Fire Department Procedures and Protocols

• These study notes cover operational responsibilities, communication protocols, and safety procedures for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.

Operational Captain Responsibilities

• Begins each shift by posting daily unit and position assignments on the station's Unit Assignment Board.
• Ensures the Unit Assignment Board displays: unit designations, positions, personnel assigned to each position, and designated tools/assignments for structure fire response.
• Accurately notes unit designation and personnel in the Station Log Book and UIPs, reflecting the Unit Assignment Board.

Daily Operations Bulletin

• Prepared daily by the Dispatch Supervisor.
• Includes the "real feel" temperature, red flag warning or watch status, pertinent local weather advisories, daily burn status, winds, daily drive status, weekly road/bridge closures, and open burn permits.

Swimmer and Diver Assignments

• Only personnel fit to swim or dive should be assigned as swimmers or divers.
• Level 1 Basic and Rescue Swimmers maintain swim attire on their assigned unit throughout the shift.
• Level II Dive Team availability is communicated to the Dispatch Supervisor at the beginning of each shift.
• A Level II or Level III Dive Team requires a minimum of 3 DR1 certified personnel and 1 Dive Comm Line Tender.
• The combination of 4 personnel may occur between all units in a fire station

Fire Alarm Response

• Responding units can cancel en route if the Communications Center confirms a "false alarm and proper code was given" by a monitoring company.
• Continue code 1 to verify if the Communications Center was notified by a Business or Homeowner
• Units dispatched to automatic fire alarms reported as water flow alarms respond Code 3.
• For water flow alarms with no indication of fire, personnel perform a 360, locate outside risers, and check for actual water flow (pressure gauges, water gong alarm, etc.).
• If a building with a fire alarm system lacks a Knox box or it's not operating correctly, advise the appropriate area inspector within the Bureau of Safety Services.
• After responding to a fire alarm, notify the Communication Center, advising if a building representative is present or if the alarm has been silenced.

Fire Protection System Support

• The second arriving engine supports buildings equipped with fire protection systems (sprinklers/hose cabinets).
• The second arriving engine supplements the water supply to a sprinkler system by connecting to the FDC with a minimum of two 3" supply lines and connecting to a hydrant with LDH.
• Supply lines shall be charged and maintained at 150psi
• Static water sources (lakes, canals, etc.) should not be used to support fire protection systems connected to a potable water supply.
• When supplying a building Sprinkler System, Verify all sprinkler control valves are open, include PIV, WIV, OS&Y.
• Verify all sprinkler control valves are open, and if not completely open, open unless the IC says so
• Notify the IC if a sprinkler control valve is closed and marked "Closed for Repair" or similar.
• While supplying a sprinkler system, verify the Fire Pump is running and if it is not then, It should be started using the manual controls. If the pump cannot be started notify the IC
• Sprinkler systems should not be shut off until the fire is extinguished or at the IC's discretion.
• Control valves for sprinkler systems should only be closed upon order of the IC.
• A FF with a radio should remain at the valve ready to open if necessary
• The building owner is solely responsible for sprinkler system repairs.
• After a fire, the IC should advise BOSS of a sprinkler system's status.
• An incident report and a Life Safety Systems Activation report must be completed whenever a sprinkler system is activated.
• Include info on problems encountered while supplying or working with the Fire Protection System, actions Fire Rescue personnel took, and any valves found closed in incident report.

Hose Cabinet and Standpipe Procedures

• For buildings with only hose cabinets and standpipes, charge supply lines initially at 100psi, then adjust to the correct pressure based on layout.
• Driver Operators should ensure the pressure at the FDC does not exceed 200psi.
• When connecting to a standpipe, companies connect one floor below the fire and advance upward.
• A combined system is an integrated standpipe and sprinkler system sharing a common FDC.
• When supplying a combined system, DO shall maintain a minimum pressure of 150psi for sprinklers.
• IF hose lines are deployed, DO may need to pump at a higher pressure. The discharge pressure shall not exceed 200psi at the FDC

Driving and Incident Command

• Driving into oncoming lanes is a last resort for extreme situations with extreme caution.
• A company officer can self-assign to an incident if it benefits Fire Rescue and the incident; justification must be communicated to the Communication Center, as well as the Incident Commander.
• Non-emergency requests for assistance are forwarded to the on-duty Fire Operations Officer (FOO).
• The Dispatch Supervisor ensures call type changes are immediately communicated to responding units.
• Second-due units slow to Code 1 as soon as it is confirmed that no fire is present for Commercial or High Rise Structure Fires
• A wild land fire during dry brush season has a Code 3 response by the Engine and Brush truck. All other units shall respond Code 1 unless there is a report of any Life Safety Concerns, Threatened Structures, Extreme Weather Conditions

Radio Communication

• Speak clearly at a practiced rate, deliberately control your emotions and breathing when speaking on the radio.
• Personnel at non-emergency incidents remain on Firemain Tac 1A to monitor emergency incidents in their response zone.
• Radios unable to communicate inside a building on a repeated TAC channel switch to a designated fire ground simplex channel (Tac 14a, Tac 15a), typically within a 1-mile radius.

