C CULPEPER COUNTY VOLUNTEER FIRE AND RESCUE ASSOCIATION, INC. Standard Operating Guidelines CHAPTER: Communications

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1 CULPEPER COUNTY VOLUNTEER FIRE AND RESCUE ASSOCIATION, INC. Standard Operating Guidelines CHAPTER: Communications SUBJECT: EA Procedure WRITTEN BY: Fire Committee SUPERSEDES: NUMBERC PAGE: 1 of 3 APPROVED BY: On Original EFFECTIVE DATE: 13 th April 2009 President E911:On Original EFFECTIVE DATE: 13 th April 2009 Director PSCC 1. Purpose: 1.1. To establish guidelines for the proper use of how to handle radio operations emergency alert activations 2. Definitions: 2.1. EA Emergency Alert signal PSCC Culpeper County Public Safety Communications Center. 3. Policy: It shall be the policy of all agencies operating on the Culpeper County Frequencies to abide by the Emergency Alert guidelines 4. Guidelines: 4.1. Emergency radio traffic and activation of emergency buttons will be handled using one of the following four guidelines Emergency Alert activations at incidents with a single unit Emergency Alert activation at incidents with multiple units and an incident command structure Emergency Alert activation from personally-assigned radios Page 1 of 3

2 4.2. All radios are equipped with Emergency Activation Alert Buttons. These buttons are orange in color and are located on the top of the radio. These buttons are activated by depressing the orange button Radios will transmit Emergency Alert identifiers on the primary Fire and Rescue Dispatch Channel that they are operating on. Alerts may be reset by pressing and holding the orange button for at least 2 seconds 4.3. Activation at incidents with a single unit If an emergency activation signal is received from a unit on an emergency incident, PSCC shall: Shall knockdown (silence) the emergency alert activation as the console, and simultaneously attempt to make contact with the unit three (3) times using the fire and rescue talk group the emergency activation was received on. The following announcement shall be used Culpeper to (to the unit identified on the console with the activation), Confirm or Deny Example: Culpeper to Engine 9 Confirm or Deny If the activation was accidental, the firefighter/medic must state the activation was accidental Example: Engine 9 to Culpeper Deny Once an Accidental Activation has been determined, the radio user should push and hold the Emergency Alert button for at least 2 seconds to clear the signal and PSCC shall initiate a reset at the radio console Any response other than this established pattern will signify a hostile situation where the personnel are not able to communicate the details of the emergency PSCC shall in this event dispatch Law enforcement to the last known location of the F/R Unit PSCC will have other radio users limit non-priority radio traffic until the emergency is cleared or the situation is stabilized PSCC shall try to establish contact with the unit, unless unusual circumstances are prevailing. Page 2 of 3

3 PSCC shall contact the Department s Chief or Captain and advise them of the situation Personnel must provide an update of the situation as soon as possible 4.4. Activation at incidents with multiple units and an incident command structure PSCC shall follow the above procedures with one exception If no response is received, the PSCC will notify the Incident Commander as follows, Culpeper to (incident name) Command, we are receiving an Emergency Button Activation signal from (the unit identified on the console). Example: Culpeper to Kellys Ford Command, we are receiving an Emergency Button Activation signal from Engine 1 s Officers portable radio The Incident Commander shall be responsible for resolving the Emergency Button Activation and notifying the Communications Center of the outcome Activation of Personally-Assigned Radios PSCC shall follow the procedures under 4.3 with one exception If no response is received, the PSCC will attempt to make contact with the radio user (telephoning home, station, alpha pages, etc.). The radio user s senior officer (Chief / Captain) shall be notified. The radio user s senior officer shall be responsible for resolving the Emergency Button Activation and notifying the Communications Center of the outcome Monitoring of False Activation False activations will be monitored and followed up with accordingly. Abuse of emergency activation buttons will not be tolerated. The Director PSCC has the right to disable emergency alerting from radios should abuse occur. Page 3 of 3

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5 E. MONITORING OF FALSE ACTIVATIONS False activations will be monitored and followed up with accordingly. Abuse of emergency activation buttons will not be tolerated. The Director PSCC has the right to disable emergency alerting from radios should abuse occur. F. RESPONSIBILITY All personnel are responsible for utilizing this established policy. These guidelines apply equally to all radios users, both career and volunteer. The only time personnel may deviate from this guideline is when it is superseded by another, more stringent guideline. Page 5 of 3