Fire Departments in Nova Scotia

Methods of Communication

Volunteer fire departments in the province of Nova Scotia for the most part are dispatched by private companies, with Valley Communications (Valley Dispatch) in Kentville, and Scotia Business Centre in Bridgewater being the two largest. Departments have a variety of different methods of communication at their disposal, including their own "private" frequency or frequencies, a province-wide mutual aid simplex frequency, a series of provincially owned fire repeaters, as well as the province's trunked radio system. These methods of communication are described below.

Departments Outside of Halifax or Cape Breton counties

Department's own frequency

Most departments have one or more of their own "private" frequencies licensed, which for the most part is for their use only. In my situations however, a department may allow other nearby departments access to their frequency, so that they can make use of it when responding to calls in each others' areas.

These frequencies can be found on the county-level pages in the database, under the town's name.

Mutual Aid frequency

Most departments also have access to the following provincial mutual aid frequency:

Frequency	Type	Alpha Tag	Description	Mode	Tag
153.83000	M	NS Mutual Aid	Province-wide fire mutual aid	FM	Fire-Tac
866.81250	M	NS Fire Simplex	Province-wide fire simplex	FM	Fire-Tac

The mutual aid frequency is a simplex channel often used when multiple departments are responding to the same incident. This frequency can also be found in the Nova Scotia fire frequencies section of the database.

Provincial fire repeaters (IMRS)

The province maintains a series of VHF repeaters which are part of the old Nova Scotia Integrated Mobile Radio System. The following repeaters are available for use by all fire departments:

Frequency	Input	License	Type	Tone	Alpha Tag	Description	Mode	Tag
151.53500	154.04000	XML496	RM	71.9 PL	Fire-Middle Ohio	Middle Ohio, Shelburne County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.53500	154.01000	XLM512	RM	94.8 PL	Fire-Sherbrooke	Cochrane Hill (Sherbrooke)	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.74500	154.07000	XML497	RM	71.9 PL	Fire-EKemptville	East Kemptville (Yarmouth)	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.74500	154.07000	XML505	RM	151.4 PL	Fire-Willow Hill	Willow Hill, West Hants	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.74500	154.07000	XML515	RM	94.8 PL	Fire-Lundy	Lundy, Guysborough County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.80500	154.13000	XML499	RM	71.9 PL	Fire-Annapolis	DND North Mountain, Annapolis County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.80500	154.13000	XML514	RM	94.8 PL	Fire-Kiltarlity	Kiltarlity Mtn, Inverness County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.89500	154.16000	XML498	RM	71.9 PL	Fire-N.RangeCrnr	North Range Corner, Digby County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.89500	154.16000	XML494	RM	114.8 PL	Fire-Kirkhil	Kirkhill (Parrsboro)	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.92500	154.10000	XML500	RM	71.9 PL	Fire-Springfield	Springfield, Annapolis County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.92500	154.10000	XML507	RM	114.8 PL	Fire-Sugarloaf	Sugarloaf, Cumberland County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.92500	154.10000	XML516	RM	94.8 PL	Fire-Oban	Oban (St. Peter's)	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.98500	154.02500	XML506	RM	71.9 PL	Fire-Garland	Garland, Kings County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.98500	154.04000	XML513	RM	94.8 PL	Fire-Fairmont	Fairmont (Antigonish)	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.98500	154.04000	XML519	RM	94.8 PL	Fire-Cape North	Money Point (Cape North)	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.03000	154.19000	XML501	RM	71.9 PL	Fire-Liverpool	Liverpool, Queens County	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.03000	154.19000	XML510	RM	82.5 PL	Fire-Nuttby Mtn	Nuttby Mtn, Colchester County	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.03000	154.19000	XML517	RM	94.8 PL	Fire-Sydney	Rear Boisdale (Sydney)	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.21000	154.22000	XML503	RM	71.9 PL	Fire-Sherwood	Sherwood, Lunenburg County	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.21000	154.22000	XML511	RM	82.5 PL	Fire-New Glasgow	McLellan's Mtn (New Glasgow)	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.21000	154.22000	XML518	RM	94.8 PL	Fire-Cape Smokey	Cape Smokey (Ingonish)	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.80500	154.32500	XML508	RM	82.5 PL	Fire-Musq. Harbr	Jerusalem Hill (Musquodoboit Harbour)	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.89500	154.16000	XML504	RM	82.5 PL	Fire-HammondsPln	Hammonds Plains, Halifax County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.92500	154.10000	XML509	RM	82.5 PL	Fire-Marinette	Marinette (Sheet Harbour)	FM	Fire Dispatch
153.08000	140.19000	CKN246	RM		Fire-Sand River	Sand River, Cumberland County	FM	Fire Dispatch
150.12500	149.20000	XML522	RM		Fire-Rawdon	Rawdon (Barr Settlement), Hants county	FM	Fire Dispatch
155.77500	150.90500	CKR234	RM		Fire-New Tusket	New Tusket, Digby county	FM	Fire Dispatch
150.45500	149.41000	XMZ590	RM		Fire-Creignish	Creignish, Inverness county	FM	Fire Dispatch
150.53000	149.20000	XML561	RM		Fire-French Lake	French Lake (Argyle), Yarmouth county	FM	Fire Dispatch
150.30500	149.59000	XML614	RM		Fire-Hunters Mtn	Hunters Mountain, Victoria county	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.27000	157.84500	CKR225	RM	71.9 PL	Fire-Italy Cross	Italy Cross, Lunenburg county	FM	Fire Dispatch
150.42500	149.47000	XMZ695	RM		Fire-Salem	Salem (Amherst), Cumberland county	FM	Fire Dispatch
153.56000	159.39000	CKL812	RM		Fire-W.Caledonia	West Caledonia, Queens county	FM	Fire Dispatch
150.12500	149.20000	CZM782	RM		Fire-Fox Island	Fox Island, Guysborough County	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.92500	154.10000	XML509	RM		Fire-New Chester	New Chester, Guysborough County	FM	Fire Dispatch

Most departments make at least some use of these repeaters, often for dispatching and paging.

