Halifax County (NS)

Background

In 1996, the Province of Nova Scotia merged the former City of Halifax, City of Dartmouth, Town of Bedford and Halifax County into the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Since that time, fire and transit services for the entire county have fallen under the direct control of the HRM's Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Service (HRFES). Police service is provided in the urban areas (former cities of Halifax and Dartmouth and Town of Bedford) by the Halifax Regional Police (HRP), an amalgamation of those former cities' police services. Policing services in the rest of the municipality is provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Public Works services within the urban areas are provided by the HRM, and by the Province of Nova Scotia's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal in the rest of the municipality.

HRM Integrated Emergency Services

HRM Integrated Emergency Services operates a single dispatching centre in Woodside for fire (HRFES) and police (HRP), as well as dispatching services for the RCMP in the rest of the municipality. This allows for greater levels of cooperation between police and fire, and between the two policing services. In some cases, HRP and RCMP units operate off of the same talkgroup, dispatched by the same dispatcher. This level of cooperation and integration is not usually seen in public safety, between different agencies.

Halifax Regional Police

Prior to amalgamation in 1996, the cities of Halifax and Dartmouth, as well as the former Town of Bedford, each had their own police service. Upon amalgamation, those three services merged to become Halifax Regional Police (HRP), and are dispatched from the HRM Integrated Emergency Services dispatch centre in Woodside.

HRP is divided into three response zones:

• East - Dartmouth, Burnside, Eastern Passage
• Central - north and south-end Halifax, downtown Halifax
• West - Mainland Halifax, Herring Cove, Bedford

Communications

Communications take place on the Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMRS) on the following talkgroups:

Description

Talkgroups are divided between the three response zones above. Each zone has a corresponding primary and secondary talkgroup, with all communications occurring on the primary talkgroup, and the secondary being used for major incidents, or for conversations that don't want to tie up the primary talkgroup. Each zone has at least one dispatcher assigned to it, sometimes two during busy periods or major incidents.

There is also a CPIC talkgroup, which has its' own dedicated dispatcher and is used for criminal records checks and requesting other services such as toe trucks. Often this dispatcher gets backed up, and a queue is formed.

In addition there are three common-use talkgroups, COMM 1-3, which are used for major events such as concerts or festivals, or coordinated events such as speed traps. These are not normally monitored by dispatchers, but they can be if requested.

For additional technical information on the TMRS, please see the Aliant Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMRS) wiki article.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) provides policing services in the rest of the HRM. They are part of RCMP H division (covering Nova Scotia), is headquartered out of their building on Bayers Road in Halifax, and are dispatched by the HRM Integrated Emergency Services dispatch centre by Halifax Regional Police (HRP) dispatchers.

The RCMP in HRM exists in the following detachments:

• Halifax
• Cole Harbour
• Musquodoboit Harbour
• Tantallon
• Enfield
• Lower Sackville

Communications

Talkgroups can be found in the RadioReference database under the Aliant Trunked Mobile Radio System.

Each of the detachments noted above has their own dedicated talkgroup, however only the Musquodoboit Harbour, Enfield and Tantallon talkgroups are used. RCMP members operating out of the Cole Harbour detachment use the HRP East talkgroups, members operating out of the Lower Sackville detachment use the HRP West talkgroups and members operating out of the Halifax detachment use the HRP Central talkgroups.

While they may maintain separate talkgroups, the members on the Musquodoboit Harbour talkgroup are dispatched by the HRP East dispatcher, and members on the Tantallon and Enfield talkgroups are dispatched by the HRP West dispatcher.

Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Service

After the creation of the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) in 1996, all fire services within Halifax County came under one department, Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Service (HRFES).

The HRFES consists of two response areas, core and rural:

• Core stations are those in the former cities of Halifax and Dartmouth, Town of Bedford and Sackville. These stations are staffed by full crews, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
• Rural stations are those in the former Halifax County. Some stations in more densly populated areas have a mixture of career firefighters during the day Monday to Friday, and volunteer firefighters covering the rest of the time. Stations in more rural areas are covered entirely by volunteers.

Core Stations

Note, station 1 is actually the headquarters at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth, not an actual working station.

