Radio Procedure Guideline (PDF)

Standard Operating Guideline (SOG) Radio Procedure Effective Date: 05/25/2010 Procedure Number 04-04A Revised Date: 07/01/2018 Number of Pages...

Standard Operating Guideline (SOG) Radio Procedure Effective Date: 05/25/2010 Procedure Number 04-04A Revised Date: 07/01/2018 Number of Pages 04 1. Overview It shall be the procedure of the Salt Lake City Fire Department that the public safety radio system used by the Department is intended for communicating information related only to the communication of official business. Professionalism will be maintained at all times. 2. Definitions Emergency Traffic is when radio traffic is limited to emergency messages. Plain Communication means to use common language understood by everyone, (no ten code). 3. Guideline A. Maintain professional demeanor at all times. B. Unprofessional comments or verbiage over the air is unproductive, may violate FCC regulations, and will not be tolerated. C. Words or voice inflections which, when broadcast, indicate irritation, disgust, or sarcasm, etc. will not tolerated. D. Use proper radio designators (Fire, ME8, T2A, etc.) and avoid the familiarity of personal names. E. Personal hand-held radio assignments will include A,B,C and D riding positions: Engine Truck A = Officer A = Officer B = Engineer B = Engineer C = Behind C = Extra Engineer Firefighter D = Behind Officer D = Tiller Operator These assigned riding positions will help provide for accountability and manageability, both in day-to-day usage and also in emergencies when distress calls are transmitted. 4. Radio Inventory Radios must be inventoried and assessed no less than annually by the Fire Communications Technician. Once every two years, every portable (handheld) radio must be tuned and tested with Aeroflex equipment to verify it meets manufacturer specifications. Documentation of inventory, tuning, and repair must be completed in ServiceNow. A radio assessment consists of the following: A. Antenna evaluation B. Radio check with dispatch C. Visual inspection for cleanliness, cracks, and damage to the housing Radios failing inspection will be referred to the appropriate company officer or division manager, (for cleaning), or temporarily replaced while the unit is repaired At the conclusion of radio inventory, an assessment of missing radios will be completed. The Battalion Chief / Division Chief and the Captain / supervisor of the party responsibleor the missing radio(s) will be notified 04-04A Radio Procedure Guideline (SOG), Page 1 of 4 of the status of their equipment. If the missing radio is not discovered within 14 days, the radio will be deactivated to ensure third parties are not able to access or interfere with sensitive communications from our business partners, (Salt Lake City Police, Valley Emergency, etc). Responsible parties will be required to complete missing radio procedures indicated hereafter. 5. Missing Radio Procedure In the event a radio is discovered missing, the Technology Division must be notified as soon as possible using the Technology Request Form on Firehome. If the radio has not been discovered after 14 days from initial notice, a lost / stolen report must be filed with Salt Lake City Police, using the following procedure: A. The serial number, make, model and color of the radio will be provided to the party responsible for the radio, (i.e. company officer, division manager, etc). B. A police report will be filed by the person responsible for the radio, or their designee, using the online form at slcpd.com C. In the event the radio is discovered, the responsible party must update the police report closing out the case 6. Techniques A. When calling another apparatus, call the other unit number first followed by your own, i.e., Engine 1 from Medic Engine 2, or Engine 13, Medic Engine 8. B. Do not transmit when advised by Dispatch to cease radio traffic and/or stand –by. C. Do not use lengthy messages, unless absolutely necessary (please and thank-you are not necessary). D. In an emergency situation, use the term “Emergency Traffic” to get control of the radio channel If not acknowledged by the Incident Commander, the dispatcher should intervene and call attention to the “emergency traffic” request. The incident commander will determine when it is appropriate to reopen the channel for regular traffic. E. Salt Lake City Fire Department will use "Plain Communications" in lieu of any 10 Code format for common communications. Exception: Police Support Radio Procedures 7. Police Support Radio Procedures When fire and rescue units are requesting police support at an incident, the police Department would like us to convey, as completely as reasonably possible, the nature of the problem we are facing. A plain English description is preferred. However, in those instances where plain English may compromise the safety of the public or firefighters the 10-33 code indicating a firefighter is in imminent danger may be used. Use of the 10-33 code will result in a priority response from PD. 8. Radio Failure Contingencies System failures typically occur under two difference sets of circumstances: a partial radio system failure, or a complete system failure. In the case of the former, Dispatch is