The openness and responsibility of village managers, city managers, police chiefs, fire chiefs and the Northwest Central Dispatch System (NWCDS) Board pales considerably regarding their decision-making and their public disclosure actions compared to the actions of the decision-makers of the Seattle Fire Department. Chicago’s northwest suburban leaders have not pro-actively disclosed their intentions or reasons to hide all public emergency communications by encrypting fire radio talkgroups or channels, but Seattle’s leaders have provided this information to their residents almost one year in advance of their planned change. Additionally, northwest suburban leaders have not pro-actively declared a commitment to sharing important information to the public via any options that other fire departments use, such as real-time 911 computer aided dispatch data, official streaming radio, official social media posts regarding incidents, an official fire department news blog, the PulsePoint crowdsourcing CPR app, or any welcoming outreach to accept media inquiries.
Well in advance of switching their fire radio communications to use radio encryption, Seattle Fire Department leadership is acting with responsibility and openness to explain to the public and media how and why their fire communications will become encrypted in 2026. In an official article written by Seattle Fire Public Information Manager Kristin Hanson, there is an explanation published June 17, 2025 that “Seattle Fire will keep main dispatch channels open, but will enhance encryption on radio channels used for tactical communications and sharing sensitive and private health information.” Seattle Fire also explains when the change in radio communications will occur.
Seattle Fire Department, in the published article on their official news blog Fire Line, openly and with respect for their public, revealed their plans and reasoning almost one year in advance of their planned switch to encryption, which is described as occurring sometime in Quarter 2 of 2026.
Seattle’s method of providing public information is in stark contrast to the secrecy, lack of responsibility, and lack of openness demonstrated by the switch occurring in the fire departments and fire districts in the Northwest Central Dispatch System (9-1-1 Center). The municipalities and fire districts in NWCDS include Arlington Heights, Barrington, Barrington-Countryside Fire Protection District, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Inverness Fire Protection District, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg, Streamwood, and Wheeling.
In the northwest suburbs of Chicago, the main fire dispatch channels will not remain open, and all talk groups will be hidden in complete secrecy by a technology known as encryption. Apparently, sometime in October 2025, fire departments and fire districts in the Northwest Central Dispatch System are on the verge of making a total switch to encryption, including the main dispatch channels (talk groups) and all fire department communications, with no outreach about this process to the public or local media. Police chiefs have been the main instigators for total encryption, including the main fire dispatch channels (talk groups).
Almost one year in advance of planned implementation, the Seattle Fire Department announced they will encrypt channels that transmit the following:
Private health information
Sensitive building access data
Tactical communications, including for Scenes of Violence responses
The primary reason Seattle Fire Department has chosen to encrypt radios is to protect the public’s sensitive personal and health information from being shared to a wide audience. According to Seattle Fire Department, encryption also enhances the safety of community members and first responders.
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Reasons for Encryption
Fire personnel frequently transmit a patient’s vitals and details regarding their injuries over the radio to trauma and medical doctors at hospitals. This is protected health information that should not be shared broadly in part due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Additionally, information regarding door, gate and key box codes, and other access data is communicated to gain entry to buildings during emergencies.
Firefighter/EMTs and paramedics often respond to scenes where individuals are injured as a result of a violent act, such as a shooting or stabbing. Encrypting channels where information on these incidents is communicated preserves operational integrity and improves the safety of the police officers and the communities they serve. When channels remain open, they can be accessed by all individuals, including some who may be actively engaging in criminal activity or behavior.
— Seattle Fire
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NWCDS fire radios in the northwest suburbs of Chicago are not used to transmit patients’ vitals and illness or injury details to trauma and medical doctors. These details are usually transmitted via cell phone connection to the hospital emergency room. However, the NWCDS fire radios are used to dispatch the paramedic calls that include information about injuries or illnesses, without patient names broadcast via voice communications.
Additionally, NWCDS fire radios are not usually used using voice to transmit door, gate and key box codes, and other access data. The information is transmitted via existing secure mobile data terminals or secure one-to-one telephone communications.
