What is normally used to dispatch fire personnel when a department's stations are not usually staffed?

Pagers have been traditionally utilized to dispatch fire personnel, particularly for departments that do not maintain a full-time staff at their stations. This is primarily due to their ability to quickly alert responders to an emergency situation when they are not at their physical location.

Pagers operate on a radio frequency and can transmit alerts that include the nature of the emergency and the location, often within seconds of an incident occurring. This immediacy in communication is crucial for firefighters, as it allows them to respond promptly, thereby increasing the chances of effectively addressing the emergency.

While radios and smartphones have their uses in maintaining communication among personnel during operations, they are often not the primary tool for alerting off-duty members. Telephones can be used for direct calls or notifications but lack the immediate reach and rapid deployment capabilities that pagers offer, especially in alerting a large number of personnel quickly. Therefore, pagers are the most effective means in this context for notifying fire personnel when the stations aren’t staffed.