Click here for a Google Map of all HRFES stations

Stn No.	Station Name	Area covered	Apparatus
2	University Avenue	Downtown Halifax	Engine 2
3	West Street	Downtown Halifax	Engine 3 Aerial 1
4	Lady Hammond Road	North-end Halifax	Engine 4
5	Bayers Road	West-end Halifax	Quint 5 Decon 1
6	Herring Cove Road	Spryfield	Engine 6
7	Knightsridge Drive	Fairview/Clayton Park	Quint 7
8	Convoy Run	Bedford	Engine 8 Tactical 2
9	Metropolitan Boulevard	Lower Sackville	Engine 9 Engine 9-A
10	Sackville Drive	Middle Sackville	Engine 10 Engine 10-A
11	Patton Road	Upper Sackville	Engine 11 Tanker 11
12	Highfield Park	North-end Dartmouth	Quint 12 Tactical 1
13	King Street	Downtown Dartmouth	Quint 13 Boat 1
14	Second Street	Westphal	Engine 14
15	Pleasant Street	Woodside	Engine 15
16	Caldwell Road	Eastern Passage	Engine 16
17	Cole Harbour Road	Cole Harbour	Engine 17 Engine 17-A Tanker 17
18	Hwy #7	Westphal	Engine 18 Engine 18-A

Rural Stations

The rural area stations are further devided into 5 emergency response zones: 1, 2, 3, 4 and the western region.

Click here for a Google Map of all HRFES stations

Zone 1

Stn No.	Area covered	Apparatus	Staffing
19	Lawrencetown	Engine 19 Tanker 19 Rescue 19	Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
20	Lawrencetown	Engine 20 Tanker 20 Rescue 20	Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
21	Lake Echo	Engine 21 Tanker 21 Rescue 21 Tactical 21	Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
22	North Preston	Engine 22	Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
23	Chezzetcook	Engine 23 Tanker 23 Rescue 23	Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
24	Musquodoboit Harbour	Engine 24 Tanker 24 Rescue 24	Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
25	Ostrea Lake	Engine 25 Tanker 25 Rescue 25	Volunteer only
26	Oyster Pond	Engine 26 Tanker 26	Volunteer only
27	Owl's Head (closed)

Zone 2

Stn No.	Area covered	Apparatus	Staffing
28	Sheet Harbour		Volunteer only
29	Moser River		Volunteer only
30	Tangier		Volunteer only
31	East Ship Harbour		Volunteer only
32	Mooseland		Volunteer only
33	Three Harbours		Volunteer only
34	Mushaboom		Volunteer only

Zone 3

Stn No.	Area covered	Apparatus	Staffing
35	Cooks Brook		Volunteer only
36	Meagher's Grant		Volunteer only
37	Elderbank		Volunteer only
38	Middle Musquodoboit		Volunteer only
39	Upper Musquodoboit		Volunteer only
40	Dutch Settlement		Volunteer only

Zone 4

Stn No.	Area covered	Apparatus	Staffing
41	Waverley	Engine 41 Aerial 41	Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
42	Wellington - Fletcher's Lake		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
43	Grand Lake - Oakfield		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
45	Lakeview/Fall River/Windsor Junction		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
46	Lakeview (closed)
47	Goffs		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
48	Beaver Bank - Kinsac		Volunteer only
49	North Beaver Bank (closed - merged with 48)

Western Region

Stn No.	Area covered	Apparatus	Staffing
50	Hammonds Plains		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
51	Upper Hammonds Plains		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
52	Prospect Bay Road		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
53	Terrence Bay		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
54	Shad Bay		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
55	Seabright		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
56	Black Point		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
57	Head of St. Margarets Bay (closed - replaced by 65)
58	Lakeside		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
59	Bay Road/Lewis Lake (closed - replaced by 65)
60	Herring Cove		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
61	Ketch Harbour		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
62	Harrietsfield		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
63	Sambro		Staffed during the day Volunteer the rest of the time
65	Tantallon

Communications

HRFES is dispatched from the HRM Integrated Emergency Services dispatch centre. A Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system allows the dispatchers to quickly determine the correct stations and apparatus to page out for a call. The initial page out is done on VHF using Motorola two-tone sequential paging on the following frequencies:

