Question:
Question 3 alarm fire How is a fire designated a 3 alarm fire, or 4 alarm fire,etc., is it different companies responding or amount of equipment sent to the fire.

Answer: In a sense, it is the amount of equipment sent. Not a total, nor really a round figure such as say, 10 pumpers make a 3 alarm fire or 5 Chiefs make it a 5th alarm. It is rather "how" the equipment is sent. The protocol varies widely, depending on the size of the community and the amount of equipment in the fire department. Cities divide their firefighting forces up into districts with each pumper having a territory to cover. Of course each fire company is familiar with each of the other surrounding districts, as they may be called to respond should a fire engine be tied up on a call in it's own district. Let's suppose a fire breaks out in a 2 story warehouse. The dispatcher alerts personnel by a pre-determined "run card" made up for each district. The "card" may be either information as calculated by a computer program, or an actual printed paper card. In this case, the dispatcher looks down this "card", and sees he is instructed to send out 3 pumpers, a ladder truck, a rescue, a hazardous materials unit, and a district chief. Naturally (and don't think for a second it should go without saying) the dispatchers will want to send those 3 pumpers (and units) closest to the incident. Now the pumper arriving first, is generally considered the "first in" engine. In this instance, the first in pumper reports on the radio to the other units and dispatchers, that they can see large flames from, say, 5 blocks away. (Any of the responding units may be first in, I just used a pumper for simplicity). The fire officer then advises everyone he is requesting a "second alarm." Again the dispatcher brings up the building's address and looks on the card for the 2nd alarm assignment, and sends them out. The 2nd alarm is generally equal to the first alarm in units and manpower. As the alarms get higher, cities just plain run out of resources (and parking space), so a 6 alarm fire won't necessarily consist of all the units I spelled out in the first or second alarm. Also, many communities only go up to the 5th alarm, and everything after that is a logistical "call"...and a nightmare! Keep in mind, as the number of alarms increases, dispatchers will be further pressed to find fire engines to sprinkle around all the empty fire houses to maintain as much coverage as possible. It is not uncommon in larger cities to actually have more than one multiple alarm fire raging at the same time. If more than one department or a combination of say city and county units come into play, this is usually called "mutual aid". As the fire intensifies, the "Incident Commander" may request additional units singularly, or as an additional alarm, hence 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. It is the full alarm request though, that determines the number of alarms of the fire.