Difference between revisions of "Radio Communications"

Revision as of 12:17, 20 July 2016

Section 2 - EMERGENCY OPERATIONS

240.01 Radio Communications

PURPOSE:

To provide procedures for radio communications using mobile and portable hand held radios.

PROCEDURE:

Public Safety Answering Point

All 911 calls placed in the City of Maitland will be answered by the Maitland Police Department dispatch center. The dispatcher will gather the necessary information from the 911 caller including:

• The type of emergency (police, fire or medical)
• The address of the emergency
• General information on the patient complaint (chest pain, shortness of breath etc.)
  

The dispatcher will then connect the 911 caller with the Orange County Fire Rescue Dispatch Center who will gather more detailed information about the alarm and dispatch Maitland Fire Department units utilizing OCFD Tac 1.

Radio Procedures Fire 1

• All available MFRD units shall monitor Fire 1 when away from their assigned station and not assigned a incident. The Fire 1 operator will be advised any time a unit leaves quarters, leaves it's first due area, changes to another channel for non-emergency communication, arrives at another destination or goes out of service. Fire 1 operator may occasionally challenge a unit for its location. When this occurs, the unit shall indicate their exact location.
• Still alarms will be reported on Fire 1. In the event the Fire 1 operator cannot process the alarm immediately, the unit may be asked to report the still alarm on another channel.
• The Communications Center Supervisor may order various announcements, which will be performed on Fire 1. These could include inclement weather warnings, change of training schedule, etc.
• Fire 1 will only be used for status changes and dispatch of Emergency Responses Equipment and Personnel. All other transmissions shall be made on Fire 2.

Radio Procedures During Unit Response

• Units that are dispatched to an incident must select the channel assignment indicated in the dispatch and advise, “responding” either verbally or through use of MDC (mobile data computer) or both, to confirm acknowledgment of the alarm.
• The dispatcher will challenge any unit that does not respond on the appropriate channel, at the 2-minute mark from time of dispatch with, for example, “Engine 45 confirm response”. If the unit does not immediately respond, a back-up phone call will be made to the station to confirm the unit received the alarm. The Fire 1 operator will also be asked to re-tone the station.
• If response of the unit cannot be confirmed within 3 minutes from time of initial dispatch, a replacement unit will be dispatched and the Battalion Chief will be notified.
• A third repeat of the dispatch information is available to all units that are MDC equipped. A third repeat will be given verbally by the dispatcher for all alarms involving the response of a single manned unit, i.e., EMS Supervisor, after all units assigned to the call have advised “responding”. In the event a unit needs an immediate repeat of the address, cannot wait until all units have responded, or the MDC is not available the unit will advise and the dispatcher will provide the information immediately.
  
• The third repeat will include all of the information that is pertinent to the call that was received by the call taker. This will include medical history, communicable disease information, specific location information (such as office suite number or directions to the site), etc. NOTE: In the case of communicable disease information, the exact nature of the illness will not be given – the units will only be advised to use “Universal Precautions”.
• If the call taker receives additional pertinent information, the responding units will be updated immediately regardless of the MDC status. This information may include, but not limited to, anything that could be life threatening to the patient or personnel responding, address directions, change in patient status, etc. Situations that are found to be violent or unstable at time of call will be verbalized to the units immediately. MDC’s should be used for all other updates.
• Units that are responding to an alarm are subject to being diverted to a higher priority call and should be alert to such diversions. In the event that two units are equally close to a call, the dispatcher or OIC will determine which unit will continue.

Cancellations

• Once units have been dispatched to a call, they will continue response but may alter their mode of response to non-emergency until:
  • Another Maitland or mutual aid fire department unit arrives on the scene and cancels them;
  • It is determined by the highest-ranking officer dispatched that our services are not needed; or
  • The unit is diverted to another call.
• Any alarm that is dispatched will require an incident number. This includes alarms that are canceled before response and automatic fire alarms at fire stations.
• Whenever a full compliment is responding to an incident and one unit indicates that it can handle the scene without any other unit’s assistance, the cancellation request will be repeated, and the incoming units will be cancelled by the dispatcher. A “roll call” will be conducted for units that are not MDC equipped. All other units may utilize the MDC to return to Fire 1. EX: “E45 advising no fire, E45 can handle, all other units return to service. Incoming units utilize the MDC to return to Fire 1.”
• Dispatchers may cancel units when the location given has been determined to be incorrect. The alarm would then be re-dispatched to the correct location or turned over to the correct agency. If the same units will be sent to the corrected (new) location, then the dispatcher will use the SL command to officially record the new location. If a different set of units will be sent to the corrected address, a new incident should be created.

