Fire brigade alarm systems
Fire brigade alarm systems are used by the control center to call together fire brigade emergency services after they have received an emergency call . These alerting systems are sometimes also used for other disaster control units , such as the technical relief organization , rapid response groups or for the rescue service .
Wireless alarm systems
Silent alarm
A widespread method is the "silent alerting" of emergency services via portable radio signal receivers (FME, DME, radio alarm receiver FAE, also pagers, detectors, beeps or beeps). In the event of an emergency, these FME, which the fire service providers carry with them, are triggered by the control center. After the traditional analog alarm and the subsequent signal tone from the radio signal receiver, the alarming body makes a brief announcement about the type of operation. For example, at the integrated control centers in Bavaria, the control center software "ELDIS III By" (ELDIS = electronic control center disposition and information system) is used to alert. In Germany, the system within the BOS radio , i.e. also in the fire brigade , is standardized nationwide, with a generation change from previous, analog radio networks to modern, digital transmission taking place. A digital network is being set up in Austria (see BOS radio system in Austria ).
Siren alarm
A second method is loud alarming via one or more sirens installed in the location , which can also be used to warn the population in the event of a defense, severe weather or environmental disasters. However, only around 16 percent of municipalities in Germany still have sirens, which were largely dismantled in urban areas in the early 1990s after the end of the Cold War (“White Paper BOS alarming”). Siren alarms are still widespread in fire brigades that are not or not fully equipped with radio signal receivers. However, the development towards silent alarms can also be observed here. There are various reasons for this: On the one hand, the siren alarm does not allow specific alerting of individual forces (e.g. individual groups of a fire brigade for small operations without large personnel requirements, only forces with special training, etc.); Sirens, which are also within their acoustic range. The acoustic range, on the other hand, fluctuates strongly and depends on the wind direction and weather conditions and ranges from a few hundred meters to many kilometers. In the past it has also been shown time and again that loud alarms by sirens attract numerous onlookers to the emergency site, who often hinder the rescue workers in their work.
The sirens are triggered by the control center via radio, as are the radio alarm receivers, by means of a 5-digit tone sequence or a radio identification code . In a few cases, it is also triggered via a telephone line. In some cases, the siren can also be triggered by a push-button alarm attached to the fire station . After triggering the push button, the person giving the alarm must remain on site to inform the fire brigade of the reason for the alarm.
See also
Alerting by radio
Under certain circumstances, the control center can alert a unit directly via BOS radio , e.g. B. when a vehicle has registered with the control center as being received. This is the case, for example, with exercises and business trips.
Alerting by phone
This possibility of alarming comes into consideration for small operations, e.g. B. for small technical assistance that does not have to be done urgently and only require a few emergency services. In such cases, the control center often contacts the responsible manager by phone, who in turn calls the required staff together by phone.
Another possibility is to send an alarm by mobile phone. For this purpose, the mobile phone numbers of the emergency services of a fire brigade are stored in the alarm system. In the event of an alarm, the authorized person calls the alarm system by entering a PIN and speaks the incident report to a voicebox. Alternatively, there is the possibility of an alarm from the control center by e-mail. The system then immediately begins to dial all the phone numbers stored in the group at the same time and thus to transmit the incident report to the participants. The call is repeated several times in a row if one of the participants does not respond immediately. After playing the incident report, each participant has to announce his status by pressing a button. Here 1 = "Immediate operational readiness", 2 = "Later operational readiness" (the participant is asked about the expected duration until operational readiness, this is also entered by pressing a button) and 3 = "Not operational". The military leader, group leader, etc. then receive these status reports and can therefore plan their people accordingly in advance. Participants can check in or out of the system even if they are absent for a longer period of time. This system offers many advantages over alarming by radio signal receivers etc. and is becoming more and more popular. In the event of an alarm from the control center, there is also the option of sending an SMS with more precise deployment information, which also appears on the corresponding digital message receivers .
In some Austrian federal states, a telephone alarm is possible via the state warning center ; the siren is automatically alarmed by a telephone that plays a tape.
