When an incident is placed in a queue, fire control personnel should explain this to the caller, and that they should redial 999 if their situation worsens or if they no longer require an attendance. Providing the caller with the unique incident reference number, generated by the mobilising system, which relates to their call will help fire control personnel to quickly identify and relate to original incidents if they call back.
Technology to help queue incidents
Many mobilising systems allow fire control personnel to easily queue incidents. Functionality may include the ability to:
- Use pre-set queues
- Customise queue names based on geographic area or type of incident
- Add incidents to queues directly from the call taking screen
- View multiple queues at once
- Identify how long incidents have been in a queue
- Alert fire control personnel when an incident has been in a queue for a pre-defined period
- Mobilise operational resources to queued incidents
A process to regularly review queues will prevent incidents from being left unchecked in a queue. Some mobilising systems may help identify these incidents through automatic alerts, allowing fire control personnel to assess and resolve.
It may be the case that queued incidents no longer require the attendance of the fire and rescue service due to an improvement in conditions, for example water levels lowering after rainfall has stopped. The nomination of a suitably trained personnel to review queued incidents and recontact callers to check on the condition of their situation may help identify these incidents and reduce the number of incidents in queues.