Spring Fire Department Incident Reporting and Release of Information Policy PDF

# Spring Fire Department Policies & Procedures ## Incident Reporting and Release of Information **Document Number:** SFD.053 **Date:** 04/14/2022 **Revision Number:** 01 ## Purpose The Spring Fire Department will establish and maintain minimum requirements for incident reporting and the release...

# Spring Fire Department Policies & Procedures ## Incident Reporting and Release of Information **Document Number:** SFD.053 **Date:** 04/14/2022 **Revision Number:** 01 ## Purpose The Spring Fire Department will establish and maintain minimum requirements for incident reporting and the release of information for emergency and non-emergency responses. ## References/Definitions - The Spring Fire Department will maintain a reporting database for the entering and reviewing information for all emergency and non-emergency responses in which a Spring Fire Department apparatus responds to. - The Deputy Chief of Support Services is the administrator of the incident reporting software. - The Fire Prevention and Education Division (FP&E) is responsible for managing, training, and quality control for all data entered into the incident reporting software. - The Fire Prevention and Education Division conducts quality control on all reports entered into the incident reporting software on a weekly basis. Any corrections needed, will be sent to the person completing the report. - A shift for the officer in charge can be defined as a 12 hour, 24 hour, or 48 hour time period, depending on the scheduled time. - The Communications Director is the primary Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Spring Fire Department. ## Review The Fire Chief or designee is responsible for reviewing this policy annually and assuring its accuracy. ## Guideline ### Entering Reports into the Incident Reporting Software: 1. It is the responsibility of the officer in charge to ensure all incidents, staffing activity reports and daily training are completed by the end of his/her shift. The District Chief and FP&E must be contacted for any exceptions. 2. In all incidents with command being established, the incident commander will be responsible for the completion of the report. If command is not established, the assigned officer of the first arriving apparatus will be responsible for the completion of the report. 3. All records, regardless of incident type, will be made available to the Spring Fire Department Fire Prevention and Education (FP&E) by the end of his/her shift. All reports for the end of the month need to be entered by midnight of the first day of the following month (i.e., May reports are due by midnight on June 1st). 4. If the responsible member does not complete the report by the end of their shift, FP&E will send an email notification to the respective Captains and District Chief. The captains will be responsible for determining ownership of the report. The District Chief will be responsible for handling any disciplinary issues involving late reports. 5. Disciplinary actions for not completing the report within the allotted time will be handled according to the SFD.042, Discipline and corrective action policy and procedures. 6. If the computer system is not operating, it is the responsibility of the member completing the report to notify, by email and/or telephone, their direct supervisor, and the FP&E email group. If this notification is not sent, action will be taken. 7. It is the responsibility of each individual member to notify their Station Captains to obtain access to the incident reporting software. 8. An approved incident reporting class must be completed for each member by FP&E designee prior to having login access. 9. During quality control, if a correction is needed in a report, FP&E will send an email notification to the person completing the report in question. Corrections must be completed in a timely manner. All reports needing correction that are not completed by the 6th calendar day of the following month will result in disciplinary action. ## Release of Information and Reports - The Deputy Chief of Support Services is responsible for the release of information and reports for the Spring Fire Department. - No one is to give out any information or reports (Texfirs, NFIRS, truck reports, verbal communication) involving any response made by the Spring Fire Department. - All requests from anyone not affiliated with Spring Fire Department will be referred to the Administrative Assistant, in which they will forward to the Deputy Chief of Support Services. - There is a processing fee for each report requested as followed by state statute. An Incident Request form must be completed prior to any report being released. The only exception is subpoenas from Attorneys, law enforcement, and homeowners. - The Deputy Chief of Support Services is responsible for the submission of all reports to TEXFIRS annually. - When news media is on scene of incidents, the Incident Commander or designee can release information and/or provide an interview/sound bite. Any off scene inquires, or comments distributed to the media whether verbal, by email, or social media will be approved by the Communications Director. All media inquiries shall be forwarded to the Communications Director.