12.                   FIRE/RESCUE COMMUNICATIONS – SPECIFIC

 

12.1                RESPONDING

 

                        A.        All units due on an assignment should advise the Communications Center of their response.  It is suggested that, if all units due from your company leave the station together, the OIC or one unit advise the Communications Center what units are responding. 

 

                                    1. In County or units with Cumberland 800 radio capability

                                        will advise their response status on 800 Fire 1 unless

                                        an operations talk group is assigned.

                                   

                                    2. Out of County units who do not have access to the

                                        Cumberland 800 network will advise status on Conventional

                                      Fire 1.

 

                        B.        The following Chiefs may advise "Responding" on incidents:

 

                                    1.         Municipal Chiefs of the municipality in which the incident is occurring.

                                    2.         The First Due Company Chiefs.

3.            One Chief from each additional company dispatched    

            on the initial alarm.

4.            Chiefs from second (or greater) alarm and companies  

            which are transferred shall not advise of their

            response.

 

C.                Manpower Reporting

 

1.        Units will report their manpower when responding as required by local procedures. It will be logged by the Communications Center. Any unit not reporting manpower will be logged as having none. Manpower will be reported as a single number with no other qualifiers(E165 responding with 4).

Total manpower will be provided when (If) it is requested.

 

D.                Known or reported incident conditions will be given to the

existing incident officer or unit in charge when due units are responding or prior to re-dispatch if such occurs. If subsequent

responses occur from ranking incident commanders, they will

be given incident conditions.

 

 

E.                 Operational talk groups will be assigned soon after due units are responding or as necessary should units arrive on the scene and initiate operations early in the incident. Refer to

Section 11.8 of the manual for specific talk group assigning

 

 

12.2                REPORTING ON-THE-SCENE/FIREGROUND REPORT

 

                        A.        The first arriving mobile unit on-the-scene of an incident will provide the Communications Center a visual report of the incident utilizing the Fireground Structure Identification System for area identification (refer to Section 11.9).

 

                        B.        All first alarm apparatus or companies can advise Headquarters of their arrival to the scene.  Second alarm or other mutual aid apparatus will not advise the status of "On-the-Scene."  These units should contact Command for assignment or assume Level 2 staging until Command provides an assignment.

 

                        C.        Initial fire ground reports will be transmitted to responding units on the assigned Ops talk group.

 

                        D.        Chiefs may advise "On-the-Scene" only if they are the first arriving unit at the incident, or if they are assuming incident command.

 

 

 

12.3                DISPATCH POLICY FOR FAILED APPARATUS RESPONSE

 

 

                        A.        Fire Apparatus - If no unit is on-the-air and no Chief Officer has advised responding, the following re‑dispatch/failure policy will be followed:

 

 

                                    Single Engine Response:

 

                                    Four (4) Minutes:                   Re‑dispatch original Engine Company; dispatch next due Engine Company.

 

 

 

                                    Multiple Engine Company Response:

 

                                    Four (4) Minutes:                   Re‑dispatch * non-responding companies and/or equipment.

 

                                    Five (5) Minutes:                   Re‑dispatch non-responding companies and/or equipment and dispatch next due Engine Company.

 

Other Apparatus Response: (Truck, Squad, Etc.)           

 

     Four (4) Minutes:                                      Re‑dispatch

                                                                        equipment due.

                                    Five (5) Minutes:                   Dispatch next due where practical.

 

            *           NOTE:  Any re‑dispatches or apparatus replacement must be authorized by a Unit/Chief on-the-air if such exists.  If no Unit/Chief is on-the-air, re‑dispatch and apparatus replacement is considered authorized.

 

12.4                REFUSAL TO RESPOND

 

 

                        A.        If an agency refuses to respond to a request for assistance,      

                                    the primary responsible agency must contact the requestor

                                    to inform them of the decision.

 

                       B.         Should the Communications Center receive additional requests from a caller who was refused service, the Communications Center will contact the appropriate chief or his designee. If the Communications Center deems it necessary, they will redispatch the appropriate

                                    response.