Dispatching Policies

Revised July 13, 2004

1.0 GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1 This policy applies to the Polk County Fire, Rescue, and Training Association and member department. This policy excludes the City of Bolivar Fire Department, the Fire Grove Fire Protection District, and Walnut Grove Fire Protection District.
1.2 The Polk County Fire, Rescue, and Training Association will be referred to as PCFRTA for the remainder of this policy.
1.3 The following fire department and designated station numbers are members of PCFRTA:
- 200-299 Pleasant Hope Fire and Rescue
- 300-399 Morrisville Fire and Rescue
- 400-499 Central Polk County Fire and Rescue
- 500-599 Fair Play Fire Department
- 600-699 Dunnegan Fire Department
- 700-799 Humansville Fire and Rescue
- 800-899 Polk Rural Fire Department
- 900-999 Halfway Fire and Rescue
- 1000-1099 Prairie Grove Fire Protection District
- 1100-1199 PCFRTA Special Operations
- 1300 Polk County Emergency Management
1.4 PCFRTA's radio frequencies are licensed to them by the Federal Communications Commission for dispatching and tracking of fire and rescue equipment and personnel.
1.5 When you hear a unit calling on the radio you will know by the number the geographic location covered by that unit by the above numbering system. See Radio Policy 1.6 through 1.11 for details.
1.6 The following numbers indicate equipment type:
- E-10: Engine or pumper
- R-20: Rescue unit
- T-30: Tanker unit
- B-40: Brush unit
- B-45: Brush unit
- The rest may vary 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, and 95 with a designated number in front of it. This should identify the department and the type of equipment or assigned personnel.
1.7 The dispatcher will know by the letter and number what unit or who is responding by as the unit logs in for service. "E" stands for engine, "R" stands for rescue unit, "T" stands for tanker, and "B" stands for brush unit.
1.8 PCFRTA has three radio repeater towers around Polk County. Tower 1 is located northeast of Brighton, Tower 2 is located southeast of Humansville, and Tower 3 is located at the Polk Fire Department. This is channel one, two, and three on the radio.
1.9 Dispatcher will talk to departments 200, 300, 400, 900, 1300 on Tower 1 (Channel 1). On channel 2 (Tower 2) of the radio the dispatcher will talk to station 500, 600, and 700 on the radio and on channel 3 (Tower 3) the dispatcher will talk to station 800 and 900 on the radio.
1.10 When initiating a call on a channel you always address what channel or better referred to as Tower 1, Tower 2, and Tower 3. For example: Central Dispatch to 602 on Tower 2.
1.11 State Highway 32 divides Polk County in half, the North half and the South half. For best communications, when a call is south of Highway 32, they should use Tower 1 and when the call is north of Highway 32 and in the northwest half of the county, use Tower 2, and when the call is in the northeast part of the county, use Tower 3.

2.0 DEPARTMENT BUSINESS TELEPHONE

2.1 Each fire department has a business office telephone number when someone needs to contact one of the individual fire or rescue departments for business other than an emergency (see individual department business phone number and personnel list). Dispatchers may give this number out when requested by the public.
2.2 It is the policy of PCFRTA that all personnel are referred to by unit number, not by name. Should any outside agency or person request the name for a unit number, they should be referred to the business phone of the appropriate department. No names will be used or given out to civilians by dispatchers, only by the fire chief or designee of that department.

3.0 FIRE AND RESCUE DEPARTMENT'S CHAIN OF COMMAND

3.1 Each fire department shall maintain a chain of command.
- 3.1.1 Polk County Fire, Rescue, and Training Association
  - PCFRTA President
  - PCFRTA Vice President
  - Special Operations Coordinator
  - Special Operations Assistant Coordinator
- 3.1.2 Each fire department
  - Fire Chief
  - Assistant Fire Chief
  - Each fire department will provide a roster updated quarterly or more often if needed which will detail this section further.

