Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department Personnel Accountability PDF

CLEARWATER FIRE AND RESCUE DEPARTMENT STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE S.O.P. 606 SUBJECT: Personnel Accountability PAGE 1 of 14 CATEGORY:...

CLEARWATER FIRE AND RESCUE DEPARTMENT STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE S.O.P. 606 SUBJECT: Personnel Accountability PAGE 1 of 14 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: Operations Training APPROVED BY: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 REVIEWED DATE: 02/01/22 SIGNATURE ON FILE, APPROVED TO FORM THIS DATE BY SCOTT EHLERS, FIRE CHIEF, FIRE & RESCUE DEPARTMENT FORMS REQUIRED: NOTE: Current forms are located on the Department’s SharePoint. PURPOSE: This procedure will enhance the safety of firefighters operating on emergency incidents by providing the Incident Commander with a system for tracking the number of personnel and the area of their operation on incidents. This information is vital if an evacuation is ordered or an event occurs that requires accounting for all personnel on the incident scene. The Personnel Accountability System shall be implemented when the first unit arrives on the scene and continue until the Incident Commander determines it is no longer necessary. Accountability responsibilities shall expand with the Incident Management System (I.M.S.). During an incident, the Incident Commander shall be able to account for all personnel at any given time. The accountability system shall in no way reduce the company officer's primary responsibility to closely supervise crewmembers, provide for their safety, and maintain communication with command. The minimum crew operating in an area requiring self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) shall be two firefighters with a portable radio. 606.1 System Components A. The system shall be implemented on all emergency incidents requiring the use of SCBA or at the discretion of the Incident Commander. B. Every member of the Clearwater Fire and Rescue Department shall be issued nametags (Figure # 1). Each member will be issued 5 (five) tags. These tags shall be colored as follows: 1. White for Officers 2. Orange for Firefighters/Driver Operators 3. Blue for Paramedics  SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 2 OF 14 Operations Training C. Each member shall carry his or her nametags under the brim of his/her helmet when not assigned to a piece of apparatus. (See Figure #2) D. Helmet Identification: Every member assigned to a piece of apparatus shall have his/her unit designator attached to the helmet shield. (See Figure #3) E. Personnel shall have their last name displayed on the tail of their P.P.E. running coat. (See Figure #4) F. Personnel shall ensure that the unit identifier is attached to the back strap of their SCBA and is the correct unit identifier. (See Figure #5). G. Personnel shall ensure that their name is visible on the front of their issued SCBA regulator. The exception would be if using a spare regulator. (See Figure #6) H. Passports 1. The primary passport will be constructed of flexible velcro (2" x 4") with one unit designator permanently affixed and a second removable unit designator tag. Personnel who shall be remaining outside of the hazard area (vehicle drivers) shall have their nametags placed upside down on the passport. 2. The primary passport or “soft passport” must be carried on your person or the portable case until it has to be transferred to the Incident commander or Apparatus Drop-Off Board before Command being established. Portable radio cases shall be equipped with a piece of velcro so that a passport can be attached. 3. When staffing permits and under the direction of an Officer, units may place a second team in service. This team will use the unit designator and X-ray as their team designator, i.e., Truck 48-Xray to Court Street Command. This will require assuring that the nametags from the primary passport are transferred to the X- ray passport, and the team is in the accountability system of the Incident Commander. 4. C.F.R. Truck Companies have minimum staffing of four (4) personnel. The Company Officer and the Incident Commander can assign the crew into three different operational units. a. 4 & 0 indicates that the Company Officer or the Incident Commander is assigning all personnel to an interior assignment. All accountability tags on the Unit Roster shall reflect this operational decision.  SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 3 OF 14 Operations Training b. 3 & 1 indicates that the Company Officer or the Incident Commander is assigning three personnel to an interior assignment, and the Driver/Operator is remaining outside. All accountability tags on the Unit Roster shall reflect this operational decision. The radio designation for the outside person shall be “T-45/48 Driver.” c. 2 & 2 indicates that the Company Officer or the Incident Commander is assigning two personnel to an interior assignment, and two personnel to exterior assignments. All accountability tags on the Unit Roster shall reflect this operational decision. The radio designation for the exterior personnel shall be “T-45/48 X-Ray”. The firefighter answering the radio for “T-45/48 X-Ray” shall be the Driver/Operator or Acting Driver/Operator that is assigned to the driving position. These two personnel shall always work as a team and cannot be separated on incident scenes. 5. A generic back-up passport will be carried in the District Commander's vehicle. I. Unit Roster Unit rosters will be a 2" x 4" piece of hard-backed velcro that is attached to the officer’s door of every apparatus and the passenger’s door on Rescue vehicles. In staff or command vehicles, the unit roster will be placed on the driver's door. It will have one unit designator permanently affixed and one removable unit identification tag. The unit roster will contain the names of all personnel assigned to staff that particular unit. J. Unit Command Board The unit command board will be a plastic board with strips of velcro designed to hold passports. The board also contains areas on the front and back for writing and tracking units and assignments. Each suppression unit and command vehicle shall carry a unit command board for use when operating as a division/group officer or temporarily assuming command. (See Figure #7) K. Chief Officer's Command Board The chief officer's command board is a large plastic board that has velcro attachments and large writing areas designed to track units and assignments for an entire incident. This board is located at the rear of command vehicles. (See Figure #8) L. Apparatus Passport Drop-Off Point The driver's door of every Fire and Rescue Department unit shall have a plastic board with velcro attachments affixed to it. Responding units shall attach their passports to the drop-off board of the first arriving engine until the Command Post location is identified by the Incident Commander. (See Figure #9)  SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 4 OF 14 Operations Training 606.2 Implementation A. Personnel reporting for duty shall take their name tags from under the brims of their helmets and place them in the following areas: 1. The unit roster on the officer’s Door. 2. The passport on the officer's radio or the unit officer’s person. 