The safety of our personnel will be the number one concern at all calls.
No one will be criticized for failing to respond into a situation that they do not feel confident in their ability to control.
Red lights and siren do not guarantee you the right of way. If you roll through a stop sign and are struck by a vehicle that normally would have the right of way, you will most likely be cited by the Sheriff or State Patrol. Don't let a hundred good deeds you do be tarnished by one foolish mistake caused by careless driving.
10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit is the maximum speed permitted by our Department.
Use caution in the parking lot and try to enter the parking lot in a slow, safe manner, thereby eliminating the possibility of injury to other personnel.
Turn out gear is expected to be worn to all fire related calls. The officer in charge must make certain that members not wearing proper protective clothing, do not participate in firefighting activities. Persons without full turn out gear can assist in support operations.
Our operation depends good equipment in ready working order. If you see or know of equipment that is damaged, notify the officer in charge so that the equipment can be repaired or replaced.
Don't bring disease home to your family. EMS personnel are trained in infection control and should assist non-EMS members in taking proper precautions when non-EMS members are utilized in patient care.
If you are injured or become ill due to an emergency call, report the injury or illness to a senior officer immediately. Suffering quietly will cause you to loose benefits you may be entitled to if your injury or illness becomes worse at a later time.
Always wear floatation devices when involved in drowning incidents. Use common sense in clothing worn while on the water in a boat. Turn out gear will most likely cause you to sink and should not be worn in a boat.
Be aware of your environment. Expect the roof to fall on you, the stairs to break, overhead wires to electrocute you when you raise a ladder, the driver in front of you to fail to yield, the driver at the intersection to pull out in front of you, the victim to cough blood on you.
Expect to be excited and make an effort to control your emotions. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
We are a team, lets look out for each other. Never hesitate to tell the Officer in charge if you think a member is operating in an un-safe manner, even if that member is the Officer in charge.
STRUCTURE FIRES, SMOKE & FIRE ALARMS or HAZARDOUS MATERIALS INCIDENTS:
(1) Pumper with 2 firefighters
(2) Tanker with 2 firefighters. May respond with driver only if Pumper is on scene.
(3) Mini-pumper with 2 firefighters. May respond with driver only if Tanker is on scene.
(4) Ambulance with driver and 1 EMT or driver only if Mini-pumper is on scene and 1 EMT is on scene.
CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR ALARMS (no medical symptoms)
(1) Mini-pumper with 1 or more members trained in the use of the CO detector will respond Code 1(Non-Emergency).
Note: When a caller states their are medical symptoms of CO poisoning, FireCom will alert as an EMS call.
VEHICLE FIRES:
(1) Pumper with 2 firefighters
(2) Tanker with 2 firefighters. May respond with driver only if Pumper is on scene.
(3) Mini-pumper with 2 firefighters.
GRASS OR BRUSH FIRES:
(1) Brush Unit with 2 firefighters. Note: if Brush Unit is in a winterized state eliminate from response order.
(2) Mini-pumper with 2 firefighters. May respond with driver only if Brush Unit is on scene.
VEHICLE ACCIDENTS or RESCUE CALL (person trapped, farm equip accident, ice rescue):
(1) Pumper with 2 firefighters
(2) Ambulance with driver and 1 EMT. May respond with driver only if Pumper and 1 EMT is on scene.
(3) Mini-pumper with 2 members.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE: (no rescue equipment needed)
(1) Ambulance with driver and 1 EMT
(2) Mini-pumper with 2 members one of which must be an EMT. If only 1 EMT responds with Ambulance and determines that the victim can be transported with only 2 EMTs, then Mini-pumper may respond with 1 EMT only and the original non EMT Ambulance driver can return Mini-pumper to Station.
NOTE: After 4 minutes from receiving call if no EMT is present; call Rural Metro Ambulance, and 2 firefighters respond in MINI-PUMPER to assist victim until Rural Metro arrives. When Rural Metro is called it is preferable that they be allowed to continue to respond and transport even if 2 EMTs later arrive on call. However this is at the discretion of the EMT in charge.
DROWNING RESCUE:
(1) Boat towed by Brush Unit with 2 qualified members.
(2) Ambulance with driver and 1 EMT. Respond driver only if Boat is on scene and 1 EMT is on scene.
(3) Mini-pumper with 2 members.
MUTUAL AID:
It is our intent to provide what ever a mutual aid department request without stripping our community of protection. We shall attempt to always keep either our main pumper or mini-pumper in town when called for fire or rescue support.
We shall attempt to always keep our 383 mini-pumper in town when called for EMS support. Responding vehicles shall have at least 2 qualified members on board unless directed differently by the calling department.
ALL CALLS:
(1) Mutual aid shall be called if after 4 minutes from call sufficient manpower is not available to staff the first responding vehicle.
(2) All members shall report to the station first unless they must pass the call in route to station.
(3) Non-EMT members shall report to the station for further orders on all EMS calls.
UNIT DESIGNATIONS:
The following designations will be recognized as standard for the Deerfield Fire Department.
FireCom: ....................... Ravenna Township dispatch center
DEERFIELD: .................. Deerfield Station Base Radio
REMOTE (1) (2) (ect) ..... Fixed location radio other than the station
COMMAND ................... The Officer or person in charge of the call.
