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Resgrid.com Blog | Open Source Dispatch
You're probably dealing with this already. A unit is en route, another is staging, dispatch is fielding updates from three directions, and someone important is still relying on a phone call chain or a consumer chat thread to push operational information. That works right up until the moment it doesn't. In routine operations, bad communication …
The call comes in, the crew rolls, and someone reaches for a critical item that should have been there. The seal is broken. The box is empty. Or worse, the item is there but expired. That kind of miss doesn't feel like an inventory problem in the moment. It feels like a readiness failure. In …
At 2:17 a.m., the storm hits, alarms start coming in, and the room changes fast. One dispatcher is juggling radio traffic. Another is writing addresses on a legal pad because the whiteboard is already full. A supervisor is trying to figure out which crew is currently available, not just which unit was supposed to clear …
A city festival starts well enough. Traffic posts are staffed. Medical has a treatment tent. Security has a radio channel. Then the crowd shifts after a weather alert, one volunteer team loses contact, and three different supervisors start updating three different spreadsheets. Dispatch knows units are moving, but operations doesn't have a clean view of …
A call drops, units are moving, and then someone says the reserve ambulance has a charging issue and the frontline rig is already down for a repair nobody documented clearly. That's how many agencies discover their maintenance process isn't really a process. It's a mix of memory, sticky notes, paper check sheets, and a spreadsheet …
The failure usually starts small. Security spots lightning on the radar. Medical wants to hold a pedestrian route open. Stage management is asking whether to pause the set. Someone grabs a radio, someone else opens a group text, and the crowd hears three different instructions within two minutes. That’s why a rave emergency alert system …
You've probably used a walkie-talkie before. Press a button to talk, release it to listen. It's simple, direct, and gets the job done. That, in a nutshell, is the core of push to talk—but it's been supercharged for the modern world. What Is Push to Talk in Simple Terms? Push to Talk (PTT) is a …
When you're in the thick of it, you need answers. Not answers from last week's summary, but answers for right now. That's where an ad hoc report comes in. It's a one-off report you create on the fly to answer a specific, urgent question that your regular, pre-built reports just can't handle. Think of it …
When people hear "incident reporting program," they usually picture a stack of paperwork. But that's missing the point entirely. A good program isn't about filling out forms; it's a powerful intelligence system designed to capture every unusual event—accidents, near-misses, equipment hiccups, you name it—so you can stop it from happening again. It’s about spotting risks, …
When you’re in the thick of it, a fire department radio is an unbreakable lifeline. It’s your eyes and ears when smoke and noise make seeing or hearing next to impossible. This isn't just a piece of hardware; it’s the critical link that connects crews on the line, the command staff outside, and the dispatchers …