I found that the bookeeping involved in running the Dept.
required considerable time and effort and really wasn't as
orderly as I would have liked it.
This program was written to simplify the record keeping
for Practice, Maintenance, Training, Incidents and the preparation
of Firefighter rosters.
If you use this program I, encourage you to register and
welcome any suggestions for improvements which would
ensure its continued development.
D I S C L A I M E R
The author, Lance R. Underwood makes no warranties expressed or implied as to
the quality or performance of this program, nor its fitness for a particular
purpose. The author will not be held responsible for any direct, indirect,
incidental or consequential damages resulting from the use of this program.
YOUR USE OF THIS PROGRAM CONSTITUTES YOUR AGREEMENT TO THIS DISCLAIMER and
your release of the author from any form of liability or litigation.
My commitment to you:
If at anytime serious bugs are discovered in the copy of FireFighter you
have registered, you will receive an updated version as soon as possible.
There are two ways to register FireFighter.
Sending $25.00 will get you the latest version of FireFighter.
Sending $40.00 will get you the latest released version of FireFighter for
(1) year.
Please read the file REGISTER.ME
Overview:
These are the things this program can do for your Dept.
1. Keep your Firefighter Roster up to date.
2. Print out individual Records or whole Rosters.
3. Keep track of Practice Records (what you practiced and when)
4. Show and/or print only the Practice Records you want.
5. Show the honourarium owed or wages owed for Practices.
6. Show all Practices or only those of the current year.
7. Keep track of your Emergency Calls
8. Print selected Emergency Calls.
9. Keep track of the amounts owed FireFighters for Emergency Calls.
10. Show and/or Print all Emergency calls, or only those of the current
year.
11. Keep Maintenance Records on your Equipment
12. Keep all Records pertaining to Practices, Maintenance, Training, Fires and
Firefighter Records at the press of a key.
13. Keep an appointments calendar
14. Keep a dialing list of important numbers and dial them automatically,
and also keep an up-to-date log of when the call was made.
15. Backup your data files whenever you want with a touch of a key.
16. Run your own programs from within the firefighter enviroment.
17. If you are paid by the "Call Out" rather than by the hour, you can get the
different menus by typing ff /c. (Please refer to documentation on this
before using.)
18. Use Dbase 111 style entries to make your own records.
19. Record up to seven different response times for firefighters, per
Incident.
20. With a large model version now available,FireFighter will allow you to enter 1 to 60 members at one time in your fire records.
The default size medium model, which is exactly the same, allows 1 to 30 members at one time.
Important:
There are a few items which are very important to the smooth
operation and set up of your files.
Please read this document file before using the program.
There are many improvements in this version (v.1.20 and later); these are
described in detail at the end of the document file. If you already have a
previous version of firefighter, please read through the doc file for any
changes you may not know about.
SETTING UP THE ROSTER:
This is a very easy but important part of the program.
This program will run on a floppy drive, but will, of course, run much
faster on a hard drive.
If you have a hard drive, make a directory called C:\Fire or something
similar. Then copy all the files from your A: or B: drive to your new
directory. You can use the Dos command Copy A: *.* C:\Fire or whatever
you call the directory in which you want to put the FireFighter program.
If you are not sure what to do, please refer to your Dos manual for
the command syntex.
Start the program at the Dos prompt by typing FF or FF /c if you pay
by the"call-out" rather than by the hour.
This will start the program; after the preliminary screen
you will be at the Fire Roster Menu.
VIEW ROSTER:
This selection will let you view each individual firefighter
record.
ENTER ROSTER:
Enter a First name and a Second name on the
first two lines of the form.
If you have TWO or more people with the SAME first and last name
then you must enter their names differently.
eg: If you had three Firefighters named Jim Baker then
they would be entered: Jim Baker, J. Baker, Jimmy Baker etc.
Press Enter to continue down the form, filling in the
information as you come to it.
You MUST fill in the form where it asks for a per
practice rate and the hourly rate for Emergency Calls.
Fill in a form for each Firefighter. The program will
ask if you want to save the information you have
inserted. Answer Y) if you want to save or N) if you do not.
EDIT RECORD:
Edit record is a better alternative than DELETE.
To Edit a record use <Enter> to go to the section you want to change, or
use the arrow keys. After changing the Record use <Enter> until you
are at the end of the file and then press <Enter> once more to
save the file.
DELETE ROSTER:
Tab up/down to the name you want to delete and
press <Enter>.
You will be asked if this is the record you want to delete.
Answer Y) if you want to continue to delete the record or N)
if you do not.
BE CAREFUL.....
Remember: once a record is deleted, it is no longer available
in your files.
LOOK AT ROSTER:
If your Roster records are filled in correctly, this will give you
a Roster report.
APPOINTMENTS/CALENDAR:
This is useful to keep notes on incidents and practices that
are too involved for the reports.