3. The unit officer's nametag shall be attached to the top of the unit roster underneath the unit designator, followed by the driver's name. 4. In addition, personnel shall place his/her unit designator to the velcro spot on the helmet shield. 5. The officers on each unit shall ensure that the unit roster and passport reflect the names of the personnel riding on that unit at all times. B. Remote Entry When units must enter a hazardous area (or presumed hazardous area) remote from the passport drop-off point, i.e., remote from side alpha, unit officers shall place their passports on the driver's door of the first unit at the remote entry point. This information needs to be announced and approved by the Incident Commander. Other units entering at that point shall place passports on the designated driver's door. The passports and tracking of those units at a remote entry point shall become the responsibility of a group/division officer or the incident commander as soon as possible. An example would be units entering a shopping mall on the opposite side of the command post (passport drop-off point). 606.3 Roll Call Procedures A. To ensure the safety of personnel, Dispatch will announce the duration of the incident every twenty minutes. Example: "Dispatch to Court Street Command, you have been operating on the scene for twenty minutes." This shall continue until command advises that the event is stable, and the timer is no longer necessary. B. The Incident Commander shall determine the welfare of personnel under their command at 20-minute intervals (this will be termed "roll call"). This may be done visually or via radio if necessary. At 40-minute intervals, all personnel on the incident scene, including those operating in non-hostile areas, will be roll-called by the appropriate group/division officer or the Incident Commander. 1. The Incident Commander shall acknowledge Dispatch’s 20-minute notification and initiate a roll call. Example: "Court Street Command to all personnel operating stand by for roll call." 2. Group/Division officers shall account for all personnel under their command and be prepared to report this when called by the Incident Commander.  SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 5 OF 14 Operations Training 3. Unit officers shall report the total number of personnel assigned to their unit and indicate the number of people operating outside of the hazard zone. This will only be required for the unit's initial roll call or personnel accountability report (P.A.R.). Example: Engine 46 responds with a total of three people. The officer and firefighter person enter the hazard zone while the driver remains outside with the engine. At the first roll call, twenty minutes into the incident, the unit officer will respond: "Engine 46 has two inside, driver outside Engine 46 is P.A.R." The proper response for additional roll calls will be "E-46 is P.A.R." indicating the total number of personnel assigned to the unit and those operating in the hazard zone are necessary so the Incident Commander can verify the information on the unit’s passport. 4. The Incident Commander shall be responsible for the welfare of units/personnel not assigned to a group/division, i.e., outside truck person, engine driver. 5. After all groups/divisions have been roll-called, the incident commander shall document the time and note on the command board that all personnel were accounted for or which personnel were not accounted for. NOTE: An unaccounted person or crew shall not stop roll call from other sectors. Roll call must continue to determine if more than one person or crew is unaccounted for. 6. If any personnel cannot be accounted for, the group/division officer shall report the status of missing personnel as "unknown" and give the Incident Commander their last known location and NAME. a. Group/division officers shall then initiate search procedures within their area. b. All other groups/divisions operating on that incident shall maintain their current positions and assignments unless otherwise directed by the Incident Commander. c. There will be an activation of the R.I.T. Team. 7. The Incident Commander may initiate a roll call to check the status of personnel at any time that he or she deems necessary. Some situations in which this shall be done include, but are not limited to: a. Report of a member or crew missing or trapped. b. When a unit/crew cannot be contacted in the Hazard Zone after three consecutive attempts at radio contact. c. Sudden hazardous changes on the incident scene, such as vapor release, collapse, etc.  SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 6 OF 14 Operations Training d. Incident conditions dictate that the Incident Commander orders a Tactical Retreat. e. Incident conditions deteriorate to the point that Emergency Retreat is ordered. f. A change from an Offensive Mode to a Defensive Mode. g. When the incident is declared under control. 606.4 Compliance A mechanism to quickly account for personnel must be available to the Incident Commander at any point during the incident. To ensure the effectiveness of this system and the subsequent safety of all personnel, accountability procedures shall be strictly followed at all times. A. The nametags shall be considered an issued item of personal protective equipment. B. Unit rosters and passports shall be considered part of apparatus inventory and shall be maintained as such. C. If name tags, unit rosters, or passports are lost or misplaced, replacement items shall be obtained as soon as possible from the Logistics section. Temporary items shall be obtained from the Assistant Chief’s vehicle. Assistant Chiefs shall ensure that replacements are ordered from the Logistics Section as soon as possible. D. Each member's name tag shall be inspected when the member's protective clothing is inspected. E. Fire and Rescue Department personnel shall always operate as a crew of two people when functioning in an IDLH environment. A minimum crew shall be considered two people and a portable radio. Division or Group Supervisors may have to operate as a lone unit but shall remain in contact with crews assigned to them. And shall be in constant contact with the Incident Commander. 1. No crew shall operate without a portable radio. 2. Crews shall always go in and come out together. 3. Personnel operating as a crew shall be in contract with the crew "leader" by voice, touch, or sight. 4. Each team member of a crew must be able to: a. Provide direct help b. Call for help SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 7 OF 14 Operations Training Figure # 1 SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 8 OF 14 Operations Training SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 9 OF 14 Operations Training SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 10 OF 14 Operations Training SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 11 OF 14 Operations Training Figure #6 SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 12 OF 14 Operations Training SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 13 OF 14 Operations Training SUBJECT: EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/26/01 S.O.P. 606 Personnel Accountability REVISION DATE: 06/01/20 CATEGORY: SUBCATEGORY: PAGE 14 OF 14 Operations Training