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Resgrid.com Blog | Open Source Dispatch
You're probably dealing with some version of this right now. A call starts small, then stretches. More units arrive. Mutual aid checks in. Someone asks for traffic control, someone else asks for medical, and two supervisors start giving different directions to the same crews. That's the moment when incident command responsibilities stop being a training …
A dispatcher takes the call correctly, but the address field carries over from the previous incident. The wrong unit starts moving. Someone catches it, but not before radios light up, crews get distracted, and the caller hears delay instead of confidence. Nobody planned that failure. It came from a process gap that had probably shown …
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 …
You hear a siren, see an ambulance roll past, and somebody says, “EMS is here.” A minute later, another person says, “The EMTs are on scene.” These terms are often used interchangeably. They don’t. That difference matters more than vocabulary. It affects who gets dispatched, what care happens on scene, how agencies staff units, and …
Dispatch just dropped a structure fire. You are still a few blocks out. Smoke is visible above the tree line, the caller is frantic, and the first-in officer is already doing math. Occupancy. Access. Water. Staffing. Victim potential. What can go wrong before the first line is stretched. That is where scene size up fire …
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 …
An incident report template is a standardized form used to log the details of an unexpected event—an injury, vehicle accident, security issue, or equipment failure. The purpose of a structured format is to ensure every critical piece of information, from timestamps to witness contacts, is captured consistently. This standardized approach makes post-incident analysis faster, more …
Knowing how to size up the scene is the first, most critical step in laying the groundwork for a safe and successful emergency response. It's that rapid, yet systematic, process of evaluating an incident to figure out its scope, spot immediate hazards, and get a handle on what resources you'll need. Every single action that …
When you hear "Code 99" over the radio, it's a signal for a high-stakes, all-hands-on-deck emergency. Think of it as the ultimate alarm bell for first responders. The catch? What it means depends entirely on where you are. Understanding the Code 99 Emergency Signal A Code 99 is one of the most serious alerts in …
So, what exactly is a Public Safety Officer? In a nutshell, a Public Safety Officer (PSO) is a uniquely cross-trained first responder. They blend the duties of a police officer, firefighter, and emergency medical technician into a single, cohesive role. Think of them as the 'Swiss Army knife' of community crisis response, equipped to handle …