Purpose:

To establish universal communications procedures.

 

Policy:

Wintergreen Fire and Rescue will receive the emergency call from Wintergreen Dispatch or Nelson County Dispatch following a 911-phone call.

 

The dispatcher will announce the address of the emergency, type of emergency, station needed to respond, and the operational frequency if different from Wintergreen 1.

 

Unless the career person has given instructions for volunteers to “stand down” and/or “remain in service,” volunteers will mark en-route to the Scene on Wintergreen 1. (On Property Incident)

 

The career person on duty will acknowledge the volunteers and give any additional information that is needed.

 

If the career person does not answer, this just means that they are busy or did not hear you. Continue to the station without repeating your radio traffic. The career person will meet you on scene or wait your arrival when appropriate.

 

If you need any information repeated, ask dispatch to repeat the information only once using Wintergreen 1. When asking, please write the information down so you do not need to ask a second time. If you are still unable to obtain information, try going direct with the unit or career person by using Wintergreen 1.

 

Once you have met the career person on scene or at the station use the following radio decorum.

 

When marking responding to a call from Wintergreen Dispatch, key the mic, speak clearly, and state unit number responding to call.

 

If the call is in Nelson or Augusta County, or received from Nelson County Dispatch then the unit needs to respond first with Wintergreen Dispatch, then switch to Nelson Ops 1 or the appropriate Augusta County Channel.

 

Once responding with Wintergreen Dispatch, switch to the appropriate channel for the duration of the call and mark responding as above with the appropriate Dispatch.

 

 

Wintergreen Fire and Rescue                                    Standard Operating Guideline

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Once on scene, key the mic on the appropriate channel and speak clearly, advising dispatch of unit number and status.

 

When en-route to the hospital:

            Dispatch, Medic unit 179 is en-route to UVA

 

When you arrive at the hospital:

            Dispatch, Medic unit 179 is arriving at UVA

 

When in service:

            Dispatch, Engine 1 is returning                                    -or-

            Dispatch, Engine 1 is returning not ready

·       Returning means that you are available for another incident and not in need of supplies.

·       Returning not ready means that you are not available for another incident due to lack of supplies

·       Returning out of service means that you are not available for another incident due to a mechanical problem(s).

 

When back in quarters:

            Dispatch, Medic unit 175 in quarters station one

 

If the call was in Nelson County or Augusta County, then you need to mark back in quarters with both Wintergreen and the other dispatch center.

 

Private units should not mark in service.

 

Remember the basics. Think about what you are going to say before you key the mic. Speak slowly and clearly. Do not use 10-codes. (Exception: 10-4)

 

“Radio checks” between walkies and dispatch are not allowed. If you need to check your walkie, use your pager in conjunction with the walkie to verify that you can break squelch with the walkie.

 

During emergency events, available radio-air-space is at a minimum, so should be our traffic.