Gordon Graham
Category: Fire Service
Gordon Graham here with Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Today’s Tip is for my friends in the fire service. We’re going to talk about radio traffic.
If you’ve ever read Dr. Seuss’s book, “Oh Say Can You Say,” you know it’s all about tongue twisters. In fact, the book starts by explaining that its words are all “phooey.” It warns: “Your lips will make slips and back flips and your tongue may end up in Saint Looey!”
What does this have to do with radio traffic? Well, in dedicating the book to his stepdaughter, Dr. Seuss called her “the Enunciator.” According to the Oxford Dictionary, an enunciator expresses things clearly. And that’s critical when it comes to radio traffic.
When an Incident Commander requests a progress report from an engine crew, they don’t want to hear a long, drawn-out, garbled message.
Talking into the radio through the SCBA facepiece requires clear, careful enunciating. Speak deliberately, telling the IC exactly what they need to know.
“We’re stuck on the landing and need 100 more feet of line” is preferable to, “We need an additional 100 feet of inch and three-quarter hose stretched from Engine 10 and flaked up the stairs.”
The same goes for radio traffic at non-fire scenes. If you’re a medic with a patient and you need assistance performing CPR, there’s no need to provide the patient’s age or appearance.
Let’s consider the emergency response, too. Say you’re en route to a car fire and have to stop for a train. The officer in charge needs to inform the dispatcher about the delayed response so they can dispatch another unit. But the dispatcher doesn’t need to know all about your frustration at being held up.
When it comes to radio traffic, relaying your message as clearly and concisely as possible can help your operation avoid a lot of “phooey.”
And that’s Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Until next time, Gordon Graham signing off.