4.0 RECEIVING A 9-1-1 FIRE/RESCUE CALL FROM THE PUBLIC

4.1 Determine the location.
- 4.1.1 You will be working with county road numbers and house numbers in the county. In some of the towns and subdivisions you will have street names and house numbers. Also in some of the subdivisions they will use the subdivision name with the information on the screen. From the reporting party, be certain of the spelling of the name and number if there is a possibility of misunderstanding.
4.2 If this is a 9-1-1 call, the information should match up with the information on the CAD screen. Remember the caller is not going to be interested in long conversations on the location in may instances, so make the determination as quickly as possible. However, a few additional seconds spent in being SURE of the location will be much better than wasted minutes in sending units to the wrong address or location.
4.3 Determine which department and units will need to respond to the emergency by looking at the ASA map. If the location is in the City of Bolivar, it will be dispatched accordingly. When you determine the location, this will determine which department you will dispatch.
- 4.3.1 When sending emergency units to a scene over the radio, ALWAYS use right or left WITH north, south, east, or west when giving directions.
4.4 Some main streets leaving Bolivar extend out in the county so when an address is given and it is close to the edge of the city, you should ask the caller if they are in or out of the City of Bolivar and dispatch the right department or units.
4.5 Central Dispatch will dispatch fire department units for the City of Bolivar. When the address shows the fire call is for Bolivar you will dispatch per City of Bolivar policy.
4.6 When the fire or rescue call is in the Fair Grove or Walnut Grove Fire Protection Districts, the dispatcher shall transfer the call to Green County Fire Dispatch Center.

5.0 DETERMINE THE NEED FOR A FIRE/RESCUE UNIT

5.1 When a call is received from the public, it must be assumed to be a legitimate request. Regardless of the age or composure of the caller, all request for fire or rescue units are to be fulfilled if other criteria are met. Any exceptions to this policy should be made only by the Incident Commander of the responding department (see ASA map).
5.2 Regardless of whether the citizen is specifically requesting a fire or rescue, respond if the general criteria are met. Equipment will be dispatched.
5.3 Special Requests
- 5.3.1 Law enforcement officers and public safety personnel may request equipment be dispatched for a specific problem.
5.4 Automatic Alarms
- 5.4.1 When an automatic alarm is called in or an alarm company calls and advises of a automatic alarm, the fire or rescue equipment is to be dispatched and this information and any additional information will be given to the responding units. (Example, "This is an automatic alarm." At a pull station, location in the school; cafeteria, ag building, etc.)

6.0 SIXTY-SECOND RULE

6.1 All fire or rescue calls received must be dispatched within 60 seconds of determining the nature and location of the incident.

7.0 USING THE TONE ENCODER (On back-up radio)

7.1 If the call is in the county, you will first push * on the encoder and in the view window a dotted line will appear, insert the three number code according to the encoder chart of the department you need, place the radio on the right tower (1, 2, or 3), now press the square on the encoder. The tone light will show red. When the red light goes out, press the square again. The light will come on again. When the light goes off the second time you now press the mike key and give your dispatch.

8.0 TESTING THE ENCODER (Pager test)

8.1 On Monday through Saturday, the dispatchers will test the pager system as close to 1800 hours as practical. The testing shall be on all three towers on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and tests each individual fire department. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, the test shall be an all call. After pager test, one designated member of each department shall call 9-1-1 center by radio acknowledging pager test has worked. If a department requests a special bulletin be given about training or other information and is not an emergency, this information will be given at the time of testing. On Sunday, there will not be any paging done except for emergency calls before 1200 hours. A special bulletin may be given from 1200 hours to 1300 hours only.

9.0 SEVERE WEATHER/BULLETINS

9.1 When there is a severe weather bulleting given out from the National Weather Service, the dispatcher shall dispatch this information over all three towers on all call. The weather service issues four types of storm messages.
- 9.1.1 WEATHER WATCHES - This means the weather is favorable for severe weather and/or thunderstorms. Personnel should be aware of the conditions and monitor the incoming weather conditions.
- 9.1.2 SEVERE WEATHER WARNING - When a weather warning is issued, severe weather is eminent and should be paged out as soon as possible. In most cases, weather spotters should be advised to go to their spotter locations. When in doubt rather or not spotters should be advised to respond to their locations, contact the Polk County Emergency Management Director (1300) and advise the situation.
- 9.1.3 TORNADO WARNING - If a tornado sighting has been reported, it may also come as a weather warning and this should be paged out to warn all spotters and fire rescue personnel IMMEDIATELY.
- 9.1.4 WINTER STORM WARNING - In the winter, the weather service will issue a winter storm watch and possible winter storm warning. When these are issued, they should be paged out on all three towers as soon as possible so fire rescue personnel may take necessary precautions.
9.2 After these watches and warnings have been paged out, personnel will then set up a network county-wide to monitor the weather and report it to the Polk County Emergency Management Office. The Polk County Emergency Management Office shall always be referred to on the radio as 1300 regardless who may be the officer in charge when the office has been activated.

