I. INTRODUCTION:

A. Purpose & Scope - This Document covers procedures and guidelines governing communications between Fire/EMS Emergency Service Agencies within Steuben County, New York.

B. It is designed to standardize Communication procedures and maintain the discipline required in the Steuben County Emergency Communication System.

1.) The need for standardization cannot be overemphasized. Standard Operating Procedures which save time, reduce confusion and eliminate errors will assist all concerned in providing timely and predictable reaction to emergency situations. 2.) The use of the procedures outlined in this manual is mandatory for all operators of Radio Equipment on any frequency licensed for the use of Steuben County Fire Departments, Emergency Medical Services and/or Rescue.

C. It is an Official Guide of Conduct for operations and training personnel of Steuben County Fire/EMS Services.

D. The contents outline policy and Standard Operating Procedures to be followed in a variety of situations. It is impossible to develop procedures for every situation, therefore, in situations not covered by specific instruction, decisions made and actions taken must be governed by common sense and judgement on the part of the OIC's/IC's.

E. Changes and Revisions - It is pertinent to the contents of this Document to be up-to- date at all times. Recommendations for change may be submitted at any time and shall be forwarded in writing to the chief officer of the department, who will submit to the area chiefs and Deputy Coordinator, who will submit to Steuben County EMO office who will submit to the Fire Advisory Board. Any changes or revisions not submitted at least 30 Days prior to a meeting of the Fire Advisory Board shall be tabled to the next regular meeting for action on same. For all requests for change/revision: 1.) Reasons should be provided with each recommendation to insure clarity and understanding for the change or addition. 2.) The Communications Committee will meet at least annually for a formal review of this Document. 3.) Approved changes will be published as revised pages whenever possible.

F. No Fire Radio may operate on F1 as part of the Steuben County Fire Network unless specifically authorized by the County Fire Coordinator and the County Fire Advisory Board, and in accordance with regulations of the Federal Communications Commission. Upon application to the County Fire Coordinator and the County Fire Advisory Board and upon issuance of a Mobile Station, the Fire Chief and Assistant Chiefs of a Fire Department may install and operate a mobile unit in their personal vehicle. A list of authorized users will be submitted to Steuben County 911 and Emergency Management yearly and upon change.

II. DISPATCHING:

A. When alerting a Fire Department for an emergency Fire response, the following Protocols will be followed: 1.) The dispatcher will activate pagers/siren (for those who use siren) and announce Address, Cross streets, Name on residence or business, Nature of call and repeat the information. 2.) Upon dispatch, the CAD system will send an email message to the departments I Am Responding (IAR) address with location, type of call, and sequence number which will distribute it to the departments’ IAR home screen and appropriate personnel. 3.) For EMS responses, the dispatcher will activate pagers and give the above information with the addition of an EMD code. 4.) (Fire) If no apparatus is enroute within THREE (3) MINUTES, the Department will be paged again. If no apparatus is enroute within FIVE (5) MINUTES of FIRST activation, the Dispatcher will check the number of personnel who have called in on the departments IAR and advise the responding chief to ascertain his/her preference. If no chief is on the air, the dispatcher will tone out the closest neighboring department to respond to the call. 5.) The dispatcher will give the number of members who have called in to the I Am Responding system when the first chief goes on scene. 6.) (EMS) If no apparatus is enroute within THREE (3) MINUTES, the Department will be paged again. If no apparatus is enroute within SIX (6) MINUTES of FIRST activation, the home department will be paged again along with an initial dispatch to the prearranged or closest agency for mutual aid. 7.) If a Fire Department is dispatched for their Certified First Responder Unit to respond to an EMS call and there is no apparatus response, the dispatcher will notify the responding ambulance via radio. 8.) For all structure fire responses, the dispatcher will notify the incident commander of a time marker every 20 minutes until the fire is declared under control or the Incident Commander request to suspend.

B. Dispatchers shall identify units by number when communicating with them. When a unit calls the Fire/EMS Dispatcher, they will identify themselves by both Department name and unit number. Name and Number are a must as it helps to eliminate confusion for the Dispatcher.

C. Steuben County Fire/EMS dispatch shall be called “Steuben” on the radio.

D. Firefighters will not call the Dispatch Center to get call information personally, or to "find out what's' going on". Also, "volunteering" of equipment over the air MUST BE STOPPED, the OIC's, IC's or DC's should know the availability of equipment.

E. Times will be recorded for the "first piece of equipment" and/or ambulance to respond. The first unit who reports "on-scene" will give an initial report or "Size-Up" and direct other responding units to go to a tactical frequency. The Dispatcher WILL ECHO the "Size-Up". When responding to Mutual-Aid and Standbys, wait for all tones and voice messages to be sent by dispatch before coming on the air with any messages. It is NOT necessary for every unit to call "on-the-scene". These procedures will provide the necessary information for the State Fire Report.

All times for calls will be sent via email to the appropriate department(s) after resources are back in service. If the email is not received, call 607-664- 2803 identifying department and response needed and the dispatcher will email it to you. Ambulances needing times for PCR’s before returning to station should call 607-664-2803.

Any phone calls directed to the 911 Supervisor should be made, using 607- 664-2801. These calls should be made by the chief or IC. All calls are recorded.

F. “Out of service" apparatus will be announced at 0800 and 1800 hrs. daily by dispatch with other county announcements. G. With increasing use of the Box Alarm System (BAS), the implementation of "NO ECHO" has become necessary. This will be put into effect at Dispatch’s discretion during large scale/multiple department incidents. Dispatch will continue to note responding apparatus times in CAD but will only respond to emergency requests on air. This will help eliminate mass radio congestion during busy dispatch/response times. “NO ECHO” will be lifted at the 911 Center’s discretion.

