Dispatch Pre-Alert Tones – Effective Wednesday June 27th, 2007 - 1200
The following tones will be used for the pre-alert of fire and EMS incidents:
Fire Incident – FIRE ALERT (top bar of the radio console/miscellaneous window) will be depressed for three (3) seconds (transmitting a high/low tone) prior to the dispatch of fire related incidents (including MVA’s).
EMS Incident – EMS ALERT (top bar of the radio console/miscellaneous window) will be depressed for three (3) seconds (transmitting a series of beeps) prior to the dispatch of EMS related incidents.
Announcement – ANNOUNCE (top bar of the radio console/miscellaneous window) will be depressed for three (3) seconds (transmitting a steady tone) for any announcements (including weather bulletins).
10-Codes – Effective Monday July 2nd, 2007 – 0600
Federal and state laws require all public safety agencies to use plain language communications instead of 10 codes as part of interoperability plans. At the present time, there are still instances where Communications Officers use 10 codes when communicating with field units and personnel. Effective immediately, all 10 code usage is eliminated.
Below are the current 10 codes being used and the acceptable plain language terminology which will replace them.
Current 10 Code Definition/New Terminology
10-1 Unable to Copy/Unreadable
10-2 Able to Copy/Readable/Clear
10-4 Received, OK, Copy
10-21 Call by Telephone/Contact _____ by Telephone
10-25 Meet in Person/Meet ______ at _________
EX. Instead of saying “your transmission is 10-1”, you would say “your transmission is unreadable”
EX. Instead of saying “your transmission is 10-2”, you would say “your transmission is readable/clear”
EX. Instead of saying “10-4” to acknowledge units, you would say “received/OK/copy”
EX. Instead of saying “10-21 Communications”, you would say “contact Communications by telephone”
EX. Instead of saying “10-25 Assistant Chief 7 at Station 7”, you would say “meet Assistant Chief 7 at Station 7”
Classification of Incidents – Effective Monday July 2nd, 2007 at 0600
There is a lack of clear policy relating to response assignments, creating inconsistency in dispatch. The caller should not dictate our response as they are not trained. Our established procedures should dictate our response assignments. There are many different Communications Officers sitting at the dispatch consoles, all with varying levels of fire/EMS training. The same information from callers should indicate the same response. It should not be based on who is dispatching.
Any smoke, odor of smoke/burning, electrical fire/problem, article/product fire (appliances, furniture, vehicle, etc), fuel/gas leak/spill, or hazardous material incident occurring inside (including below (basement) and above (roof)) a structure will cause a full alert. Specifically, if the fire or fire related problem is occurring inside a structure, a full dispatch should be alerted.
All information related to the incident will be relayed to field units/personnel and officers/monitors of the responding stations/apparatus have the authority to alter (reduce or increase) the assignment or response.
* Exception – Fire alarm activations will generate a two station alert
Alarm Activations – Dispatch – Effective July 2nd, 2007 at 0600
The dispatch of alarms (fire or medical) will occur prior to any attempt to contact a residence, business, or institution. If you have enough primary information (address) to dispatch the incident, it should be dispatched. If time allows after the dispatch, you should attempt to contact the property generating the alarm for additional information. Any information obtained from the property owner, key-holder, or alarm-company will be relayed to responding officers/monitors and apparatus. A request to cancel from the property owner or business will be relayed over the radio with the final decision to cancel (or not to cancel) resting with the fire or EMS stations. If information is obtained prior to any officer/monitor or apparatus responding the additional information will be relayed as a general broadcast on the dispatch channel
Any cancellation or reduction in assignment will be the authority of responding officers/monitors or apparatus.
A fire alarm will generate a two station alert.
If additional information is received, indicating a full alert is warranted on an alarm activation, the information should be relayed to responding units and the assignment upgraded to the full alert for the structure.
Fire Investigation (definition) – Effective July 2nd, 2007 at 0600
The fire investigation classification will only be used for the investigation of a fire related situation occurring outside of a structure. If the situation/emergency is occurring inside (including roof or basement) the call should be treated as a structure incident and generate a full alert.
Train Incidents- Effective July 2nd, 2007 at 0600
Response to Train Incidents (derailment or fire) – three stations (including EMS), hazardous-material team, law enforcement, and notification to the railroad company. An incident classification will be added in the CAD for train incidents. Brush and grass fires generated by trains should be classified as such, unless the train is involved in the fire.
General Dispatch of Incidents – Effective July 2nd, 2007 at 0600
It is the policy of the ESVA 911 Center to dispatch the appropriate response to an incident based on information obtained from callers. This meaning Communications Officers will generate an incident and dispatch a response for callers who may be uncertain of what they see (unknown if on fire, but may be), callers who we believe may not be being truthful (possible false call), callers we believe do not really have an emergency, possible brush/woods fire (unattended fire, unknown if a control burn, or complainant concerned about a safety issue, etc.), someone may be ill or injured (unknown).
All information related to the incident will be relayed over the radio allowing Stations/Officers to make appropriate decisions regarding response and changes to the assignment.
Nothing should originate or terminate in the 911 Center. Our responsibility is to obtain the appropriate information and dispatch the appropriate response.
Map Page/Coordinates Information – Effective July 2nd, 2007 at 0600
The map page and coordinates should be provided to each apparatus when they advise they are responding or when requested. Driving directions should be provided when requested by a monitor or apparatus. If you are unable to provide driving directions (due to call volume or other acceptable reasons) you should advise units when they make a request for driving directions.
The request of map related information or any other information relating to the incident, allowing better care or response by field personnel, should be provided readily without any reflection of negative tone or attitude on the radio or phone.
Discontinuance of Paging Requests/ Threshold for Alerting Next Due Effective July 2nd, 2007 at 0600
After the initial alert of a Station (fire or EMS), they will be re-paged every two minutes. If a Station fails to advise they are responding by eight (8) minutes after the initial dispatch, the next due will be alerted. Any request to not alert the next due station after eight (8) minutes, should not be honored.
Communications Officers will not ask stations (including monitors) if they would like to discontinue the paging of their station or the any other station. Our policy is to continue paging a station until they advise they are responding. The first due station and all subsequent stations paged will continue to be re-paged every two minutes until one of the following occur: the first due station advises they are responding, the 911 Center is advised to discontinue paging stations by responding apparatus, or an apparatus arrives on scene. If a station advises they are responding, the paging of any stations notified after their dispatch will be discontinued and they will be canceled (unless the responding unit advises differently), however other stations notified prior to the responding station will continued to be paged until one of the above criteria is met.
Any specific request to page a station or continue paging a station will be honored.
Additional Information
- The above information was presented to both Fire/EMS Commissions with a general plan to evaluate the changes after a three month period. Comments (good and bad) from Communications Officers are welcome as we implement these changes.
- Information for all incidents must be relayed over the radio to responding stations, apparatus, and officers. This will allow necessary decisions, including reductions or upgrades of responses, to be made by fire and EMS responders.
- A standard for Priority 1 EMS calls will be developed when EMD is implemented in the future.
- We are still in the process of developing a master list of each Station’s monitor numbers.
- Unnecessary call classifications will be removed from the CAD in the future.
- Any complaints or concerns from the public or field personnel should be directed to the Director.
- It is understood that some of the above are significant changes and will require a learning curve for everyone (fire and EMS personnel, as well as Communications Officers). These changes are designed to help bring consistency to our dispatch and handling of incidents. If there are questions, please ask.