1817 replies to this topic

[firefighter111]

i like the idea of foot patroling units! but it would take alot of time before they spread out around in the city..

not if you loaded a bunch of them into the LASD hummer and dropped them all around the city

[station9emt/firefighter]

it would be nice to have all vehicles have directional bars... it helps out ALOT!!! lol especially on the battalion chief vehicle

[stubbers]

Hoppah has already made it clear he isn't interested in adding a second station. And I don't blame him, I'm learning the scripting and that would take a bit of work. However something that should be a little easier, would it be possible to add a few extra parks to the back of the fire station, next to the battalion cheif spot, and park brush vehicles/ems cars/equipment vehicles there.

I've mentioned it before but I don't think I got a response. You also have to note how large the section you are controlling is... Not sure about the LAFD but my local fire authority isn't likely to have heavy rescue/hazmat vehicles at every damn station, because they are so expensive. Thus putting them in the station is unrealistic, calling them from from off scene is more likely...

Cheers,
Stubbers

[MikesPhotos]

it would be nice to have all vehicles have directional bars... it helps out ALOT!!! lol especially on the battalion chief vehicle

I'm sure many people in real life and in the game would agree with this sentiment. Unfortunatly, the LAFD has decided for whatever reasons, to only equip their Engines, some of the newer Trucks, and a few other select apparatus with arrow bars. Nothing on the Chiefs, EMS Captains, Ambulances, or Brush patrols. The real life water tenders are so old, most of them are from the days where a single bubble gum light was still the big deal, and the Foam Tender doesn't have it either.

I've mentioned it before but I don't think I got a response. You also have to note how large the section you are controlling is... Not sure about the LAFD but my local fire authority isn't likely to have heavy rescue/hazmat vehicles at every damn station, because they are so expensive. Thus putting them in the station is unrealistic, calling them from from off scene is more likely...

Cheers,
Stubbers

Where I live, hazmat has their own station they run from... From a different fire department... And as far as rescue squad vehicles, 1 station has one out of the 4 that are near me and that station is quite large... 4 Apparatus bays, the other choice for rescue squad is a strictly rescue squad station, they have 2 or 3 large rescue squad vehicles and the rest ambulances... But they are in another city not too far away from me. So, as far as LA mod goes, i'd suggest either having them come from off the map after a lenghty delay to simulate travel time... Or, have a specialized station that contains them. Or have it so only the batt chief can call them from off the map.

I'm always fascinated by the way other departments in other areas of the US do things. For the most part, the final decision comes down to doing as much as possible within the confines of a very limited budget. This leads to unit sharing such as an "area hazmat" that is subscribed to by each local jurisdiction to spread the cost of such an expensive apparatus.

Here in Los Angeles, due to our size and budget, we are blessed in many ways. Currently the LAFD has 4 Hazmat Squads at 87s, 4's 48s, and 95 plus large hazmat tenders at 17's, 38's, 43's and 75. Add to that the LACoFD and Mutual Aid Hazmat resources from neighboring departments and you have blanketed much of the city and county with hazmat resources in a quick response time.

As far as our USAR squads, they too are spread out through out the city in a way that ensures quick response times when needed. Heavy Rescue 56, which is a large tow truck/heavy rescue crane, is included in this compliment and is currently stationed at 56's.

But just to give you an idea of what a city station has, here are some good examples:

Fire Station 102:
Light Force 102 (Engine 302 and Truck 102)
Rescue 102 (Paramedic)

Fire Station 78:
Engine 78 (I believe it is either a Paramedic or PAU now)
Rescue 78 (Paramedic Ambulance)

Fire Station 88:
Engine 88 (Paramedic)
Light Force 88 (Truck 88 and Engine 288)
Rescue 88 (Paramedic)
Rescue 888 (BLS - EMT)
USAR 88
Swift Water 88
Dozers 1 & 2 and Heavy Equipment
Command Unit
USAR Cache in the rear (similar to the trailers in game)
Water Tender 88
Division 3

Fire Station 60:
Engine 60
Light Force 60 (Engine 260 Truck 60)
Rescue 60 (Paramedic)
Battalion 10

Fire Station 109
Engine 109
Rescue 909 (BLS EMT)
Brush Patrol 109 (staffed by taking the rescue out of service)

All of those are within about 10 minutes of each other in heavy traffic. 60's might be a tad longer, but inside that same radius are also a few other stations that I have left out.

