VIDEO: When a call comes in overnight, a loud alert typically wakes up firefighters at all nine Hattiesburg fire stations, even if the call isnโt for them. โWhen a call for service comes in at night, we notify all nine stations, all 11 trucks,โ said Hattiesburg Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Chris Carr. โThat wakes up over 40 people. We may only need five to handle that call.โ
Carr said a new alerting system will change that. โThis system allows us to isolate the notification process of different fire stations,โ he said. The project comes with a price tag of just over $97,000, funded by Forrest County Emergency Management. Carr said the system will allow firefighters who arenโt needed for a specific call to rest, while only alerting the units that are required. โThis system will now allow the other ones to rest, and only notify the ones that are needed in order to handle the call,โ Carr said.
Missing sleep isnโt just inconvenient, Carr said it can take a serious toll on firefightersโ health and safety. โStudies have shown that waking up as little as three times a night and staying up for more than 15 minutes puts you in a sleep-deprived state,โ he said. โTypical night, two-three wakeups, sometimes as many as eight or nine wakeups,โ said Station One Engineer Jonathan Hinton, describing the frequent interruptions under the current system.
Hinton said the alerts often keep firefighters awake for hours, even if the call isnโt theirs. โEven though we may not have gotten up and went for one, you listen to all the radio traffic,โ Hinton said. โThe radio may be going off for two or three hours a night and itโs kind of impossible to sleep through.โ Hinton added the new system is a gamechanger, as it helps crews stay alert when itโs their turn to respond. โWeโre trying to stay as sharp and as focused as we can, and if weโre able to sleep until itโs our turn to go out, then weโre just going to be able to execute our job better and be more focused on the task at hand,โ he said.
HFD leaders emphasized that residents wonโt notice any changes in response times. โThis will have absolutely no effect on response times, on capabilities, on the personnel that we send to a call,โ Carr said. โThis is going to make our guys healthier, safer and, frankly, happier.โ According to HFD leaders, the new system should be installed in all nine stations by the end of the year.