Systems of availability
In countries where smartphones are increasingly used, these, in combination with special apps, are becoming more and more interesting for alerting emergency services. Thanks to the almost constant online connection, emergency services can not only report their status reactively to the control center, but also in advance using an app and sometimes with GPS support. The transmission path is encrypted internet connections. By notifying the availability in advance of an operation, the control center has a constant overview of its emergency services. This is particularly important in areas with poor daily alarm security. Typical functions of such systems are:
- Recording of availability
- Evaluation and presentation of the available emergency services
- Alerting the emergency services via SMS, app, GSM pager
- Evaluation of the feedback from TETRA pagers
- Statistical evaluations for the area of requirements planning
- Alarm monitors in the guards and accommodations
Analog system
The analogue radio receivers have been uniformly regulated within the Federal Republic of Germany since 1975 and receive on the normal radio frequency of a city or a district. In Austria, the frequencies are regulated nationwide. The alarm is triggered by sending a special 5-tone sequence in which five short tones of different frequencies (between 1060 Hz and 2600 Hz) are sent one after the other. The pitch (i.e. frequency) stands for a digit from 0–9, or a repeat character (so that the same tone is not sent twice in succession).
Every fire brigade has been assigned one - or more - of these numbers for their radio alarm receivers and sirens . In Germany, the first digit stands for the respective federal state (6 = Lower Saxony, 7 = North Rhine-Westphalia, 8 = Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia, 2 = Bavaria etc.), the second digit divides a certain area (e.g. Lower Saxony 61 XXX in the district of Göttingen), the three other digits determine the unit to be alarmed (e.g. 61 320 → LK Göttingen → Stadt Duderstadt).
To alert the fire brigade, this five-tone sequence is sent by the control center, police or fire brigade operations center (FEZ) via radio (4 m band), followed by an announcement, usually about the type of operation. Using appropriate alarm plans, it is possible for the fire brigades to determine which five-tone sequences are sent, depending on the type of operation, in order to adapt the alarming of the emergency services to the situation. Some control centers send a so-called channel occupancy tone after the five-tone sequence before the announcement. To trigger a siren, instead of the announcement, a double tone usually follows (digits 7 and 4 simultaneously). This characteristic humming tone triggers the siren via a so-called remote control receiver.
FMS alerting
Another type of alerting in the analog network is alerting via the radio reporting system (FMS) used in Germany . Here the fire brigade control center (FEL) sends a certain status to an FMS coding, which does not exist as a vehicle. The FMS coding is sent twice for security reasons: if there are reception problems, the reception probability is increased. This creates the double cracking in the radio, which however includes a short pause of about a second.
The analog radio signal receivers encoded on the corresponding FMS identifier evaluate this status. If the corresponding coding is activated as an alarm loop on this detector, it emits a beep (depending on the model). In addition, the letter sent by the FEL is shown on a small display , which is used to distinguish between the alarms. For example, an -E- could stand for normal use, -U- for use by the diving group (if available), and -A- for use by the district / city fire brigade.
However, this method is not very common. Among other things, it is used by the control center in Emsland to alert the aid organizations. There are also only two types of radio receiver that can receive the alarm: the BOSCH FME-88 and the Motorola SKYFIRE 4.
POCSAG system
The POCSAG alarm is implemented in the 70 cm and 2 m upper band according to the so-called POCSAG protocol. Thus, the BOS vehicle radio traffic in the 4 m band is not burdened by the alarms. A digital signal receiver is required for reception . The alarm is transmitted either in the form of an emergency keyword (for example "fire alarm") or in the form of precise text messages (location, event, ...) so that queries are not required and the emergency services save valuable time. Only certain groups can be alerted specifically. The entire fire-fighting train does not have to be alerted to use a turntable ladder . Furthermore, the POCSAG alarm system offers better readiness for transmission and reception, for example in buildings. In contrast to the digital alerting in the 2 m band, the digital alerting in the 70 cm band is available throughout Germany and is accordingly coordinated abroad; it is currently only offered commercially by eMessage .
Despite the term "digital alerting", the transmission takes place on an analog radio channel, only digital signals are transmitted, similar to a fax machine. Thus, the POCSAG alarm is not actually digital radio .