Structure Fire Benchmarks

• Primary Complete, All clear
• Secondary Complete, All clear
• Water on the fire
• Fire Under Control: confined the fire, eliminated extension, and protected any threatened exposures
• Fire Out: Overhaul is complete

Open Water and Dive Operation Terminology

• "Object located" or "3 pulls" indicates a victim or object has been located. the term "3 pulls" should be used when discreetness and social sensitivity are needed
• "Rescue Mode" indicates there is a chance to save a life.

Arrival Report (CANS)

• The first arriving unit provides an arrival report containing:
  • C: current conditions visible from the cab
  • A: Immediate action company is going to perform
  • N: Additional resources needed not on the initial alarm
  • S: State command name, location, mode
• Offensive mode is assumed, but Defensive mode must always be declared if that course of action is taken.

Progress Reports

• Essential to incident management and decision making.
• Allow effective refinement and revision of the IAP.
• Company officers provide timely, complete, and concise reports confirming progress and outcomes against objectives.
• Briefly detail where and what actions are being undertaken and have been completed.
• Occur more frequently early in an incident (every 5-10 minutes) or as major tasks are completed.
• The IC may request progress reports on a periodic basis
• The Communications Center shall announce benchmarks every, 10 minutes to assist the IC with time tracking.
• It is recommend the IC give a progress report at each 10 minute benchmark

Radio Traffic Priorities

• Trauma hawk may use Priority Traffic when immediate communication is required during the landing process. No alert tones shall be given unless the Trauma Hawk requests Emergency Traffic
• The term "Priority Traffic, All Clear" should be used when immediate communication is completed
• Emergency Traffic shall take priority over routine traffic
• Emergency Traffic advises of imminent danger, announced by the Dispatcher.
• Any company can request Emergency Traffic if they need to communicate immediate danger, giving priority over routine traffic.
• The Communications Center shall use Emergency Traffic to broadcast information related to the health and safety of units responding to an emergency call
• When a company advises Emergency Traffic, the Communications Center shall sounds the Alert Tones and broadcast for all units to stand by.
• Emergency Traffic is also used when communicating an Exclusion Zone.
• "Emergency Traffic, All Clear" is used when all personnel are clear of imminent danger.
• The Communication Center logs the start and end times of Emergency Traffic events in the incident history using a miscellaneous comment.
• "Emergency Evacuation" advises personnel of imminent danger requiring evacuation to a Safe Place (Rally Point).
• During an Emergency Evacuation, The Communications Center shall sound the radio alert tones and advise all companies on the incident to evacuate the building immediately. This message shall be repeated, Twice
• The units on scene shall blast their air horns intermittently ,1-10secs blowing followed by 1-10secs of silence for a total of 50 secs
• During an Emergency Evacuation, the IC performs a PAR, and all personnel report to their supervisor or a pre-designated area.

Emergency Evacuation

• For an Emergency Evacuation, The Communication Center shall log the time Emergency Evacuation started and ended in the incident history using a miscellaneous comment
• Law Enforcement's code for help is "10-24".
• 10-24 indicates Fire Rescue personnel are in a life-threatening situation needing immediate law enforcement assistance.
• Emergency Traffic is in effect during a 10-24 until LE arrives or the scene is secured.
• The Communications Center logs a 10-24 in the incident history as a benchmark.
• The Communications Center only sounds radio alert tones for Emergency Traffic, Emergency Evacuation, and Maydays.
• Shall initiate The Channel Marker when alert tones are sounded

Channel Marker

• "The channel marker" by the Communications Center is designed to indicate an emergency event is in progress and radio transmissions on the channel should be kept to an absolute minimum.
• Radio alert tones are only sounded for Emergency Traffic, Emergency Evacuation, and Maydays.
• The Communications Center shall initiate The Channel Marker

Multi-Jurisdictional Incidents

• The IC verifies direct communication with other agencies via:
  • Compatible Radio Systems
  • Incident Command Post Representative
  • Disseminate Radios
  • Merge Companies
• For Compatible Radio Systems, Incoming units with compatible radio systems shall be instructed as to what frequencies are being utilized
• For Incident Command Post Representative, mutual aid companies, a representative shall respond with units from their jurisdiction to establish a diret communications link with the Incident Commander at the Unified Command Post
• For Disseminate Radios, The requesting agency shall provide radios to mutual aid companies with a frequency allowing communications with the Incident Commander
• For Merge Companies, Mutual Aid companies shall be merged with companies that have communications with the Incident Commander

VHF Radio Procedures

• Hail other agency using agency name 3 times followed by Palm Beach County Fire Rescue
• Transmission end with "Over"
• The PBCFR VHF radio operator replies with an Operating Channel to switch to.
• Both VHF radio operators say their agency name followed by "out", to let everyone know communications are complete over VHF radio.
• Example: "Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, out"

VHF Radio Channels

• USCG response channel 16 VHF.
• May direct to Channel 22 after hailing.
• Bridge tender hailing channel 9
• Tender twice then identify

This lesson covers operational tasks, information recording, and emergency response protocols within a fire department. It includes guidelines for dive team staffing, fire alarm response, and Knox Box procedures. Key areas include shift responsibilities and incident management.