My own personal opinion is simple, if you want a 2nd station, it takes only 5 minutes to open the editor, clear a few stacked boxes in the harbor area, or a few parked cars in the NE corner of the map and voila, you now have your very own station. You can decide what goes there, which lot to use, and as soon as you have it set up the way you like, press F5 and save it so you only have to reload from that point. Then use the save camera keys below the map so you can jump between all 3 stations if you want.

Mike

[firefighter111]

Since my name was brought up I will respond to this post. The question raised was whether or not I know the future. The answer is, only the immediate and near. Having spoken to many of the members on the apparatus committees and being intimately familiar with the current budget purchases, the Los Angeles City Fire Department has no designs to purchase any Crimson Fire based Engines. As far as anyone could tell me, no one has even heard of them nor has any formal or infomal contact with them been established. With a department as large as Los Angeles City's, you find that there are only a very small number of manufacturers that can deliver the quantities LAFD requires as well as agree to the support and infrastructure terms. This is why the last purchase of 26 engines was split between 13 Seagraves and 13 Pierce Arrows.

Sweet..

Now a pierce chasiss would be cool...

Sry, i was being a smart @$$

Mrl

I could be wrong, but I think that at least both Engine 1, 2, and the Ladder Truck are peirce rigs (pierce chassis and bodywork) There could be more and I could also be wrong

[stubbers]

I should point out that I'm an Aussie...

I'm not even sure if we have heavy rescue vehicles... In the state that I'm in we have the CFA (Country Fire Authority) and the MFB (Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board). I am a volunteer with the CFA however after having moved to the city I'm not very active anymore. The CFA has a couple of rescue vehicles, for the entire state, however most of the time car accidents are attended to by another service called the SES (State Emergency Service). The SES have the Jaws etc... The CFA mainly has Tankers in regional areas, pumpers in the larger rural city's and a plethora of seemingly random cars/utes that just cruise round... I beleive here are also only a couple of Hazmat trucks for the whole state as well...

I'm still considering building an Aussie mod however I haven't gotten around to it just yet!

Cheers,
Stubbers

[AUX3AE]

I believe Hoopah is considering for 1.6, the extra parking spots as well as an empty Bay space in the fire station for whatever the player wants to put in their
Where I am at, just about every station, with some exceptions has some sort of "Special Service" i.e: Ladder, Heavy Rescue, Hazmat, USAR, MCU etc.. so that is not really that unrealistic. My station that I run with has 4 "Special Services" (2 Heavy Rescues, a Ladder Truck and a Boat) and we are getting ready to add a 5th (In name, a Technical Rescue Support Company) and oh, we dont have an Engine. Definetly not the norm, but its just how the cards have played out here over the last 80 years or so.





I

Sounds like Berwyn Heights.

[andrewhags]

why not just add the command to stop cars or redirect vehicles to the fire fighters?

second hoppah what if thats what the captins job was?

5 alarms

Engine 1st due

can call for PD, EMS Chief

each alarm calls different units, mike if possible can you list the units due per alarm?

[MikesPhotos]

Not quite that simple. The station is made of many "Named" scripting objects (The doors, the vehicle parking points, the staging points to go through the doors, the people spawner, the control box..) and the LaFirestation script refers to them all directly. So even if you cloned the station and renamed everything, you still have to either expand the script or duplicate it, and its a large script

Mav, I think you read to much into my reply. I was going for "as simple as possible" in that you just clear the boxes and nothing more. No scripts, nothing fancy, just an empty lot. If you want your engine to go back there, you use the "move there" command. The fire station scripts are wonder and all, but really, how hard is to just click on an engine or light force and point to a lot after a fire, and say go back there?

One thing I have noticed, and a search of the forums gave me an answer for EM3 that didn't quite seem to work for EM4. If I place an engine on the freeplay map, i notice its traits are 0 transports, 0 passengers, and no one can enter the rig. Should I modify it, or am I doing something incorrectly?

why not just add the command to stop cars or redirect vehicles to the fire fighters?