To move within the calendar, you must use <ALT> + a letter key at
the same time.
eg.
To use the editor, press <Alt> + E. To return to the main menu Press
Alt + X.
PHONE DIALER:
You will need at least a 1200 baud modem to use this feature.
Once you start the program, you will come up on a menu screen
with 19 dummy names and numbers in the dialing list and
MANUAL DIAL at the bottom. Use the arrow keys to scroll
through the selections. Hit enter to select one and you will
go to another menu. Now choose "Edit this Entry" and you will
be prompted for a new name and number (unless you picked
MANUAL DIAL, in which case nothing happens).
DIAL THIS NUMBER does exactly that. If you are doing a
MANUAL DIAL, you will be asked for the name (optional) and
number to dial, then you will have to hit enter again to dial.
Once your modem starts dialing, you can pick up your phone.
If logging is enabled for this call, you will be asked if you
want to abort logging; this is in case there is no answer on
the other end. Pressing Enter logs the call.
EDIT THIS ENTRY allows you to change the name and number that
has been selected from the list.
DIALING LIST takes you back to the list so you can choose
another number to dial.
TOGGLE LOGGING: If you hit enter while on "Long Distance
Logged", you will cycle through the logging options.
When a number is dialed, the name, number, date and time of
call are automatically logged, provided that logging is "on"
for that particular number.
The Phone Dialer assumes that any number over 8 digits is a long
distance number: thus a number entered as 1-XXX-XXXX or 1XXX-
XXXX or XXX-XXX-XXXX will be recorded in the long distance
log. The characters "(", ")" and "-" are counted, but
obviously don't affect the dialing. Any characters other than the
digits 0 through 9 will foul up your modem.
Do not precede a call to another area code with a "1". If a
number is more than 10 digits, the phone dialer assumes that it is
a long distance call, so it adds "1-" to the front of it.
This saves you a couple of keystrokes and keeps the log neat
and readable. The only time you need the "1-" is for a long
distance call within your area code.
VIEW LOG calls up the list of all calls that have been
logged. If the list runs off the screen, press <F2> or <S> to
scroll downward. <F1> or <T> brings you back to the top. You
may also delete entries and print out the list. <F4> or <M>
takes you back to the previous menu.
CHANGE DIALING SPEED means that if your phone is
PULSE dial, you will have to change the dialer to that mode each
time you restart the program.
The phone dialer is set to automatically use ATDT, which means TONE
dial, and is much faster than pulse dial.
DROP TO DOS:
This is a way to get to Dos without leaving your program.
Tab down to Drop to Dos and press <Enter>.
You will now be at the Dos prompt. If you look at the top
left hand corner of your screen you will see the statement
"Type Exit to Return to Program."
This is the only way you can get back into the program.
When you have finished with Dos then you must type Exit at
the Dos prompt to return to the program.
IMPORTANT: If you change to another directory when in Shell to Dos..
make sure you return to the original directory before typing Exit.
If you cannot find any records when you return from Dos, you
are in the wrong directory and must Shell to Dos again and change to the
correct directory.
BACKING UP YOUR DATA FILES:
Answer the prompt with A if you wish to backup onto A: drive,
B if you wish to back up to B: drive.
USE....YOUR PROGRAMS:
This will enable you to use a word processor etc. without leaving
the Firefighter environment.
FireFighter will ask you for the drive the program is on.
Answer A if the program you want to run is on A: drive, B if the
program is on B: drive, C if the program is on C: drive, etc.
FireFighter will then ask you for the directory in which your chosen program is found.
Type the name of the directory only. ie: Word, PFS, etc. (without the commas).
The program will then ask for the Command for the program you want to run.
Enter the command to run that program and press <Enter>.
If you have entered everything correctly, the program will be loaded.
When you quit the program, you will be back in the main menu of Firefighter.
When you wish to use the program in the future, answer N to the
prompt asking if you wish to Enter a Program Name.
ENTERING PRACTICE RECORDS:
Enter each catagory as you come to it.
Firefighter now has a quick and easy way to enter firefighters
names in Practice and Fire Records.
To enter a list of names into the practice or fire record, tab to the name
you want to enter and Press <INS>. You can enter 30+ names at a time into
each record.
Important:
Make sure you also enter the Date of Practice correctly.
The form for this is MM-DD-YYYY meaning month/day and year
in the fashion "06-07-1992".
You must also set the date on your computer if you do not
have a date time chip.
To do this, type date at the DOS prompt and enter the
date using MM-DD-YYYY. eg: 06-07-1991
EDIT PRACTICE RECORD:
Edit record is exactly the same as the Edit roster except
for this difference: When you wish to add a name to the file, enter the name or names on a BLANK line using the same name format as the auto scroll uses.
ie: Underwood Lance,Bischoff James,Gillis Carole, etc.
