VOLUNTEERS CORNER ❘ By THOMAS A. MERRILL
For many volunteer fire departments, mutual-aid assistance is very important, especially with the dwindling number of volunteers available to answer the call today. In fact, most departments are relying on mutual aid more than ever before. In my town, we have witnessed an increased reliance on it over the past few years. Writing down and then putting a mutual-aid plan in place can inspire confidence among the department leaders and put them more at ease because they know help will be on the way whenever it may be needed. However, much more needs to go into a complete mutual-aid plan than simply putting words on paper.
A well-organized and effective mutual-aid plan will take some effort to put together. There are several important items for mutual-aid partners to iron out and agree on that will help contribute to a smoother operation down the road. Sure, it’s easy to agree that Company B will respond when Company A calls for help, but a good plan needs to cover much more than that.
First, if your department does not currently have a plan in place, make it a priority, and do it before the additional help is needed. The last thing an incident commander (IC) wants to be doing at an escalating incident is to piece a plan together by specifying which departments the dispatch center should send or try to remember who has the specialized piece of equipment needed at the incident. Chiefs and officers from nearby towns and jurisdictions should get together to organize a plan sooner than later.
Devising a Plan
While putting the plan together, ensure it is uniform and consistent among the participating agencies. It makes no sense for departments that may be operating together to use different terminology or have different plans in place when extra help is needed. Department A should not be using 10 codes if Department B has settled on plain language communication. If Department A has a particular Mayday procedure, Department B should be using the same one.
Mutual-aid partners should agree on a standard method for identifying the sides of a structure; some will want “1, 2, 3, and 4” and others will want “A, B, C, and D.” Whatever the choice and reasons, it is important that everyone does it the same way.
In addition, hoselines, appliances, and fittings should be standardized as much as possible. Of course, this could prove difficult over large geographical areas and because departments like their individuality, deciding for themselves what equipment to purchase. However, there is no reason mutual-aid partners cannot have the necessary adapters in place to allow them to work seamlessly together. And, again, the time to put that in place is before any help is even called for.
Of course, I am assuming department leadership can sit down and work together to map out a plan, let alone work together on the emergency scene. It pains me today to read about and see incidents where departments ignore their neighbors and choose to call for help from several jurisdictions away. Deputy Chief Billy Goldfeder from the Loveland-Symmes (OH) Fire Department refers to this as personality-based mutual aid, and it is anything but professional. As he describes it, this occurs when a chief calls for help based on only what he personally likes, not the actual needs on the scene. This occurs far too often and is not just a volunteer fire service issue.
There are many reasons this may occur, and none of them are acceptable for a professional organization. The chief or IC may lack confidence in his neighbor or may allow personal feelings and attitudes to interfere with doing what’s right. He may be reluctant to call for help from the neighboring department because they may beat them into the scene. Or, they would rather call a department much farther away because the chief there is a friend or even a family member. Far too often, hurt feelings span generations and, because something happened 20 or even 30 years ago or was rumored to have happened, companies will ignore each other. Even if the offending parties are long gone—even deceased—the feelings linger.
(1) The hydrant assist valve used by a neighboring department is explained to our firefighters at a recent drill. Because we are automatically alerted to any structure fire in their district, it is imperative that our firefighters understand how to use this tool. (Photos by Zach Polvino unless otherwise noted.)
When our neighbors need help, they don’t care where it comes from; they simply expect it to arrive in a timely manner and be delivered by professional firefighters. They do not want to hear about some long-time simmering feud between two neighboring departments or family connections trumping what is right. In most cases, any concerns can be resolved and worked out by having department leaders set their egos aside, sit down, and have a cup of coffee together. This is what the public would expect and, as professionals, we must “play nice in the sandbox” and establish good working relationships with our neighboring departments.
Mutual-Aid Training
The best way to heal old wounds and solidify the bonds of membership is to simply have the mutual-aid partners train together. Members will soon realize that those members from “that other” department are not much different from their own members. Perhaps you have heard the old expression, “Same circus, different clowns.” Well, soon enough, the mutual-aid partners will discover they are more similar than they are different. Each department shares common challenges, and they all seem to have a very similar cast of characters spread among the ranks.
Training should also be regular. Too often, mutual-aid partners engage in a productive drill but years pass before this is done again. If training is done regularly, departments are kept abreast of any new equipment placed in service by their neighbors. In addition, they can work on and reinforce crew duties and operational assignments based on the order of arrival.
