and the cab is already overloaded with radio traffic, sirens, navigation, and stress. …
A crew rolls up expecting routine execution. The address is right. The scene size-up is clean. Then the failure happens where it hurts most. A regulator won't hold pressure. A stretcher latch sticks. A vehicle warning light that “has been on for a while” turns into an out-of-service unit at the worst possible moment. That …
A project rarely feels expensive on day one. The budget gets approved, the timeline looks reasonable, and everyone assumes the hard part is doing the work. Then reality shows up. A vendor misses a dependency. Field staff can't attend training at the same time. Dispatch needs the new system live before storm season. Someone realizes …
You're probably dealing with some version of this right now. A parcel boundary lives in one GIS file. Lease terms sit in a spreadsheet someone copied last year. Permit dates are buried in email. Field crews are using a different map than the office. Then an outage, spill, access dispute, or wildfire threat hits, and …
A captain gets the email at the wrong time. License renewal is coming up, one medic's required education can't be verified, and the records live in three places: a binder at headquarters, a spreadsheet on someone's desktop, and a stack of PDFs in an inbox nobody owns anymore. That's how continuing education tracking usually fails …
If you're running ambulances, fire apparatus, emergency caches, clinic rooms, or field kits, you already know the failure mode. Nobody notices a short-dated item during a busy shift. The kit still looks full. The vehicle still shows ready. Then an inspection, call, or restock exposes expired stock that should've been pulled weeks earlier. That's why …
A lot of agencies are in the same bad spot right now. Dispatch needs to move patient details fast. Crews are spread across personal phones, shared tablets, radios, and station computers. Someone ends up sending a name, age, complaint, or scene photo through ordinary text because it's easy and everyone already has it. That shortcut …