Arrival on the Scene

• In the event the unit is having difficulty locating the scene, the dispatcher will assist in any way possible including calling the original caller back for additional information on the location.
• If the unit has been responding for 8 minutes without arriving on the scene, the dispatcher will challenge the unit and offer assistance. See Units Unable to Locate an Address.***The dispatcher will make every effort to contact the original caller for further directions. The call taker will play the tape back and obtain as much information as possible, confirming the location. The Communications Supervisor will be notified.***
• Units arriving on the scene of a non-EMS call will give an arrival report immediately and the dispatcher will repeat the report in full. In the event an arrival report is not given, the dispatcher will challenge the unit for it.
• If units arrive on the scene and determine the scene to be more severe than originally reported, or if the units need to have a dedicated channel for their alarm, the AIP dispatcher will move the other calls to another channel and the working incident will remain on the channel originally assigned. The AIP operator will follow the Upgrading Alarm procedure as necessary.

Situation Reports

• Once the unit has had a chance to assess the situation, a situation report will be given. On EMS incidents, this will include whether the patient requires ALS or BLS assistance. On fire calls, it will include extent of involvement, exposures, etc.
• The dispatcher will challenge units that have not reported a situation report within 5 minutes. In the event of a situation involving an illegal activity (fight, gunshot wound, etc.), the dispatcher may require a situation report before 5 minutes have elapsed.
• Periodic updates should be given by, or to, command whenever any of the following milestones have passed:
  • Patient contact
  • 10 minutes into alarm from time on scene
  • 20 minutes into alarm from time on scene
  • Patient revived, coded, extricated, or shocked
  • Fire under control
  • Fire out
  • Patient transported
• The dispatcher will repeat all arrival, significant situation reports, and requests for additional units and then enter that information into the CAD (computer aided dispatch) report.

Command

• Command will be established on multi-company (more than two units) incidents. The officer establishing command shall name command. If command does not assign a name, the dispatcher will prompt them for this information. The dispatcher will repeat the assumption and transfer of command. Once command has been established, all radio communications that incident will be received from and directed to command using the full name of command. EX: “Orange County to McDonald’s Command…”

Availability

• Ideally, units will advise dispatch whenever they become available for another alarm. However occasionally units that are not available can become available faster than a second due unit can respond to a new alarm. If the type of alarm or amount of time on the scene indicates, the dispatcher will ask the unit if it can become available. If the unit advises that it can become available, the dispatch will be made on the AIP channel.
• The dispatcher will alert the units on the channel that an emergency call is pending and the dispatcher will be challenging a unit(s) for availability status. The AIP dispatcher will perform the actual dispatch of the unit.

Ten/Twenty Minute Warnings

• On involved incidents such as codes, structure fires, extrication, when the incident has reached ten minutes and twenty minutes into the alarm from the time of arrival of the first unit on the scene. This warning will be preceded by a solid alert tone. The warning will be calculated from the time on scene of the first Public Safety Unit’s arrival. The warnings are given at 10-minute intervals until Command advises to ‘stop the clock’.

