December 4, 2007
GENERAL
Our primary method of dispatching personnel is with pagers. All firefighters, dispatchers & the calling team should have working pagers along with their (the pager’s) instructions. The pagers should be carried by members at all times.
Our secondary back-up method (but equally important) of dispatching is accomplished by the calling team. See the section on calling team instructions. If all works properly, each member should receive both a page and a call to report for each incident.
PAGERS
The most common causes of pager failure are battery failure and improper storage. Battery life can be prolonged by using alkaline batteries. Truncated messages or failure to receive pages, when batteries are adequate, is usually a result of the pager being located close to magnetic sources such as a computer, television or similar device.
Notify any officer if you suspect your pager is defective as soon as possible.
PAGES
All pages should have an initial preceding the main message: i.e. (ML), (CO), (KM), (EM), (911), (BA), or (FBG).
(BA) "Bill Amerine", Kerr County 911 Executive Director normally involves an advisory such as flash flood but may occasionally be a dispatch.
(911) "Kerr fire com" or (FBG) " Fire Dispatch" will usually be a dispatch.
(ML) "Mike Lannan, (CO) "Charlie Orr", (KM) "Ken McConnell", or (EM) "Ed Marker" can be either a dispatch or for general information.
Any page without the above initials should be considered with caution, but when in doubt, report to the station . Any page that simply contains a phone number should be ignored unless you are familiar with the number. It could be something as innocent as a page sent by mistake or a virus that could infect the entire paging system if the number is called.
Pages are often less than specific so when a page is received and any aspect of it is in doubt, report to the station. Don’t be mislead with terms like "possible brush fire" or non specific information such as "roll over on 783". If someone goes to the trouble to send us a page, no matter how vague, the intent is for us to respond.
DISPATCHES
In the event of a dispatch, firefighters & dispatchers should:
1. If a fire, report to the station to gear up (dress for wild land fire) and respond to directions from the Officer in Charge. Turn Out gear & SCBA’S should be loaded on trucks if there is any indication of other than a wild land fire.
2. If an accident, where a subsequent fire might result, report to the station to gear up (dress for wild land fire) and respond to directions from the Officer in Charge. Turn Out Gear should be loaded on trucks, if there is any indication of a vehicle or other structure fire associated with the accident.
3. If an illness or personal accident (no potential for subsequent fire) EMS assist, refer to the page and / or phone call.
Those who are advanced medical care attendants should report directly to the incident scene.
Others, who reside south of White Oak Creek, should respond to the station for assignment by the IC. The first priority will be to get Brush Truck # 421 (with AED, Oxygen & first aid supplies) to the scene. Wild land fire gear should be carried on the brush truck. The next priority for these members will be to meet the ambulance to lead them to the scene.
Others, who reside north of White Oak Creek, should first go to the stone house, pick up the AED, Oxygen Bottle, place flag on gate, and then proceed to the scene.
While at the scene, TLVFD participation should be under 3 individuals in the home unless the IC requests more.
4. Rapid Water/Flood Water Procedures - All firefighters report to the fire station. Take one lifejacket bag per truck to the scene. Firefighters assigned to walking the banks must wear a lifejacket. Carry throw-bags when appropriate.
5. During evacuations, report to the station, if possible, for instructions. Calling team members should also report to the station with cell phones if possible