My department recently participated in a mutual-aid acquaintance drill with a neighboring agency. Our neighbor prefers the forward lay, and their first-in engine drops a supply hose along with a hydrant assist valve at the hydrant and proceeds down to the fire. The second-arriving engine connects to the valve and supplements the water supply. Because that second-arriving engine could very easily be us, it is extremely important that our crews understand how that hydrant assist valve works. Our department doesn’t own one and, if we didn’t train with our neighbors, we could easily be confused and of little help to them if we rolled in second-due at their fire (photos 1, 2).
By participating in a regular mutual-aid drill, a department may discover the need to purchase an adapter to connect its hose to a neighbor’s pumper. Perhaps the neighbor switched from four- to five-inch hose or adopted Storz fittings, which is different than those used by other departments. Conducting regular training drills allows for better familiarization with all mutual-aid department equipment and operations. And, because members come and go so often in the volunteer fire service, training regularly also provides the opportunity for veteran members to get to know newer members coming into the ranks.
With regular training, officers also meet their neighboring counterparts. Hard training followed up with a lunch or dinner helps solidify the team atmosphere and builds camaraderie. Breaking bread together and training together regularly go a long way toward creating friendships and building strong working relationships (photo 3).
(2) Our department is expected to connect our hose to supplement another department’s water supply quickly. Working and training together gets everybody operating on the same page and makes for a smoother operation.
(3) A mutual-aid drill provides the opportunity for neighboring departments to become familiar with each other’s operations, equipment, and personnel.
(4) The communication center should have a seat at the table when putting mutual-aid plans together. The plan should be consistent and easy to follow and allow the dispatcher to make many important decisions without needing to be directed to do so. (Photo by author.)
When putting the plan together, outline apparatus parking assignments, initial fire attack procedures, and other crew duties and assignments to get all members on the same page. It is quite possible that Department B arrives first at Department A’s fire because they happened to have something going on already at the firehouse when they were alerted to respond. Department A might just be having a bad day with limited staffing. However, when they arrive, they should quickly size up the jobs that have already been started or completed and immediately understand what’s next on the list.
Similarly, incoming mutual-aid apparatus should have a basic idea of their initial assignments. It may very well be that incoming apparatus and crews are preassigned to stage and await orders. With a good plan, they do not have to tie up the radio or add to the radio traffic asking for orders or assignments. Of course, the IC may have to “call an audible” and change things up, but until he does, everybody follows the plan. A well-rehearsed plan working well means that when Department B is working alongside Department A, nobody notices the difference (except perhaps the names on the rigs); it’s seamless. Everybody knows who is coming, what they bring, and what they will be doing. Most everything has been reviewed and thought out ahead of time to avoid confusion and dysfunction, which are the enemy of any professional operation.
Securing Resources for Automatic Aid
One part of any mutual-aid planning process involves department leaders taking a good, honest look at resources at their disposal to decide what’s needed to effectively handle fire and emergency incidents. They then plan for any extra help that may be required and when it should come. Standard operating guidelines (SOGs) should go into the plan outlining standard mutual-aid assistance and automatic mutual aid. A standard mutual-aid plan usually involves the IC calling for extra aid as required. He may do so while en route to an incident based on information being passed on from the dispatch center or after being on scene and deciding additional help is needed. The aid comes only when the IC calls for it. “Automatic” means that assistance from neighboring departments is coming automatically with the drop of the tones. A department may decide to do this 24/7 each day or only during the daytime hours when short-staffed. Some departments decide to have automatic aid come only for confirmed structure fires, and others may have it respond for certain buildings they deem high-risk. The point here is to decide ahead of time what is coming, from where, and when. This saves a lot of time and effort and limits confusion when the call comes in.
A good mutual-aid plan accounts for the automatic dispatch of a firefighter assist and search team (FAST) or rapid intervention team (RIT) for all confirmed fires. Hopefully, the team is coming from the nearest department because evidence suggests that most firefighter Maydays occur early in the incident. Therefore, it’s important that the team is in place as soon as possible. It’s quite possible that the team may not be coming from a neighboring department because it does not have trained and qualified members. Some departments don’t offer their services as a FAST or RIT, or enough team members might not be available that day, which means there should always be a “Plan B” in place that the dispatch center can fall back on. In addition, mutual-aid departments providing the FAST or RIT duties should agree on minimum team qualifications, training requirements, and uniform SOGs.
