New NCFPD command vehicle now in service

The North County Fire Protection District now has a new command vehicle in service. The 2007 Chevy Silverado HD 2500 which will be used by the fire department’s battalion chiefs was placed into service April 30.

“It’s a beautiful pickup truck,” said NCFPD captain Kevin Mahr, the project manager for the vehicle.

The Silverado is a four-door pickup truck with a camper shell. “That was a little bit different for our organization,” Mahr said. Most fire departments use sport utility vehicles for their command vehicle.

“It was quite a challenge for our organization to a use pickup truck to get the size and functionality,” Mahr said. “But it’s better for our organization,” Mahr said. “It’s just a nice functional vehicle.”

The North County Fire Protection District underwent a restructuring last year. “Our organization reinstituted the battalion chief about a year ago, and when we did that they needed a vehicle to drive,” Mahr said. “For the last year they’ve been driving a temporary vehicle.”

The battalion chief is in charge of incidents which require fire department action. “They’re the first line of incident command for our community,” Mahr said.

Three battalion chiefs rotate 24-hour shifts. Don Stevens and Steve Abbott are two of the battalion chiefs; the third will be a new-hire who currently has been offered employment.

The battalion chief’s command vehicle is used as a mobile command post when an incident occurs. “This vehicle covers the necessities that he needs to make that an effective command post,” Mahr said.

Mahr is the chair of the fire district’s Apparatus Committee, which most of the time places him in charge of purchases. In the case of the command vehicle, the fire chiefs designed the vehicle they desired and Mahr became the project manager. “I just simply managed the project and kept it on budget,” Mahr said.

The vehicle was completed within the $90,000 budget. It is equipped with emergency lighting and with communications and command equipment.

The vehicle has four radios, two of which utilize the 800 megahertz system and two of which utilize VHS frequencies. “It’s equipped to communicate with just about anybody we would interact with,” Mahr said.

The county’s Regional Communications System, which includes law enforcement and medical service providers as well as fire agencies, utilizes the 800 megahertz (actually 806 MHz) frequency while the California Department of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service communicate on VHS radio.

The use of a dual system has other advantages; the North County Fire Protection District had initially chose to retain VHS communication rather than join the Regional Communications System since the terrain of the district’s service area often made VHS more suitable than 800 MHz. However, a bilateral treaty covers frequency restrictions of the 800 MHz system while VHS communication can face interference from Mexican truck transportation.

Dispatch and communications for the North County Fire Protection District are now handled through a regional command covering several fire agencies in North County. The NCFPD command vehicle includes a mobile data computer which has the capability of direct communication with the NorthCom regional command. Among the amenities are live routing and auto vehicle locating.