10.0 POLK COUNTY FIRE, RESCUE, AND TRAINING SPECIAL OPERATIONS

10.1 Polk County Fire, Rescue, and Training Special Operations is a response agency which is a support operation in special fields that assist area fire and rescue department in the following types of incidents. Special Operations response for the following types of incidents shall be requested by the on-scene incident commander.
- 10.1.1 Hazardous material response
- 10.1.2 Confined space rescue
- 10.1.3 Lost or missing persons, non-criminal type
- 10.1.4 Water rescue, swift water rescue, and ice rescue
- 10.1.5 Rope rescue, high-angle rescue, and low-angle rescue
- 10.1.6 Mobile command post operations
- 10.1.7 Large, natural cover fire strike teams
10.2 Truck Trailer Accidents
- 10.2.1 Special Operations shall automatically be dispatched to ALL accidents involving a truck trailer unit. Cancellation of any Special Operations response SHALL ONLY be done by the on-scene incident commander.
10.3 Tone-Out Procedures for Special Operations
- 10.3.1 All county departments (excluding Bolivar City) shall be toned on all three towers to respond to location of call. Include information of call with this type of page out.

11.0 WORKING THE FIRE OR RESCUE INCIDENT

11.1 PAGING OUT THE EMERGENCY - After the incident is paged out the dispatcher stays on the tower on which they paged out the emergency, personnel units will begin to report unit number is en route to ___. The dispatcher may or may not respond to these personnel units but they know that some one is answering the call. If no one answers the call in two minutes the dispatcher shall page the call again and advise this is the second page. When three minutes pass after the first page the dispatcher shall page the call again and also request the next closest department to mutual aid and answer the call. Should the first department answer the call before the mutual aid department can arrive the mutual aid department may be advised to cancel response (10-25).
11.2 FIRE OR RESCUE UNITS RESPONDING 10-8 - When personnel reach the fire stations and begin responding in the fire or rescue apparatus they will respond on the radio that Apparatus # is en route (10-8) and how many responders are on board responding to the (give address or type of emergency) dispatcher shall respond to equipment going en route with 10-4 & time en-route.
11.3 FIRST ARRIVING UNIT ON SCENE - The first arriving unit, whether a personnel unit or apparatus that arrives on the scene of the dispatch with a radio shall advise they are arriving on scene (10-23) and assuming command.
11.4 CHANGING OF COMMAND - Should a Fire or Rescue officer arrive after command has been established and they wish to assume command they should use their unit number first and advise dispatch that i.e.: 332 is assuming highway 32 command. The dispatcher should respond to ID the passing of command. The dispatcher should know at all times who is in command of the scene and this will be recorded on the CAD system.

12.0 INCIDENT COMMAND SURVEY OF SCENE

12.1 Incident Command should survey the scene very quickly and on the radio give a brief description of what is happening, what action is being initiated so the responding units may know what and how to arrive on scene as well as the dispatcher will know what kind of problem exists.

13.0 INCIDENT COMMAND REQUESTS FROM DISPATCH

13.1 As the scene unfolds the Incident Commander may request that the dispatcher attend to needed agencies such as electric company, gas company, additional mutual aid units, ambulance, law enforcement etc. The dispatcher shall attend to these duties and when they have completed the request they should advise the I C of the disposition. When doing so dispatch should respond to Highway 32 command the ___ has been advised. The Incident Commander shall respond. When the Incident Commander needs the ETA of a requested unit the dispatcher shall attempt to obtain this information and relay it to the Incident Commander.

14.0 FIRE OR RESCUE UNITS SWITCHING TO TAC CHANNELS

14.1 When the units arrive on scene they shall switch to a TAC channel for scene operation, leaving the towers open for future uses or for I C to request additional assistance.

15.0 WHEN SCENE IS UNDER CONTROL

15.1 The Incident Commander will advise the dispatcher that the scene is under control.

16.0 APPARATUS LEAVING THE SCENE

16.1 When the apparatus units are released by the I C and leave the scene the I D shall report to dispatch on the tower that they are finished at the scene (10-24) and returning to quarters. At this time this unit is available for dispatch should one be pending or arise.