H. When a CODE 100 is put into effect, the Dispatch Center will announce it on F1 then repeat the announcement at FIFTEEN (15) MINUTE intervals until CODE 100 is lifted. A marker tone will be activated by the dispatcher on the radio frequency during the Code 100. The Code 100 will be lifted at the 911 Center’s discretion or by order of Incident Command.

III. GENERAL PROCEDURES & INFORMATION:

A. After first unit or OIC arrives "on-scene" and gives the initial "size-up" a tactical frequency should be assigned, as soon as possible. This will keep F1 clear for dispatching. Ambulances are to use Med. Freq. whenever possible, unless involved with an incident when Fire Department is involved or Dispatching is involved.

B. Tanker's involved in Water Shuttle Operations, once on the scene, DO NOT use the radio unless there is a mechanical problem, emergency, or you are called. It is NOT necessary to call when returning back and forth.

C. Deputy Fire Coordinator's should be alerted when TWO (2) or MORE Departments are functioning at the scene of a Fire or other Emergency, HAZ- MAT incident, Fire Calls to Schools, Nursing Homes, Day Care Center's, Hospital's, Fire Investigation's in their areas and other incidents deemed necessary by the Dispatcher or IC.

E. There shall be NO SWEARING or FOUL LANGUAGE used on ANY of the frequencies assigned to the Steuben County Fire Service. Radio frequencies are to be used for Public Safety only and not for personal or private use.

F. Chief and Assistant Chiefs will be the only recognized command units for each Fire Department; they will be designated by adding 01, 02, and 03 to the Chiefs identifier. Captains, Fire Police, EMS, etc. must use portable identifier whether it’s a mobile radio or not. Portable identifiers are the Dept.'s number followed by the number "7", followed by "1-10". Example: Canisteo - "Chief 10, Chief 10-01, 10-02 and 10-03" Canisteo Portables - "10-7-4, 10-7-5, 10-7-6" Units with Portable Identifiers should not call on the air in response of a call to dispatch unless no other chief officer is on the air.

G. When responding to mutual-aid calls, it is necessary for each individual piece of apparatus to call out to ensure all equipment requested is responding. It is not necessary for Assistant Chiefs' to call en route or "on- scene" to the Dispatch Center when responding to mutual-aid calls. This will leave the frequency clear for important messages.

H. It is not necessary for Assistant Chiefs' to report "out-of-service" when going out of their areas.

I. It is not necessary for each unit to call in when returning to the station from the scene. ONE CALL for ALL the units is sufficient.

J. It is NOT necessary to report units "out-of-service" for drill, Community Service, parades, etc.. unless unit is "out-of-service" and not available for call.

K. ALL radio messages are to be kept as short as possible and to the point. ALL messages are to be in "plain English." Slang terms or codes outside of the CODE100 shall not be used. There is no "10 Code" system in Steuben County.

IV. ANNOUNCEMENTS & TESTING PROCEDURES:

A. The Emergency Management Office provides announcements for classes, trainings and meetings to the Dispatch Center. These announcements will be made at approximately 0800 and 1800 hours.

B. The dispatch center maintains a weekly testing list – they test any day you request at approx.1815hrs. Any department wishing a weekly test should submit it in writing on department letterhead via email or fax to 911 and it will be added. Deputy Fire coordinators and the Fire Investigation team are tested Saturdays at approx. 12noon.

C. Any Departments with monitor/pager testing capability, who wishes to test their equipment, must clear it with the Fire/EMS dispatcher before sending tones or making announcements on F1.

D. Announcements of individual Department (i.e. fund raising) related events will not be made by the Dispatch Center.

V. REPORTS OF PROBLEMS & CONCERNS/COMPLAINTS:

A. In the event of large scale storms – departments should staff base station radio, prioritize and make their own notifications for problems such as power outage, gas leak, wires down, etc. when this is possible. The Dispatch Center is usually overwhelmed with calls during these periods. If the Dispatch Center has to be used, be sure to have ALL the pertinent information for the Utility Company involved. B. Radio Repair – 607-664-2700 - When calling for Radio Repair, give the name of the Department, the unit in need of repair, and the name of the firefighter making the request. If possible do this by phone. Do not call the Fire/EMS dispatcher for radio repair issues. If County Owned equipment is involved you MUST use the contracted radio repair service through the County.

C. Concerns or Problems with Dispatchers will be made by a chief officer to the Director or Deputy Director of 911. The concerns received will be investigated in a timely manner and held in the strictest of confidence, and a report of the findings issued to the complainant if requested.

VI. TRAINING: A. To make ANY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM EFFECTIVE any additions, corrections, etc. must be passed onto EVERYONE no matter what their status is in the Department. It will be the ultimate responsibility of the 46 CHIEFS' in the County, be it through your Training Officers' or whatever means training gets done, that our Communication System will work. This Document is only as strong as "WE" make it; it will not catch on overnight, but if EVERYONE cooperates, the transition should go smoothly.

VII. ENFORCEMENT: A. ANY infraction or misuse of the Articles in this Document will be brought to the attention of the Fire Coordinators Office/Deputy Coordinator and the Fire Advisory Board for appropriate actions to be made.

REMEMBER - THERE ARE 46 DEPARTMENTS IN THIS COUNTY THAT USE THE SAME RADIO SYSTEM, ALONG WITH OTHER AGENCIES BOTH COUNTY AND STATE ON THE SAME SYSTEM. PLAESE BE CONSIDERATE.

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