SMS alerting
A relatively new method alerts the fire brigade by sending an SMS message to their mobile phone . One advantage is that it is a comparatively inexpensive method, since the infrastructure and the end devices are usually available. Another advantage here is the greater range, as other alarm systems such as sirens or radio alarm receivers do not work outside of a district due to different radio channels . The disadvantage is that SMS is a best effort service, which means it can take several hours for an "alarm" message to arrive or it can even be lost completely. In principle, the cellular network architecture also provides a solution there ( priority SMS ) with which alarm SMS should be delivered without a time delay. However, priority SMS is not a defined standard and therefore usually only works if the sender and recipient are with the same provider. Another disadvantage is that in the event of a power failure, the mobile radio transmitters only have an emergency power supply for a limited time , and then a mobile radio network is no longer available. This has proven to be extremely disadvantageous, especially in disaster operations such as floods , hurricane "Kyrill" or the electricity blackout in November 2006. Furthermore, the SMS alarm is not approved according to the TR BOS guideline and can only be used as an additional alarm to an existing primary alarm. This is why this method is only used as an additional alarm or notification if it is financially possible for the individual fire brigade. In the event of disasters or major disasters, the use of cell phones is unsuitable according to the study The Role of Mobiles in Disasters and Emergencies by the world's leading industrial association in the cell phone sector, GSM MoU, from December 2005. (However, the study only relates to alerting the general public in the event of major disasters, e.g. a tsunami .)
Alerting via public cellular networks
In the district of Emsland , a digital system based on public cellular networks has been in use for the first time since mid-September 2018 for the primary alarm of fire and rescue services. A system consisting of a web-based alarm server and a GSM- based digital pager is used there . Thanks to the dual SIM solution with roaming, it uses not only all German, but also all neighboring foreign mobile networks, which results in extremely secure network coverage, which has been proven in extensive tests. Communication takes place via secure IP connections based on a protocol patented by the manufacturer. The system guarantees end-to-end encryption, redundancy in accessibility and maximum reliability through the use of all available cellular networks at home and abroad, provided GPRS has not yet been switched off via GSM (2G) .
Alarm indicators
With the advent of digital technology in the fire brigades and aid organizations, so-called "alarm monitors" have also become established in the accommodations. Computer and software-controlled, the alerted emergency services are given the location and additional information, such as B. a route description, the alarmed vehicles and people as well as their availability are shown, thus optimizing the disengagement process. Depending on the system, the displays also contain information about missing equipment, weather data or important dates.
Historical
Even when there were no organized fire brigades, the residents were alerted in the event of a fire. There was a special fire bell in many church towers that had a special sound. In addition, conspicuous objects such as colorful baskets were raised on the towers so that during the day one could see from a distance that the fire alarm was being issued. So-called fire riders sounded the alarm with a trumpet .
In many localities of the Duchy of Nassau at the beginning of the 19th century, when a fire was detected, the local teachers had to ring the bell and sound the alarm for the committee drum.
Even at the time of the siren alarm, there were already various options for a silent alarm, for example with a bell line (also known as an alarm line), which led into the apartment of the individual firefighters. These lines were later replaced by a ripple control system that did not require its own cabling. No announcements were possible with this silent alarm.
See also
- Alarm and release order
- BOS radio reporting system in Germany
- BOS radio system in Austria
- Tower keeper
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, Section ID2: Integrated Control Centers - Concept Bavaria ( Memento from December 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ BOS alerting from eMessage
- ↑ The Role of Mobiles in Disasters and Emergencies ( en , PDF) dinkom.no. Archived from the original on June 17, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2010.
- ^ Emsland: Alerting via cellular networks - fire brigade. Retrieved June 27, 2019 .
- ↑ District of Emsland: Mobile instead of digital radio network | Kommune21 - E-Government, Internet and Information Technology. Retrieved June 27, 2019 .
- ↑ from We love fire brigade: District Emsland: Alarm via cellular network. In: We love firefighters. December 10, 2018, accessed on June 27, 2019 (German).
- ↑ This and beyond the limit to the primary alarm. Retrieved June 27, 2019 .
- ↑ https://www.teltarif.de/swisscom-gsm-umts- Abschaltung/news/ 76374.html
- ^ Franz-Josef Sehr : The fire extinguishing system in Obertiefenbach from earlier times . In: Yearbook for the Limburg-Weilburg district 1994 . The district committee of the Limburg-Weilburg district, Limburg-Weilburg 1993, p. 151-153 .
- ↑ Landau volunteer fire brigade in the Palatinate: Alert