When you have entered the name(s), press <Enter> until the record
is saved. The names will be appended to the end of the
last line automatically.
You may also edit this file as many times as you wish.
VIEW PRACTICE:
Answer L) at the prompt to see the current year, or press <Enter>
to see a listing of them all.
You may also enter Q or <ESC> to quit at anytime.
ATTENDANCE RECORDS:
Tab up/down and press <Enter> at the name of the firefighter
Attendance record you wish to see.
This part of the program will give you the number of practices the
firefighter has attended this year.
The program will pick out only this year's record and will disregard any
previous year's record.
It will then proceed to tell you how much is owed the Firefighter up to
the present date, and will give you the percentage of Practices attended.
If the percentage is under 50%, the Program will print a Warning.
The program will also give you the SUB-TOTAL of all the records you look
at.
Make sure you do not look at the same firefighter twice as this will
then give you a wrong Sub-Total (similar to an adding machine).
If you wish to print out a report on each FireFighter, press <P> to print.
The program will then print out a report for that Firefighter and ask if
you want a Total. Do not press <T> until you have printed all the names
for which you want totals.
ENTER INCIDENT REPORT:
You can Enter FireFighter names exactly the same way as the practice
records are entered; however, on some incidents not all members will have
the same working hours.
You can now enter the Default hours plus any other hours that were worked.
Enter the fire record as you want it to appear.
When you get to HRS. ON EMERGENCY, enter the default hours.
(Default meaning the total number of hours for this incident).
Tab to the names that worked the DEFAULT hours and Press <INS> to mark the
name(s). When you have finished marking the names for the DEFAULT Hours,
press <Enter> and the names will automatically be entered into your Fire
Records.
Remember: to Tag use <INS> and to untag use <DELETE>
The program will then ask if you want to enter any more firefighters.
This is where you will enter the members who worked the NEXT LONGEST HOURS.
Again Tag the members who worked the NEXT longest hours and press <Enter>.
The program will let you enter 7 different hours per Incident record if you
wish.
The program uses codes for the default and the next longest hours.
These codes are.. *(default), @(next longest hours), %(next), &(next), !(next), #(next) and finally $(for the least longest hours).
There is a help file for these codes in the program when you need to
use or see them.
Important:
Enter hours in decimal form. eg. 1.0 for 1 hour, 1.5 for 1 1/2 hours,
and 2.75 for 2 3/4 hours, etc.
Make sure you also enter the Date of Incident correctly.
The form for this is MM-DD-YYYY meaning month/day and year
in the fashion "06-07-1991."
You must also set the date on your computer if you do not
have a date/time chip.
To do this type date at the DOS prompt and enter the
date using MM-DD-YYYY. ie: 06-07-1991
The program will tell you if you have forgotten to set the date.
The program will also ask if you wish to leave a comment about this
Incident. Enter your comment and press <Enter>.
You will then be asked if you wish to save the file. Answer Y if you do
and N if you do not.
EDIT INCIDENT RECORD:
Use edit record if you want to change a Fire record.
The edit record is fairly straight forward but if you are going to add
a member's name you must add the codes *(for the default hours) @(for next
longest hours) etc., with no spaces .
The hours are in sequential order; this means if you have a fire record
which has 4.0, 3.0 and 0.5, then 4.0 is first, 3.0 is second, and 0.5 is last.
If you wish to enter a member's name in the fire record, enter that
name excactly like the previous names have been entered
ie: @Underwood Lance,*Body Doug,
See: Edit Practice
VIEW INCIDENT RECORDS:
This will let you see every Incident you have entered since
starting to keep your records.
Pressing <Y> to the "Look at comments?" prompt, will bring up
the comment section of your record. Underneath the comment record
you will see the record number, name of the Incident and the reason
for the call out.
CALL OUT....RECORDS
This part of the program will give you the Hours on Emergency Call-Outs
the firefighter has attended this year, plus the percentage of incidents
responded too.
The program will pick out only this year's record and will disregard any
previous year's record.
It will then proceed to tell you how much is owed the Firefighter up to
the present date.
The program will also give you the SUB-TOTAL of all the records you look
at.
Make sure you DO NOT look at the same firefighter twice as this will
then give you a WRONG sub-total.
If you wish to print out a report on each FireFighter press <P> to print.
The program will then print out a report for that Firefighter and ask if
you want a Total.
Do not press <T> until you have printed all the names for which you
want totals.
PRINT:
This is self - explanatory and a little experimentation should have you
printing in a few minutes.
Make sure your printer is turned on.
Some of the files are made to print two and sometimes three files on
9 x 11 computer paper.
Make sure that you set your printer head at the top of the margin and
then click your printer "on" then "off" to set it.