Radio Channel Assignments

• All AIP radio channels, Fire1 –Fire 10, will be monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The other channels will be monitored only for the activation of an Emergency Alarm.
• In the event a transmission made to the dispatcher on a monitored channel is not acknowledged, the person/unit should repeat the transmission. In the event the second transmission is not acknowledged, the person/unit will assume that one of the radios is out of service. An attempt should be made to transmit on another channel. If that transmission is also not answered, contact should be made to the Communications Center by phone immediately.
• It is important for everyone to realize that both portable and mobile radios will be heard by everyone monitoring the channel. Courtesy and professionalism will be maintained at all times.
• All transmissions initiated by dispatch will be preceded by the unit/person’s radio I.D. The OCFRD dispatch center does not use 10 codes, QSL signals, etc. All transmissions will be made in plain English. The FCC prohibits any use of profanity on the air.
  • Units should always be acknowledged or answered using their unit ID.
  • Command should always be acknowledged or spoken to by their command name. I.e., “Orange County to Maitland Command”.
  • The phrase “Orange County copies”, “check” or “understood” should not be used. The dispatcher should repeat back the pertinent information, including the unit ID.
  • i.e. Unit, “E45 on the scene, single story, ordinary construction, 1100 square foot residential, smoke showing from the roof.”
  • AIP: “E45 reporting single story, ordinary construction, 1100 square foot residential, smoke showing from the roof.”
• The OCFRD has 12 primary radio channels that are commonly used for emergency and non-emergency communications.
• The radio channels are numbered 1-16 and are generally used as follows:
  • FIRE 1 - Emergency dispatching and unit status changes
  • FIRE 2 - Non-emergency communications from units to dispatch
  • FIRE 3 - Alarms in Progress - Eastside - Alarms with less than 4 units
  • FIRE 4 - Alarms in Progress - Eastside - Alarms with more than 4 units
  • FIRE 5 - Alarms in Progress - Southside - Alarms with less than 4 units
  • FIRE 6 - Alarms in Progress - Southside - Alarms with more than 4 units
  • FIRE 7 - Alarms in Progress - Northside - Alarms with less than 4 units
  • FIRE 8 - Alarms in Progress - Northside - Alarms with more than 4 units
  • FIRE 9 - Alarms in Progress - Northside - Overflow Alarms
  • FIRE 10 - Inter-Agency communication (other agencies calling OCFRD)
  • FIRE 11 – Eatonville/RMA Responses
  • FIRE 14 - Unit-to-Unit Communications
• Dispatch personnel are responsible for making the notifications as outlined in this procedure. Maitland Fire Department personnel are responsible for ensuring that pagers, telephones, etc. are in good working order. Fire Administration is responsible for providing a printout of employee’s telephone numbers quarterly.

Automatic Notifications

• Ambulances - The dispatcher is responsible for ensuring that a transport capable ambulance is responding to every medical emergency in the City of Eatonville and mutual aid response areas within Orange County. In most cases, this need will be fulfilled by a commercial ambulance company and in others; Maitland Fire Department will be responsible for transporting the patient. This notification may/may not occur electronically but it is still the AIP operator’s responsibility to call commercial ambulance companies to ensure that they received electronic notification. If a commercial ambulance has not radioed ‘responding’ within 2 minutes from time of dispatch, the AIP operator will call the commercial ambulance dispatcher to confirm availability.
• Law Enforcement - The AIP operator is responsible for ensuring that the appropriate law enforcement agency has been notified on any incident involving an illegal activity or auto accident. Whenever the call comes in via 9-1-1, the law enforcement dispatcher is usually still on the line and the call taker should verify if the law enforcement agency is en route. This also may occur during the 9-1-1 call but it is the AIP dispatcher’s responsibility to ensure that it has been done.
• The Maitland Police Department responds to all auto accidents within the City of Maitland. Florida Highway Patrol – FHP responds to all auto accidents occurring in unincorporated Orange County. Eatonville Police Department responds to all accidents within the City of Eatonville. It will be the responsibility of the AIP operator to make this notification to the appropriate police agency.
• All notifications will be noted in the CAD system Incident History.
• Fire Department Personnel per SOG 110.02.

Requested Notifications

• Office of the Fire Marshal - Occasionally units will arrive on the scene of a location that requires immediate action by the City of Maitland Fire Marshal. Upon request, the dispatcher will notify the Fire Marshall to respond, if necessary.
• State Fire Marshal’s Offices - The State Fire Marshal’s Office handles all arson investigations for MFRD and will investigate any incident where the cause of the fire is unknown.
• At least one public safety unit should remain on the scene until the State Fire Marshal arrives. This is to maintain the chain of custody of any evidence present as well as to provide security for the scene. The SFM does not normally handle investigations of brush fires. The Division of Forestry handles these.
• Red Cross Responder – In the event an occupant is displaced from their home, usually due to fire or water damage, an ARC responder may be notified to assist. During business hours, Monday-Friday 0800-1630, the Red Cross should be notified at their office 407-894-4141. After hours, the Red Cross can be reached by activating the A RED CROSS paging group in the Supervisor or MedCom PC.