Hi Luna, I started dispatching for the city of Providence,RI fire dept. in 1973(retired in 2004). When I started nobody wanted the job, because it was one of the lowest paying jobs in the city. Back then you needed a city councilman to talk to the right people. Now a days any new dispatches come from the local union, if nobody in the union wants the job it is offered to the public. Have you talked to any of the dispatchers in your area? Stop by, say hello and ask if you could sit and watch for a little while. We had people stop in and visit all the time. In 1973 we had 1 radio and had to repeat everything the companies told us. If we had a multiple alarm fire, the dispatcher had handle the fire and stil dispatch all other runs. In 2004 we had 4 radios and every run (except rescues) is assigned a channel and every firefighter has a portable radio. I wish luck on your weight loss and becoming a dispatcher Doug PS In 1973 we had a total of 12000 runs with 9500 box alarms In 2004 we had a total of 36000 runs with 26000 rescue

Doug, Wow, this is response is real late... We've been a bit too busy for me to get on line... ugh! Anyway, I work Graveyards right now, 12-hour shifts with every other weekend off as a 3 day weekend... People usually can't keep our shifts straight but here is an average 2 weeks... Work Tues/Wed, off Thurs/Fri, work Sat/Sun/Mon, off Tues/Wed, work Thurs Fri, off Sat/Sun/Mon... over and over again... I like the 12-hour shifts but graveyards are killin me... I have a very hard time sleeping during the day... ugh! Ok, enough of that pitty party for me. Have a great weekend!!! Sheryl

Hi there. I just wanted to rub elbows with some of you. I have for sometime now wanted to join the dispatcher work force. I live in Wasilla, AK; its a small-medium community. I recently took some tests for becoming a dispatcher in training and my overall score was 85. It wasn't quite good enough to be accepted. I felt sooooo bummed. I was wondering if any of you have tips on how to improve any of the necessary skills just to get in the door. Memory & recall skills? Ah, for that matter, I would love to just hear how some of you got involved in dispatching....how it has evolved for you over the years...stuff like that... New friend and hopeful partner. Luna

Ever since I started here,3+years, on the over night shift we have had to do hourly time checks on all the police units (apparently years ago a chief got mad because an officer was busted sleeping, time checks were a way to make sure they were awake) all of our officers hated these checks, and we were not crazy about them either, that and the attitude we got from the officers because we did it. Thankfully the time checks were finally discontinued this past Friday, and we couldn't be happier.. I was wondering if any other depts do hourly, or periodic overnight time checks

Hi George, I'm a dispatcher for the PD in a small town. We do all of the dispatch for police, fire, ems, and non emergency calls too. We work 1 to a shift, which is usually okay, but when all hell breaks loose it's quite overwhelming. I love my job though. I will be taking the LE exam this year and am hoping to get hired as a cop or corrections officer soon. It's time to start making more money lol. Welcome to the group. Carol