17.0 REQUESTING UNITS STAND DOWN (10-25)

17.1 When the I C arrives on scene and surveys the scene they may request that all units not on scene stand down or 10-25. At this time the dispatcher shall re page the encoder and announce that all units not on the scene at this time stand down (10-25). All apparatus units not on scene shall respond they are standing down or (10-25) at this time and returning to quarters available for call.
17.2 From time to time after fire or rescue units have been dispatched law enforcement may request that fire rescue stand down or 10-25. When dispatch dispatches this message be sure to give the unit number that requested the 10-25 as they have just assumed the responsibility for medical condition and fire conditions. The unit number of the canceling person shall be relayed to the response department.

18.0 KEEPING STATUS OF THE RESPONSE

18.1 Keeping status o f equipment; the apparatus and personnel that has been dispatched will be recorded on the CAD system or the dispatching program. This will also allow a hard copy to be generated for a fire or rescue department report. The CAD will also keep track of personnel who will log in by radio.
18.2 Generating a hard copy of each emergency; After each emergency response the dispatcher will generate a hard copy report and it will be made available to the fire or rescue department to pick up at their discretion.

19.0 TYPES OF FIRE AND RESCUE RESPONSES

19.1. Structure Fires - A structure fire could be defined as any building, dwelling, shed, or man made enclosure that is on fire, or shows obvious evidence of the presence of fire. Structure categories listed in 19.2.
- 19.1.1 Required initial response:
  - 1st alarm - the appropriate fire or rescue department shall be initially dispatched, also tone the nearest mutual-aid department for:
    - - 1 pumper
    - - 1 tanker
    - - Additional personnel
  - Also tone the next nearest mutual-aid department for additional tanker support. When the responsible department goes in service dispatch shall advise of the additional automatic aid that has been dispatched.
- 19.1.2 Any additional resources needed will be requested by the Incident Commander (on-scene), this will constitute a 2nd alarm
- 19.1.3 Cancelation of a responding mutual-aid department will be determined ONLY by the Incident Commander
- 19.1.4 If there is no response from primary fire department, all response will move up one level.
19.2 Structure Categories
- 19.2.1 Commercial Structure: Any building that is a place of business, or is a dwelling that is being operated for a profit, such as an apartment complex, dormitories, rooming house, motel, farm supplies, auto dealers, gas stations, general merchandise, banks, farm equipment sales etc. are considered as a commercial structure and used in the furtherance of the business.
- 19.2.2 Non-Commercial (Residential): Any building such as a residence or trailer house that is used for a dwelling, a garage, barn, hay barn, machine shed, shop, etc. that possibly is not used for profit is considered a non-commercial building.

20.0 NATURAL COVER FIRES

20.1. Any fire that involves natural materials covering the earth such as grass, leaves, shrubbery, bushes, timber land or pasture land etc. Normally any materials that are growing on or near the ground is considered natural cover, and would not include matter such as sawdust, flow, etc. that may have been placed there by man as a result of a special handling.
- 20.1.1 Required initial response: The responding department shall be dispatched and advised of a natural cover fire and should the reporting party indicate that a structure was in danger you will also advise of this so the department will respond the necessary equipment.

21.0 VEHICLE FIRES

21.1 Required initial response - The responsible fire department shall be dispatched and the dispatcher should give the type of vehicle that has been reported so the fire department will respond the necessary equipment.
21.2 Under one ton capacity - Normally would apply to any car, and most pick-up trucks. Weight capacity is used to determine the amount of equipment needed to adequately suppress a fire.
21.3 Over one Ton Capacity - Designation would include all large dual wheel, and tandem wheel trucks, dairy or bread produce trucks, etc. and larger multi axle vehicles such as truck trailer units, etc.
21.4 Special purpose vehicles generally would not fall under the above categories, such as forklifts, farm tractors, combines, hay handling equipment, road equipment, graders, bulldozers, riding lawn mowers etc. On any vehicle fire it is important to know the type of vehicle and cargo if the vehicle is likely to be carrying other passengers. Such information should be sought during the initial contact with the caller.

22.0 VEHICLE ACCIDENT

22.1 Any accident with possible injuries, injuries, or unknown injuries, something leaking or possibly on fire shall require the responsible fire department and rescue units be dispatched to the scene. This is for the safety of victims, rescue personnel, ambulance personnel and property.
22.2 When extrication is required for the removal of persons trapped in vehicles, buildings, equipment, etc such extrication may or may not involve actual injury to the person trapped but for safety will require both fire and rescue units.
- * * For Known Entrapment * *
  - In entrapment situations (i.e. MVA’s, Building collapse, etc.) where the responding agency does not have extrication equipment (Polk Rural, Halfway FR, Fair Play, Dunnegan FD), tone the nearest mutual-aid fire department with proper extrication equipment (Morrisville FR, Pleasant Hope FR, Central Polk FR, or Humansville FR).