commonly unable to use their radio positions. It is anticipated that the latter will be a very rare event, given the redundancy built into the radio system. Radio Failure in Dispatch A. The Director of Technology, and the Radio Technician shall be notified as soon as possible. B. Dispatch should conduct a radio system check using two portable radios. If they are unable to transmit to another user, guidelines in the next section are applicable. C. If the radio check demonstrates that portables are operational, dispatch should conduct a test to determine if stations are receiving notification through speakers and gongs. D. The on-duty Battalion Chief, Technology Director, and Deputy Chief over Operations should be notified about the situation. E. All stations should be notified that the Dispatch Radio consoles are out of service, and that notifications will/will not be conducted through speakers and gongs. If speakers and gongs are unavailable, stations should be instructed to monitor portables until further notice. 04-04A Radio Procedure Guideline (SOG), Page 2 of 4  F. All dispatch positions should begin monitoring portable radios. System-Wide Radio Failure Users will know the radio system has failed because when they key up, instead of hearing the push to talk confirmation “chirp,” they will hear a continuous tone. The term “system busy” on the display in conjunction with a tone does not mean the radio system has crashed. A. The on-duty Battalion Chiefs, Technology Director, and Deputy Chief over Operations should be notified about the situation. B. After a system failure, all users should switch to “Backup 1” (4D), for routine operations. Backup 2 (5D) will be used for situations normally handled on channel 2 C. If Backup 1 and 2 are not available, users should switch to channels Backup 3 and 4, (6D and 7D respectively), using them in the same way as Backup 1 and 2. D. If Backup channels 1-4 are not available, Ground Channels 1 and 2 may be used. E. If none of the backup channels are available, contact VECC to request two or more UCAN Event channels F. If none of the backup & UCAN channels are available, the following should occur: 1. Dispatching will initially occur via telephone. Thus, those apparatus with cellular phones should begin uses them. 9. Task Force Operations Communications Plan If task force or disaster operations commence, the following should occur: A. Dispatch should call out enough dispatchers to fill 5 positions, and 1 Dispatch Supervisor. B. Channels should be broken out into the following assignments: Channel 1: Dispatch Channel Channel 2: East Side (Battalion 1), & take calls as able Channel 3: West Side (Battalion 2), & take calls as able Units should stay on channel 1 until dispatched. After, they should go to the appropriate channel to respond based upon their location. Upon completion and clearing of the call, they should go back to channel 1 to obtain their next assignment. A. Three dispatchers will watch radio channels as their primary duty; two will answer calls as their primary duty. B. Battalion 3 should respond to Dispatch to help prioritize assignments and invoke mutual aid as necessary. 10. Activation of the Radio Duress (Orange) Button Upon activation of the duress button the following should occur: A. If the activation is unintentional, the person responsible for the radio or activation should immediately make contact with Dispatch to indicate the notification was an accident. If the activation occurs as the result of the radio operator being under duress, if safe to do so, the code “10-33” should be used as part of the communication. For example, an operator may say, “Dispatch from Engine 10-33”. Upon hearing this code, Dispatch should acknowledge the transmission, and notify Police and the on duty Battalion Chief of the last known location of the person giving the “duress” code. B. If activation occurs, and no one calls to indicate it was an accident, Dispatch should attempt to make contact with the person who the radio has been assigned to or the Captain in charge of the apparatus where the radio is located. It should never be automatically assumed that activation is accidental. NOTE: Due to the sensitive nature of some of the information contained in this document, this policy may be disseminated exclusively to members of the SLC Fire Department, or those outside of the Department 04-04A Radio Procedure Guideline (SOG), Page 3 of 4 with a verifiable operational need. Requests for information that do not fall within these criteria must be directed to the SLC Fire Technology Director for approval. 47 CFR 95.413 The following communications is prohibited: 1) In connection with any activity which is against federal, state or local law 2) To transmit obscene, indecent or profane words, language or meaning 3) To interfere intentionally with the communications of another unit 4) To advertise or solicit the sale of any goods or services 5) To transmit music, whistling, sound effects or any material to amuse or entertain 6) To transmit any sound effect solely to attract attention 7) To advertise a political candidate or political campaign 8) To transmit a false or deceptive communication 04-04A Radio Procedure Guideline (SOG), Page 4 of 4