While more often then not, firefighters are tasked with having to do traffic control on incidents for at least a short period of time, one of the first things you'll hear over the radio is repeated calls for DOT (department of transportation) or PD for traffic control. No offense intended to the fine men and women in both departments, but firefighters have much more important things to be doing then traffic control when the city has an abundance of DOT and PD.

second hoppah what if thats what the captins job was?

5 alarms

Engine 1st due

can call for PD, EMS Chief

each alarm calls different units, mike if possible can you list the units due per alarm?

I can, but then.. I can't. This brings up an interesting fact of the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Unlike many other departments you may be familiar with, the LAFD does NOT use a traditional alarm or box system. Each call has it's own dispatch algorithm based on type of structure and location, as well as weather pattern. For example, santa ana winds will include an observation helicopter and additional units down wind in case of tree's and embers. After the first assignment gets on scene, the IC (incident commander) will request whatever units he or she feels is neccesary. With the flexibility of the Task Force/Light Force concept, it allows them to judge their needs specifically and call for additional Engines, Light Forces, Task Forces, in whatever numbers their situation requires. A common call will be "OCD, Van Nuys IC.. Send me an additional Task Force and Engine and another BC" That would get him 2 engines, and a Light Force which can either be used as a 3 engine or a truck. Remember, except for Station 9, you'll never see a truck respond in LA without a pumper with it.

The breakdown, for those interested is:
"A" assignment includes not less than four fire companies and not less than 1 truck
-Example: Batt 10, Task Force 88 (Engine 88, Engine 288, T88), Engine 78, Engine 39, EMS 10, RA88.


"B" assignment includes not less than six fire companies and not less than 2 trucks
- Dwellings, apartments, and hotel occupancies four or more stories in
height. All commercial and/or industrial properties that exceed certain parameters, Schools, special schools, day nurseries two or more stories, Sanatoriums, homes for aged, hospitals, public assemblages, and churches except B?2 occupancies under 100 feet. A B2 is explained in the LA City Fire Code. Also all assemblage occupancies on second floor or above.
-Example: Batt 10, Task Force 88 (Engine 88, Engine 288, T88), Engine 78, Task Force 39 (Engine 39, Engine 239, Truck 39), Engine 109, EMS 10, RA88.

"C" assignment includes not less than four fire companies and not less than 1 truck
-Special Assignments like Airports, Brush and Harbor, amongst others

After the first units get on scene, any additional units required turns the incident into a "Greater Alarm" regardless of what is requested. After 15 fire companies are on scene, it reaches the level of Major Emergency.

The way the current BC is scripted is very very similar to the way LA does things. You want more engines? You just request more engines. Another truck, well just call it in! One thing I would like to see is the "Engine 2" modified slightly by adding a 2 in front of its name as in 288 or 207, and when the Truck is called out via script, the "2 car" responds with it as a light force.

I know thats foreign to many of you from other parts of the world, but I suggest you try it out for a bit. You'll see just how versatile the Task Force/Light Force concept is. Many times, depending on the area, response time, and other factors, instead of getting an Engine company, you'll get an additional Light Force as part of your original assignment since they can function as either a truck or engine company on scene. With 6 firefighters on board, they can be a significant force multiplier!

As far as adding a Captain, I'm a bit reluctant to go with that. As it is right now, it's great to be able to select a group of firefighters quickly and easily to direct them to do what you need. By adding a captain, you'll always be leaving him out and having to select him separately when moving units around. On most of the calls found in the game, a BC would always be dispatched to 90% of them, in which case the Captain would be relegated not to any command position per se, but utilized as just a member of Fire Attack. Why not just leave the command and control with the Chief officers?


Mike

[Hoppah]

One thing I have noticed, and a search of the forums gave me an answer for EM3 that didn't quite seem to work for EM4. If I place an engine on the freeplay map, i notice its traits are 0 transports, 0 passengers, and no one can enter the rig. Should I modify it, or am I doing something incorrectly?

Those traits (which you can change) are only used for vehicles which are already placed on the map, because unit.xml (where you can find number of transports and passengers for each vehicles also) isn't executed on those vehicles you will get 0 transports/passengers if those traits aren't set. So you should modify it.

About EM3: You couldn't change those traits in EM3, so that's why the passengers/transports had to be set by script.