I once saw a team arrive at a fire with exterior, nonstructural firefighters. There was no doubt they were part of the team and not acting in some sort of support role. I found this unacceptable and explained that, when a FAST arrives, a commitment is being made to the interior teams that waiting outside is a well-trained group of firefighters prepared to go inside and help them, if needed. It is unacceptable to send nonqualified members to simply fill out an assignment. Discuss and work on this tactic ahead of time so mutual-aid partners can adopt it. A good mutual-aid plan should also be streamlined and to the point. The IC should be able to request assistance with minimal effort. In fact, he can simply request help, and the communication center takes it from there based on the predetermined plans in place and ready to go.
This streamlined and easy approach need not be limited to large fire incidents. For example, the IC may be on a rescue call and need a specific type of equipment. Rather than have the IC guess where to get the equipment from, it’s best for him to simply tell the communication center what he needs. The center should be expected to be able to handle it from there.
I work at the fire alarm office in my town. One problem I witnessed was when ICs began specifying the company they wanted as opposed to what they needed. First, if the IC specifies the company he wants, any plan that was in place is now rendered obsolete if the IC deviates from it. Second, if the IC specifies a certain company for a specific piece of equipment—i.e., “Send me Smithville’s ladder”—the dispatcher may know that Smithville’s ladder is out of service for mechanical work but the IC did not. As a result, valuable time is wasted because the dispatcher had to explain this to the IC.
Have a good mutual-aid plan worked out so there is a Plan A, B, C, and so on. More commonly, a second-, third-, or fourth-alarm assignment is what brings predetermined apparatus and equipment to the scene. The plan should also predetermine who is coming when any specialized teams or equipment is needed such as water rescue; technical rescue; or additional tankers, tenders, or ambulances. Then, the IC can simply concentrate on the emergency incident, and the communication center can work on getting the resources requested. Of course, this means that we should expect the communication center to keep on file an accurate and up-to-date list of apparatus, equipment, and other resources available from the departments under their dispatch jurisdiction.
Because mutual-aid coordination inevitably involves the communication center, involve them as well. Dispatchers are an extremely important part of the firefighting team and need a seat at the table when devising mutual-aid plans. So, during mutual-aid training drills, involve the communication center and have it test the established plans by alerting extra-alarm companies, simulating Mayday procedures, and rehearsing other tasks normally done during emergency incidents. The well-designed plan empowers the dispatch center and grants dispatchers permission to do things without having to ask anyone. The dispatcher sits in a nice climate-controlled and comfortable environment, far removed from the chaos and confusion experienced on scene. It’s easy for an IC to be slightly overwhelmed and forget some things that the dispatcher is perfectly capable of taking care of. Some chiefs and ICs think they must make every single decision, but a professional fire dispatcher should be expected to know when a covering company is needed, when to notify utilities, or when to start a fire investigator toward the scene (photo 4).
Review and update mutual-aid plans regularly and as needed. Equipment changes always occur, and it would be embarrassing if a chief thinks he is getting a tower ladder from his second-alarm assignment but a straight stick shows up. However, a real dichotomy exists here. Never change the plan for the sake of changing.
At my fire alarm office, we often joke that the first thing a new chief does to make his mark on assuming office is undertake a complete rewrite of the mutual-aid plan. I have seen departments change their plan several times within just a couple of years simply because a new chief assumed office. Sometimes, plans change so often that even neighbors still on the plan are not aware of their new role or assignment. Many times at the alarm office, we have taken phone calls from chief officers questioning why their department wasn’t sent mutual aid to a structure fire. And, many times, the dispatchers have had to explain that the plan changed, and their department’s assignment was, in some way, altered. Yes, changes need to be made from time to time, but there is something to be said for continuity and consistency.
Mutual-aid assistance and cooperation are more important today than ever before. It’s imperative that all fire departments put together a comprehensive mutual-aid plan well before it’s needed. However, the plan needs to be more than words on paper; it involves department leadership setting aside their egos and working together to put in place well-thought-out procedures designed to get everybody operating on the same page. It is supported by regular hands-on training with participating departments working side by side in a collaborative and respectful manner to achieve the common goal of providing their communities with unparalleled professional service.
THOMAS A. MERRILL is a 38-year member of the Snyder Fire Department in Amherst, New York. He served 26 years as a department officer, including 15 years in the chief officer ranks and five years as chief of department. He has conducted various fire service presentations throughout the Western New York area as well as at FDIC International. He also is a professional fire dispatcher for the Town of Amherst Fire Alarm Office. He is also the longtime host of The Professional Volunteer Fire Department podcast.