23.0 FARMING OR INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS

23.1 Dispatching fire and rescue departments to the scene of a farming or industrial accident is necessary to provide safety to the victims and equipment, also for the safety of rescue personnel while they are freeing the victims.
23.2 Farming accidents are in most cases in the rural area of Polk County.
- When a farming accident is reported the dispatcher shall try to obtain what type of equipment and how the person may be involved. With this information the dispatcher shall dispatch the appropriate fire and rescue departments to the scene and give as much information as they have received to the responding units.
23.3 Industrial accidents: These types of accidents are generally in the small industries. Some may be in the cities or some may be in the rural areas. Again the dispatcher shall obtain as much information as possible and dispatch the responsible fire and rescue departments to the scene, also giving the responding departments all the information they have obtained.
- * * For Known Entrapment * *
  - In entrapment situations (i.e. MVA’s, Building collapse, etc.) where the responding agency does not have extrication equipment ( Polk Rural, Halfway F & R, Fair Play, Dunnegan F.D.), tone the nearest mutual-aid fire department with proper extrication equipment (Morrisville F & R, Pleasant Hope F & R, Central Polk County F & R, or Humansville F & R).

24.0 HAZARDOUS MATERIAL ACCIDENTS

24.1 Accidents (whether they are a motor vehicle, industrial, or farm accident), try to gather as much information as possible from the reporting party, i.e.
- 1. Name of reporting person
- 2. Telephone number
- 3. Address or location of the release
- 4. Type of product
- 5. Visible cloud?, color of cloud or substance?
- 6. How is it leaking?
- 7. Any persons involved in the substance
- 8. Placard number ( if available )
- 9. Quantity of release
- 10. Type and condition of container
- 24.1.1 With this information, the dispatcher shall in turn notify the appropriate:
  - 1. Fire Department
  - 2. Law Enforcement Agency
  - 3. EMS
  - 4. Community Emergency Coordinator
24.2 The local fire department has the authority to handle a level I HAZ-MAT-mat release. When the response is a level II or a level III release then the Polk County Hazmat Plan shall be implemented.
- Level I - Probable Emergency Condition:
  - No evacuation other than from the immediate scene. This level of incident does not pose a Chemical exposure hazard to 1st responders in the fire service using thermal & respiratory gear. Examples of Level I incidents are: minor release of fuel from MVA’s, small releases of Corrosives and illegally discarded containers that are not in danger of releasing substances.
  - EOC not activated.
- Level II - Limited Emergency Condition
  - An incident involving a greater hazard or larger area that poses a potential threat to life or property and which may require a limited evacuation or in-place sheltering of the surrounding area. These incidents may require outside assistance if it is necessary to stop the release. Examples of this level may be releases of significant quantities of volatile organics at fixed facilities or cargo tank releases in transportation.
  - EOC partially staffed.
- Level III – Full Emergency Condition
  - An incident involving severe potential exposures for the responders or the general Public. Mitigation may require a large scale evacuation or in-place sheltering and the expertise or resources of private industry and state and federal governments.
  - EOC fully staffed.

25.0 MEDICAL EMERGENCIES

25.1. Whenever there is an emergency that requires an ambulance response, the appropriate fire department medical responders shall be dispatched also.
25.2. Dispatcher shall notify responding department where the incoming ambulance is responding from.
25.3. At the discretion of the ambulance crew or the I.C. “ ON-SCENE “, the remaining responders may be cancelled.
25.4. No Response after 2nd tone and at the discretion of the incoming medic; determine if there is a need for mutual-aid, if there is tone the nearest mutual-aid department.

26.0 LANDING ZONES FOR HELICOPTERS

26.1. On accidents and medical emergencies there is the need for a medical helicopter landing zone form time to time. If the incident is in the city of Bolivar the landing, will in most cases be at CMH or at the airport and no assistance will be required from fire or rescue units.
26.2. In all other areas of Polk County it is the policy that we will use the responsible fire department to provide this service.
- 26.2.1. It will not tie up rescue medics on scene who in most cases are needed to provide medical service to the victim.
- 26.2.2. The fire department pumper unit at the scene of a L Z is for safety of the landing and take off of the helicopter and its crew and victims.
26.3. At an accident the fire department is already supposed to be on scene so we only need to alert the IC that we have a helicopter coming in and a LZ is required. The IC will assign a fire person to handle the LZ.
26.4. When the decision is made on a medical emergency that the patient needs to be transported by helicopter, the medic in charge shall advise they need the responsible fire department to be dispatched to establish the LZ.
26.5 The dispatcher shall advise the fire department of the service needed and the name of the helicopter that is responding. All helicopter LZ by the fire department shall be done on state fire mutual aid frequency. Then when a medical report is required between medics and the flight crew they will switch to a medical channel and back to fire mutual aid for all landing instructions.

