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200-011 Emergency Storm Dispatch Policy Effective Date: 2/1/13 Reference: Next Review: Modified Date: CLASSIFICATION: STANDARD OPERATING GUIDELINE Issued By: Scott Roman, DOERC Director Preface: This policy is intended to provide operational procedures and guidance during times when severe weather or other similar events causes operational overloads and subsequent potential delays to normal operations. Purpose: This policy, when implemented, shall provide individual agencies in the affected area with both the ability and the expectation to operate and respond self-sufficiently to non- emergency calls in their response area. This will be accomplished by providing a formal method for logging and transferring non-emergency calls from the Cortland County 911 Center to the local agency. Calls will be divided into two broad categories – Emergency and Non-Emergency. Definitions: EMERGENCY CALLS: These calls will follow normal dispatch with broadcast on County Fire and digital transmission through the CAD system. Emergency calls will include Structure Fires, Motor Vehicle Accidents with injury and other calls deemed to be of a serious nature and meeting the intent of this description. NON-EMERGENCY CALLS: These calls will be accumulated at the Cortland County 911 Center and transferred by phone or other mutually agreeable method to the appropriate response agency. The Agency is responsible for dispatch, monitoring of progress and disposition of the incident. Each Agency is responsible to develop its own operational system and assure that agency personnel are trained and able to operate within their coverage area during the declared emergency period. IMPLEMENTATION: 1. When a storm event which impacts the 911 Center’s ability to continue normal dispatch procedures occurs or the local fire department(s) become overwhelmed by the dispatching of higher than normal volume of alarms, the Emergency Storm Dispatch Policy (ESD) shall be implemented. 2. The shift supervisor will declare the ESD to be in effect as follows: ---PAGE BREAK--- a. Dispatch the county wide pager tone and announce – that the Cortland County Emergency Storm Dispatch Policy is now in effect. 3. An Incident Commander in an affected area that determines their municipality is overwhelmed by the 911 Center with incidents may make a request to the 911 Center to implement the ESD for their agency. 4. A Deputy Fire Coordinator in consultation with the Incident Commander in the effected area may request that the ESD be put into effect if it is determined that the local fire department(s) are overwhelmed by the 911 Center. 5. Operations in affected Talk Groups a. Each response agency in the affected area will be expected to become self-sufficient for Non-Emergency Calls. This will include: i. Assuming the role or assigning a contact to communicate directly with the 911 Center to receive and record these assignments. ii. Assigning agency resources to these calls as deemed appropriate and maintaining communications and accountability for these resources. iii. Identifying an appropriate mobile channel for these assignments and assuring that disruptions of other agencies are kept to a minimum. County Fire and EMS coordinators may, at their discretion, assign or otherwise revise the communication plan during the emergency operations period in conjunction with the 911 Center and local emergency response agencies. 6. Emergency Calls will be dispatched as normal. a. During this period no special announcements or other routine services will be available. 7. Termination of the ESD a. When the emergency is deemed to be concluded the 911 Center will sound the same alerting tone sequence and announce – that the Emergency Storm Dispatch Emergency has been terminated and normal operations are resuming. ISSUED BY DOERC DIRECTOR SCOTT ROMAN