381 .................................. main pumper
382 .................................. tanker
383 .................................. mini-pumper
384 .................................. grass & brush fire unit
385 .................................. ambulance
386 .................................. boat
HT-1,2,3,4. hand held radio, Chief, Assistant Chief, Captain, Lieutenant.
Hand held radios stationed in Fire Department vehicles will be referred by their vehicle designation, such as HT-385 for the Ambulance HT. Personal owned, or Department owned HT units assigned to an individual other than fire officers will be called and answered by an HT designation assigned to the individual member.
RADIO PROCEDURE:
Short and specific: Before transmitting know what you are going to say; don't make it up as you go along.
Choose precise terms to communicate the desired message as clearly and briefly as possible without wasting air time. Utilize common language and standard fire fighter terms No codes or signals except Code 1, 2 or 3 referring to how a vehicle is responding.
Clear tone: Speak clearly at a practiced rate, not to fast or too slow. Control your emotions and excitement deliberately. If you do not control your voice it will become garbled under stress.
Well timed and spaced: Prioritize your messages. Do not use valuable air time with unimportant messages and insignificant details. Let critical messages go first. Maintain an awareness of the overall situation and how you fit into it.
Do not interrupt conversations unless you have EMERGENCY TRAFFIC. Listen before transmitting and wait until a message transaction has been completed. Pause between conversation of consecutive messages. This will make it clear when one message has been completed and another has started. It will also give other units a chance to get on the air if needed.
ACKNOWLEDGING DISPATCH FROM FireCom
The first person in the Station on any call dispatched by FireCom will advise FireCom by base radio that
Deerfield acknowledges call. Example: FireCom from Deerfield, call received Deerfield is responding.
FireCom will automatically call mutual aid if they don't hear acknowledgment of call by 5 minutes
after the dispatch of call.
Normal communications will be regulated by the following guidelines:
1. sender will give unit ID and call the receiver by their unit ID.
....Example: 385 FireCom means ambulance is calling FireCom. FireCom 385 means FireCom radio is calling ambulance
2. Receiver will give their ID to indicate they are ready to receive.
3. Sender will then extend message, order, ect.
4. Receiver will give ID and acknowledge receipt of messages A brief restatement is the best acknowledgment.
5. FireCom and or Deerfield (base) will acknowledge all communications directed to it by stating; ID, time, and brief restatement of message.
6. When possible make request in one statement as in the following example:
.....FireCom this is 385 Deerfield requesting you call Palmyra for another ambulance (ambulance Calling base)
.....FireCom, 14:32, calling Palmyra for another ambulance (Base aknowledging request)
7. Routine messages such as, in route, on the scene, going to hospital, at hospital, and, returning, will be given as follows in this example of an ambulance call.
.....FireCom from 385 in route(ambulance leaving station)
.....l4:32, 385 (base acknowledging 385 in route)
.....FireCom from 385, on the scene
.....l4:36, 385 (base acknowledging 385 on the scene)
.....FireCom from 385, in route to Alliance Hospital
.....14:47, 385 (base acknowledging 385 going to hospital)
.....FireCom from 385,arrived at Alliance Hospital
.....l5:10, 385 (base acknowledging 385 at hospital)
.....FireCom from 385, were returning
.....15:20, 385
DEERFIELD RADIO OPERATOR and STATION SECURITY
In the absence of a designated radio operator, the first member in the station after all due trucks have
left will be the radio operator and will secure the station. FireCom will handle dispatch services but it is
still desirable that we have a Deerfield member at Deerfield Station to assist as needed and to log Unit
times. If the Deerfield radio operator observes communication problems between FireCom and
Deerfield units, Deerfield Radio Operator can assist as needed in communication
COMMAND
The officer or other person in charge of a call will be referred to as Command. When a unit calls Command,(Deerfield to Command) the officer or person in charge will answer unit calling. Command may be transferred either face to face or via radio by officers of superior rank arriving after the first vehicle is on the scene. If more than one call is being handled simultaneously Command will be addressed by location. Example: Rt.. 14 Command
Vehicles and equipment shall respond in the following order:
.....(1) 386 Boat towed by Brush Unit with at least 2 qualified members.
.....(2) Ambulance with driver and 1 EMT. Driver only if Boat is on scene and 1 EMT is on scene.
.....(3) Mini-pumper with 2 members.
Command will immediately notify the Portage County Sheriff Department if in Portage County. Command will notify and transfer Command to the proper Fire Department if the call is out of Deerfield Township.
Unit F-386 (Boat) along with the qualified personnel to operate the boat will start dragging operations for the victim. All personnel on board the boat will wear personal floatation devices (PFD's) while in the boat.
No turn out gear is to be worn.
If recovery is made with in the first hour EMS personnel will treat as a cold water drowning and begin resuscitation as per EMS guidelines.
Contact other operational support personnel as needed, such as Berlin Lake personnel, Div. of Watercraft, Ect.
Night Drowning operations. If the drowning occurs at night normal procedure will be to limit the dragging operation to two hours. The area is to be marked off and a return will be made in the day light hours. Safety
of the rescue and recovery Personnel is the number one concern. If the area or weather conditions are such that it puts personnel at higher than normal risk, operations will be stopped.
This SOP is a guide and is intended as such and may be modified by Command as needed.
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