Response to Alarms
- Only operational fire fighters shall respond to emergency calls.
- Probationary members may respond but may serve only as observers or assist in crowd control or other duties as assigned by an officer or senior member.
- Emergency alarm signals shall be transmitted by the campus operator, and shall be received by two-way radio. The alarm signal shall consist of an audio alert tone followed by appropriate voice information as to the location and nature of the emergency.
- A system test shall be conducted Saturdays at 1530.
- Designated members shall report to the fire station, announcing their response and acknowledging the call. Upon confirmation of drivers for engine and squad, all other operational fire fighters shall report to the enunciator panel at the sight of the alarm and await further instruction from a line officer. An "after-action" review will be conducted after each incident.
- Members reporting to the station shall don PPE, except the driver, and take position in the responding apparatus. Both engine and squad shall respond to all emergencies unless otherwise directed by chief or line officer.
- The first qualified department member arriving at the station shall drive the responding apparatus.
- Fire apparatus drivers shall don PPE at the scene.
- Seat belts shall be used in all vehicles. All members on a unit must be seated and belted anytime the unit is in motion. The driver shall be responsible for ensuring that all personnel are seated and belted.
- Operational members shall don PPE upon arrival of the squad vehicle, in which the PPE shall remain stored, on scene. Operational firefighters may enter building without PPE and SCBA only if PPE is immediately available on scene in the squad truck.
- Fire fighters may only enter building to investigate by order of a line officer. Fire fighters entering the building to investigate cause of alarm shall work in teams of a minimum of two operational fire fighters, one of which has a two-way radio and has established contact with the Incident Commander.
- If investigating team encounters smoke or fire they are to retreat immediately from the building, while informing the Incident Commander of the situation.
July 2003