27.0 BOMB THREATS

27.1. Bomb threats shall be a law enforcement matter.
27.2. When there has been a possible finding of a bomb and law enforcement has a bomb squad to assist with removal they will request that fire and rescue services be on scene to maintain safety in an unstable situation, at this time the dispatcher shall dispatch the responsible fire and rescue departments to the scene.
27.3. Bomb explosion. The responsible fire and rescue departments will respond to provide their services for the unstable conditions that exist after the explosion.

28.0 LOST OR MISSING PERSONS

28.1 When there is a person or persons reported as missing the appropriate law enforcement agency shall be first notified, and determine whether or not to activate the Fire/EMS personnel to assist in the search.

29.0 TECHNICAL RESCUE

29.1. When there has been a report of a need for a technical rescue the dispatcher will dispatch the appropriate Fire and Rescue Department and Law Enforcement Agency.
29.2. On technical rescues, the on scene incident commander may request the assistance of Polk County Special Operations. Tone out for Polk County Special Operations shall be followed according to 10.3

30.0 MUTUAL AID - There are three types of mutual aid that we want to know about.

30.1. Mutual-aid between the various fire and rescue departments of Polk Co. When a department is dispatched the officers at their discretion form time to time will request that dispatch page out another department for mutual aid and some times they will specify the type of aid they want. The dispatcher shall dispatch the requested department and advise that ___ department is requesting Mutual-aid to ___.
30.2. Mutual-aid from outside Polk County – this means that dispatchers will have to make contact with another county for this request.
30.3. Automatic-aid for structure fires and entrapments.

31.0 STATE WIDE MUTUAL AID

31.1 In 1990 the Missouri General Assembly enacted house bill 1395-1448 which created a state wide mutual aid program administered thru the State Fire Marshals Office. The chain of command starts at the county with a county coordinator and a chain of command under them. The county coordinator has a regional coordinator that serves the same area as the state highway patrol troops. They are laid out on the same lines as the highway patrol troops are on, which makes our region. Region D. The regional coordinator reports to the state fire marshals office which, when the need arises can make all fire and rescue service in MO work as one large fire or rescue department. In Polk County the chain of command for state wide mutual aid is structured thru the Polk County Fire Rescue and Training Association chain of command.

President of PCFRTA	Bart Tucker	Pleasant Hope, Mo.
Vice President	Charles Polodna	Rt. 1, Box 166 Morrisville, Mo
Special Operations Coordinator	Charles Polodna	Rt. 1, Box 166 Morrisville, Mo
Area D Coordinator	Chief Chris Bemdt	P.O. Box 1564 Branson, M0 65615

31.2 When a 2nd alarm is requested to a structure fire or more than 3 departments are involved or responding to any other type of call listed in section 24 the dispatcher shall dispatch the department and then notify the chain of command of county wide mutual-aid of the problem so they will be aware of the major problem and when three (3) or more departments are on a scene or are responding to a scene.
31.3 When three or more departments are on scene there is in most cases an area that does not have any back up coverage should another emergency occur. It may be necessary to move equipment in this area for standby.

32.0 REQUEST FOR A STATE FIRE MARSHALL

32.1 Upon the request of the IC in charge of a fire scene or in some cases should a law enforcement officer be doing a follow up investigation of a fire scene they may request the assistance of a state fire marshal to assist with investigations of a fire scene or a fire related death or injury. When the fire department IC makes the determination to request a state fire marshal the IC must retain control of the scene of the incident until the state fire marshal arrives and conducts his investigation or the fire marshal relieves the fire department from the scene. The fire marshal has the right to all information the dispatch has compiled on this case.

33.0 OTHER NON-EMERGENCY INCIDENT REQUESTS

33.1. When there is another type of incident that we have not covered, the dispatcher shall first attempt to contact the fire chief or the assistant chief or go thru the chain of command and respond to further requests of the chief officer.