MAINTENANCE RECORDS:
Enter your Trucks, Compressors, Air Bottles etc.
A little experimenting with this part of the program is in order.
For instance, enter the equipment to maintain and each time the equipment
is serviced edit the file to show the mileage and/or hrs. of the equipment
and when the next service is due.
Air bottles, hoses, etc. can be kept track of using the maintenance record
and comment section.
EXIT:
Will save and update all the files and exit the program.
HELP FILE:
This will give you some help on the firefighter commands but
will not take the place of reading this doc file entirely.
TRAINING MODULE:
This module works very much like the Fire and Practice Modules.
If you wish to enter Firefighter names, tab to the name and press <INS>.
When you have Tagged the names you want, press <Enter>.
You will then be given a chance to accept or reject the names you have chosen.
If you answer Y then you will see a list of the Training modules that are
available. Tab up/down or go to next menu.
When you reach the training area in which you wish to put the name(s),
press <Enter> and the names will be entered.
If you wish to delete a firefighter name from a record you can use either
Delete, or Delete(all records).
Delete will take the name of the firefighter out of the record to which
you tab.
Delete(all records) will take the name of the firefighter out of ALL the
training records.
Only one name is allowed for delete at a time..
CERTIFIED PERSONNAL:
This will give you the training modules that an Individual Firefighter has
passed up to the present date.
ADDENDUM:
The improvements in this version are as follows:
If you pay by the Incident rather than by the Hour then you must start
FireFighter at the Dos prompt by typing FF /c each time you start the program.
When you enter the hours of time worked on the incident you can now
pay by the default hours (which are the 1st hours entered) or pay the
firefighters exactly how many hours they worked (up to 7 different hours
on one incident).
After you enter the firefighters that worked the default hours you will be
asked if you want to enter any more firefighters. If you do, type Y and
enter the firefighters that worked the NEXT longest hours. You will then
be asked for their hours. You may enter up to 7 different hours for that
Call Out record.
There is a help menu for the Incident Enter and Incident Edit modules.
This will tell you the MARK used to distinquish the hours used to pay the
firefighters; these are *(default) @(2nd longest hours) !(3rd) etc.
This version also has a new way to enter and or read Dbase 111 records;
this is a very stripped down version but it will be improved more as time
permits.
You will find this handy to make your own records or for reading Dbase 111
records right from FireFighter.
The module can be found in the Maintenance section titled Read/Write
Dbase 111 files.
To set up your own records simply give the file name you wish to use
with or without the .DBF extension (no more than eight letters).
The program will then ask you for the number of fields. You may enter up to
128 different fields in the program.
The program will then ask you to enter the field name..
You can use up to ten characters for the field name. For example,
Date Inv:
1st Floor:
2nd Floor:
etc.
You will then be asked to enter the field length You may have up to 255
characters in the Character field, and 8 in the date field.
The program will tell you if you are trying to enter too many characters.
If everything is entered correctly, the program will save the file to disk.
Now you may edit the file and/or add more records to that file.
Take a few minutes to experiment with this section if you have never used
Dbase 111. You will find this part of the program very valuable for the
many different records you may want to enter and keep track of.
There is now a Large version of FireFighter for departments of over
30 members. This is exactly the same as the default smaller version,
except you can now enter up to 60 +/- members in your fire records.
If you wish to recieve the larger version, please enter the appropriate X
in the box on the "REGISTER.ME" file. Please remember the large version
will make much larger files than the default version, so, if you do not
need the large version, I would recommend that you stay with the smaller records.
Depending on the number of Incidents your Dept. recieves per year you may
wish to rename your data files and store them away on a floppy at the end
of the year. A good way to keep track of them is to rename them according
to the year ie: 1991Fire.rpt, 1991Prac.rpt etc.
FireFighter has a new and much larger comment section for Incidents and
a new editor with line wrap.... To reformat text with the editor simply
go to the TOP right hand corner of the editor screen and press Backspace.
Ending Statement:
This program was written with the Volunteer Firefighter always in mind.
I have tried to keep it simple yet as functional as possible.
I know the problems of keeping up to date records in Fire Depts.
and I believe this program will solve those problems.
If you have any ideas or suggestions that will make this program easier
or more useful I would be glad to hear about them.
For $25.00 you will receive the latest update with the name of your
Department on the main menu AND on print outs.
For registered users I also provide Full Telephone Support.
For $40.00 you will receive all the above, plus any major updates during
the next twelve months.
Please read the file REGISTER.ME .
Look for the NEW! Fire Dispatch program on your local SDN bbs.
Updates and New releases of FireFighter (c) and Fire Dispatch (c)
may be found on the BBS
Shuswap Opus BBS
955-8174 24 hrs.
300 - 9600 Baud supported
This board is free and open to all users.
Enclosed with the program is the file named REGISTER.ME.
