City of New Haven, Connecticut

TOWN OF NORTH BRANFORD, CONNECTICUT FIRE DEPARTMENT December 2005

STANDARD OPERATING GUIDELINE FOR REPORTING APPARATUS ACCIDENTS

1.0 SCOPE

The Town of North Branford Fire Department hereby establishes a written policy for reporting accidents which involve town owned fire and emergency response apparatus that result in personal injury, property damage or damage to town owned vehicles. Note: apparatus herein is defined as pumping engines, pumper-tankers, aerial ladders/platforms, light and medium duty rescue units, special operations type vehicles, boats, ambulances and staff vehicles.

2.0 PURPOSE

The purpose of this Standard Operating Guideline shall be to permit members of the North Branford Fire Department and or employees of Vin-Tech, to properly report and document accidents involving town owned vehicles.

3.0 NBFD OPERATIONS

 Members of the North Branford Fire Department and or employees of Vin- Tech will be permitted to operate town owned fire and emergency response apparatus providing the apparatus operator holds a valid CT-Department of Motor Vehicles Operators license for the class of vehicle to be operated.  The member driving the emergency response vehicle shall have received appropriate training in its operation and must be deemed qualified by the proper Department Officer(s).  On an annual basis, the District Chief’s shall submit to the Fire Chief, a list of members qualified to operate Department apparatus; a copy of their CT- DMV operator’s license must be on file with their Company Captain.

1  Situations which result in an apparatus accident must be reported immediately to North Branford Emergency Communications dispatch, the designated Company Captain and Fire Chief.  If necessary, North Branford Dispatch shall place the apparatus involved in the accident off-duty and cover the initial alarm with another unit.  Apparatus accidents which occur on public or private roadways, interstate highways or other routes used for passage shall be reported to the law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the accident occurs. Incidents on state highways shall be reported to the Connecticut State Police while accidents on Regional Water Authority property must be reported the the RWA Police.  Members shall not leave an accident scene without completing a police accident report, failure to do violates Connecticut General Statutes Section 14-224, “Evasion of Responsibility.”  An appropriate reporting form shall be completed by the members involved in the incident as cited in a Department Memorandum issued August 25, 2005.  Finally, if an accident results in an injury to fire department personnel, receiving proper medical care is a priority; don’t hesitate to call for appropriate resources.

3.0 EFFECTIVE DATE

This Standard Operating Guideline is effective 1800 hours on December 12, 2005.

BY ORDER OF THE FIRE CHIEF