All Hands Chief

Joined
Mar 5, 2020
Messages
2
Hello everyone! I'm from Ukraine and I'm interested in FDNY since 2017. But only now I faced with a question, that I can't find an answer in the operational reference.
Who is All Hands Chief?

I hope you will help me

Chief Demartini asked how much fire was in the cockloft. One of the roof Firefighters quickly responded with, “Heavy fire in the cockloft.” Chief Demartini instructed his Aide to transmit a second alarm at 1809 hours within seven minutes of arriving on-scene, applying what he just learned at the change of tours. He acknowledged the arrival of Ladder 137 as the FAST Unit. Engine 314 and Ladder 158 arrived on-scene as an extra engine and ladder. Simultaneously, several units already were set in motion or dispatched on the second alarm. Battalion 54 arrived on-scene as the All Hands Chief, with Captain Martin Tripptree serving as an Acting Battalion Chief (ABC). Engines 268, 311 and 329, Ladder 155, Squad 270, Rescue 4, Battalion 51 (Fire Duty--Second Alarm), Battalion 44 (Resource Unit Leader or RESL), Battalion 39 (Safety Officer) and Deputy Chief Eugene Ditaranto, Division 13, responded.
 
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Joined
May 6, 2010
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15,592
The ALL HANDS CHIEF is the second arriving Battalion Chief at a working Fire....in todays scenario's he becomes the Fire Sector Chief & supervises operations on the Fire Floor.
 
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Messages
659
It used to be that an additional Battalion Chief was not assigned until an "All Hands Operating" was transmitted.
Now he's assigned on a 10-75, but he's still usually referred to as the "All Hands Chief".
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
Messages
771
It used to be that an additional Battalion Chief was not assigned until an "All Hands Operating" was transmitted.
Now he's assigned on a 10-75, but he's still usually referred to as the "All Hands Chief".

Same was true for 10-76 and 10-77 or did it only apply to 10-75?
 

mack

Administrator
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
Messages
13,431
Same was true for 10-76 and 10-77 or did it only apply to 10-75?

10-76 and 10-77 did not exist.

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Some history - and it is not possible to cover all the changes that have been made over the years:

Initial alarms were sent out by borough dispatchers by telegraph alarm (bells), and then phone, radio, voice alarm, computer - depending on the era. Or a company could respond to a verbal alarm from a citizen or encounter a fire directly when out of quarters.

An assignment card located in the firehouse would indicate units, chiefs and special units that would respond or relocate. The second "C. of B." listed on the card is the "7-5 Chief" or "All-Hands Chief". For this Brooklyn Box 656 assignment card from 1929, Box 656 might have initially been transmitted as a special call for Engine 235 only. The "All Hands Chief", BC 38, would respond if Engine 235 requested a full 1st alarm assignment,
a "transmit the box" request, which back in 1929 would have been tapped to the Brooklyn dispatcher at fire alarm box 658.

1609794063237.png


The signal transmitted by dispatcher to firehouses was a "7-5" in telegraph alarm (bells) system - 7 bells then 5 bells, repeated twice.


The Bells - Telegraph Alarm System - Preliminary Signals.png


The assigned "All Hands Chief" would respond on the "7-5" signal. It is possible that the initial alarm was transmitted for a full 1st alarm assignment by the dispatcher depending upon information, box and operational situation. If so, the "All Hands Chief" could have responded on the initial alarm.

If the assigned "All Hands Chief" was not available, the dispatcher would assigned an available Chief.

This was the basic response assignment system which was used for a long time and might be better explained by a dispatcher or some other member on our site.

There also have been many changes which affected response assignments for Chiefs (e.g. - Adaptive Response, Discretionary Response Boxes (DRBs), etc). Some changes were temporary or situational, some permanent.


As Chief K and t123ken have simplified

1. ALL HANDS CHIEF is the second arriving Battalion Chief at a working Fire....in todays scenario's he becomes the Fire Sector Chief & supervises operations on the Fire Floor.

2. It used to be that an additional Battalion Chief was not assigned until an "All Hands Operating" was transmitted. Now he's assigned on a 10-75, but he's still usually referred to as the "All Hands Chief".
 
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