Frequency	Input	License	Type	Tone	Alpha Tag	Description	Mode	Tag
151.40000		VAC778	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Sackville site (for Halifax core stations)	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.06000		XJG955	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Hammonds Plains and Oyster Pond sites	FM	Fire Dispatch
152.18000		CIG518	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Preston site (for Dartmouth core stations)	FM	Fire Dispatch
153.89000		XJH453	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Queensland and Preston sites	FM	Fire Dispatch
154.13000		XJN917	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Chaswood and Tangier sites	FM	Fire Dispatch
154.17500		XJI550	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Ecum Secum site	FM	Fire Dispatch
154.28000		VCC718	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Prospect, Sheet Harbour and Shubenacadie sites	FM	Fire Dispatch
154.41500		XJG928	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Middle Sackville site	FM	Fire Dispatch
151.50500		XJF657	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Musquodoboit Harbour site	FM	Fire Dispatch
866.61250	821.61250	VCC718	RM		HRFE Backup Rptr	Prospect, Shubenacadie and Tangier backup repeaters	FM	Fire-Tac
867.11250	822.11250	XJK412	RM		HRFE Backup Rptr	Tantallon and Chaplin backup repeaters	FM	Fire-Tac
867.61250	822.61250	VAC778	RM		HRFE Backup Rptr	Sackville and Marinette backup repeaters	FM	Fire-Tac
868.11250	823.11250	XJH453	RM		HRFE Backup Rptr	Preston, Ecum Secum and Chaswood backup repeaters	FM	Fire-Tac
866.47500	821.47500	CIG518	RM		HRFE Backup Rptr	Preston backup repeater	FM	Fire-Tac
868.61250	823.61250	XJN916	RM		HRFE Backup Rptr	Queensland and Musquodoboit Harbour backup repeaters	FM	Fire-Tac
867.97500	822.97500		RM		HRFE VR	Vehicle repeater	FM	Fire-Tac
867.98750	822.98750		RM		HRFE VR	Vehicle repeater	FM	Fire-Tac
868.46250	823.46250		RM		HRFE VR Ops 2	Vehicle repeater for ops 2 talkgroup	FM	Fire-Tac
868.47500	823.47500		RM		HRFE VR Ops 3	Vehicle repeater for ops 3 talkgroup	FM	Fire-Tac
868.48750	823.48750		RM		HRFE VR	Vehicle repeater	FM	Fire-Tac
868.96250	823.96250		RM		HRFE VR	Vehicle repeater	FM	Fire-Tac
868.97500	823.97500		RM		HRFE VR	Vehicle repeater	FM	Fire-Tac
868.98750	823.98750		RM		HRFE VR	Vehicle repeater	FM	Fire-Tac
155.40000		CIG518	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Halifax site (for stations 4 and 13 volunteers)	FM	Fire Dispatch
150.18500		VAC780	B	CSQ	HRFE Paging	Paging: Harrietsfield site	FM	Fire Dispatch

All stations have a pager/toner, and volunteers carry pagers on them. Communication between dispatch and the responding apparatus is done on the Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMRS) using the following talkgroups:

Description

Talkgroups are divided up between core and rural areas. Each area has a dispatch talkgroup and six operations talkgroups numbered 2-7. For example, Dispatch-C would be the core dispatch talkgroup, and Ops 4-R would be the rural operations talkgroup #4.

For additional information on the TMRS, please see the Aliant Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMRS) wiki article.

For additional frequencies used by HRFES, please see the Halifax County database page.

HRM Public Works

Public Works services within the former cities of Halifax and Dartmouth and town of Bedford, are handled by HRM department of Transportation and Public Works. They are responsible for street cleaning, plowing, sidewalk maintenance, traffic services, horticultural services, fleet maintenance, real property management, public transit, water and sewer. Public works are dispatched from a building in Woodside (which also houses the Integrated Emergency Services dispatch centre), with the exception of Metro Transit which is dispatched from their transit facility in Burnside.

Public Works services outside of the area above is provided by the Province of Nova Scotia's department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.

Communications

HRM Public Works and Metro Transit service supervisors use the Aliant Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMRS), and can be heard on the following talkgroups:

Description

Communications between Metro Transit buses and the dispatch centre take place on the following frequencies:

Frequency	Input	License	Type	Tone	Alpha Tag	Description	Mode	Tag
410.11250		XJN986	B	127.3 PL	Transit Control1	Halifax Transit control centre 1	FM	Transportation
411.03750		XJN986	B	88.5 PL	Transit Control2	Halifax Transit control centre 2	FM	Transportation
415.11250		XJN986	M	127.3 PL	Transit Bus 1	Halifax Transit buses 1	FM	Transportation
416.03750		XJN986	M	88.5 PL	Transit Bus 2	Halifax Transit buses 2	FM	Transportation
410.16250	415.16250	XMZ363	RM	165 DPL	Transit AAB	Halifax Transit Access-A-Bus	FM	Transportation
413.98750		XJN986	B	103.5 PL	Transit Control3	Halifax Transit control centre 3	FM	Transportation
418.98750		XJN986	M	103.5 PL	Transit Bus 3	Halifax Transit buses 3	FM	Transportation
857.61250			M		HRM WorksSimplex	Public Works simplex	FM	Public Works

For additional information on the TMRS, please see the Aliant Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMRS) wiki article.