Apparently, with encryption activated in the northwest suburbs, firefighters, paramedics, and dispatchers will think they are more free to disclose patient details and security details via voice over the encrypted radios.
When sensitive information is broadcast over radio (encrypted or not encrypted), the voice audio is broadcast to multiple radio receivers. Anyone within earshot of radios (e.g., in the grocery store, bystanders on the street, in a business, in a private home, in a fire station where an unintended audience of visitors might be present) can hear the sensitive information. Therefore, while encryption greatly reduces the exposure of sensitive information to an unintended audience, the use of voice over radio is not a 100 percent secure operation. Instead, the use of text data transmission to a narrow or singular intended audience, which is the current communication method (before voice encryption is activated soon), is 100 percent secure.
According to the Seattle Fire Department, their main dispatch channels, which use radios to communicate when and where incidents are occurring, will remain open for the public to hear via radio scanners. In addition, Seattle Fire provides an online list of Real-Time 911 Dispatch incidents on a web page, which lists all dispatched incidents for a particular day. Citizens can choose to view a real-time list that is updated every 60 seconds, or can enter a date to review incidents for a particular day.
The Seattle Fire Department declared that the department is committed to sharing information with the public and media about significant incidents as they are unfolding.
In addition, citizens are encouraged by the fire department to follow Seattle Fire Department on social media: X, Facebook, and Instagram. Seattle Fire Department also has an active YouTube channel.
Seattle Fire also has a searchable news blog, known as Fire Line Seattle Fire Department that publishes recaps of significant incidents, fire department news, events presented for the public, notification of fire department personnel training exercises, public training awareness and availability (e.g, CPR, Stop the Bleed classes), pilot programs involving EMS medications, fire department ceremonies, and public safety advisories. A designated news blog is a smart implementation because not all people want to use social media platforms, and the official news blog is a preferred source of information for searching for articles efficiently. The official news blog format is often favored over the continuous stream of social media posts. A news blog has more effective search capabilities for narrowing down specific information from official fire department posts. Social media searches bring results that are outside the fire department organization. A news blog is also more customizable for delivering fire department news and information in a format or design that the fire department prefers. An official news blog can also include internal ads that promote the fire department’s news and information. An official fire department news blog can also be published in a manner that prohibits comments, which can include hateful messages, distracting messages, and misinformation that is often present in social media, such as Facebook. Additionally, an official fire department news blog can automatically feed articles to social media.
Seattle Fire Department also encourages citizens to download the PulsePoint app, which is a free mobile application that alerts residents when a person is suffering from sudden cardiac arrest in their immediate vicinity. The PulsePoint app also notifies residents of the location of the nearest Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), and provides Real-Time 911 dispatch incidents and location information, that includes incidents such as fires, crashes, and other rescue incidents while redacting information involving privacy concerns.
Public information video on PulsePoint from the Seattle Fire Department and Medic One Foundation (Seattle Fire Department/YouTube). YouTube Tips ⓘ
Regarding the Arlington Heights Fire Department? We have none of the Information Age features of a modern 21st Century fire department … No online real-time dispatch data, no social media, no dedicated YouTube channel, no publicly-marketed public information officer, no news blog, no PulsePoint application, no consistent release of information on significant incidents, and no declaration that the fire department is committed to sharing information with the public, or sharing information regarding incidents unfolding.
The same goes for the lack of leadership responsibility for most of the other fire departments and fire districts in the Northwest Central Dispatch System area.
Citizens in the northwest suburbs …
Go to your Village Board meetings and City Council meetings and use the public forum format to ask why your fire department falls far short of the level of quality information sharing commitment of the Seattle Fire Department. Or send your municipal leaders an email.
Your actions could actually be lifesaving, reduce injuries or reduce the severity of injuries, and could save property.
Also, in the event of a major incident that causes unnecessary death and injury due to …
failure of public disclosure by Police/Fire Service/EMS,
failure of the encryption technology itself, or
failure of Fire/EMS services operations due to mismanaged encryption;
please print this article and/or store this article digitally to be prepared to present to a catastrophic injury lawyer this background information that could demonstrate failure to provide Standard Level of Care by the EMS System and the 9-1-1 Dispatch System.
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