These frequencies can be found in the Nova Scotia fire frequencies section of the database.

A description of the IMRS itself, including the location of all tower sites, can be found on the Nova Scotia Integrated Mobile Radio System section of the wiki.

Trunked radio system (TMRS)

In addition to the methods of communication above, all fire departments have at least one portable radio capable of communicating on the provincial radio system, the Aliant Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMRS). The fire departments would use the following talkgroups, depending on what region of the province they are working in (west, central or east):

Description

In some departments these are used by the chiefs and senior members only, in others they are used on a daily basis for all operations. Some departments have their own "private" talkgroup which only they would have access to.

For details on the TMRS, please see the TMRS wiki article.

County-wide unified paging systems

Some counties operate their own county-wide communications, dispatching or paging systems, described below.

Colchester County

The Municipality of Colchester County owns and operates a series of repeaters operating on 152.525 MHz. All stations in the county, with the exception of the town of Truro, are dispatched by Valley Communications (Valley Dispatch) using the following frequencies:

Frequency	Input	License	Type	Tone	Alpha Tag	Description	Mode	Tag
152.27500			M		ColchFireOp1	County fire ops 1 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
152.57500			M		ColchFireOp2	County fire ops 2 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
152.66500			M		ColchFireOp3	County fire ops 3 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
150.38000			M		ColchFireOp4	County fire ops 4 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
154.77000			M		ColchFireOp5	County fire ops 5 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
152.70500			M		ColchFireOp6	County fire ops 6 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
154.40000			M		ColchFireOp7	County fire ops 7 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
152.52500	158.10000	VFW530	RM	071 DPL	ColchDisptch	Fire dispatch and paging, Bass River/Birch Hill repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.52500	158.10000	VFW526	RM	073 DPL	ColchDisptch	Fire dispatch and paging, Harmony repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.52500	158.10000	VFW529	RM	074 DPL	ColchDisptch	Fire dispatch and paging, Hilden repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.52500	158.10000	VFW528	RM	051 DPL	ColchDisptch	Fire dispatch and paging, Londonderry repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.52500	158.10000	VFW525	RM	065 DPL	ColchDisptch	Fire dispatch and paging, Nuttby Mountain repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.52500	158.10000	VFW531	RM	174 DPL	ColchDisptch	Fire dispatch and paging, Shubenacadie repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.52500	158.10000	VFW527	RM	072 DPL	ColchDisptch	Fire dispatch and paging, South Branch/Stewart Hill repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
140.68500	143.49000		F		Colch Link 1	Point-to-point link (Valley Dispatch to Barr Settlement)	FM	Fire Dispatch
143.49000	148.48000		F		Colch Link 2	Point-to-point link (Barr Settlement to Harmony)	FM	Fire Dispatch

East Hants County

The Municipality of East Hants operates a repeater on 153.77 MHz called the East Hants Repeater. All stations in East Hants, with the exception of Walton Shore, Mount Uniacke and Enfield, are dispatched by Valley Communications (Valley Dispatch) using the East Hants Repeater as well as the following additional frequencies:

Frequency	Input	License	Type	Tone	Alpha Tag	Description	Mode	Tag
153.77000		CGH884	B	CSQ	EHantsPaging	Fire paging: Barr Settlement, Maitland, Noel and Walton Shore	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.65500			M		E.Hants Ops1	Fire ops 1 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
154.90500			M		E.Hants Ops2	Fire ops 2 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
155.83500			M		E.Hants Ops3	Fire ops 3 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
155.32500			M		E.Hants Ops4	Fire ops 4 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
151.74500			M		E.Hants Ops5	Fire ops 5 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
155.29500			M	82.5 PL	E.Hants Ops6	Fire ops 6 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
154.69500			M		E.Hants Ops7	Fire ops 7 (simplex)	FM	Fire-Tac
150.12500	149.20000	XML522	RM		E.Hants Ops8	Fire ops 8 (repeater)	FM	Fire-Tac
154.46000	160.03500	CGH884	RM	CSQ	EHants-Barr	Fire dispatch, Barr Settlement repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.84000	158.41500	CGH888	RM	100.0 PL	EHants-Waltn	Fire dispatch, Walton Shore repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
153.32000	158.89500	CGH887	RM	173.8 PL	E.Hants-Noel	Fire dispatch, Noel repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.19500	157.75500	CGH889	RM	151.4 PL	E.Hants-Mait	Fire dispatch, Maitland repeater	FM	Fire Dispatch

Halifax County

All fire stations in Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) are part of the Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Services fire department. For more detail on fire services in HRM please see the Halifax County section of the wiki.

Cape Breton County

All fire stations in Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) are operated by the municipal government. For more detail on fire services in CBRM, please see the Cape Breton County section of the wiki.

Refresh this page from the latest database entry