Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines COMMUNICATIONS 201 Common Sense Operations on the County 800 MHz Digital System. The Meat and Potatoes of Use.

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Addressing the Communications Center 800 MHz Dispatch Channel/Talkgroup ○ Position 1 on Radio (Talkgroup 1) ○ Only for Fire Dispatch ○ One-Way Communications ○ Field Unit Communications is NOT Permitted ○ Use Your Command Channel for Contact

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Addressing the Communications Center Field units attempting to contact the Dispatch Console should initially identify the talkgroup they are calling on. ○ Fire Dispatch from Chief 39 on Zone 1 Fire Command, or… ○ 9 -1 -1 from Chief 69 on TAC 3 Once initial contact is made with the center, it is no longer necessary to identify the talkgroup you are calling on, unless you change to a different talkgroup.

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Addressing the Communications Center Please note… ○ When the dispatcher is setting off the tones for your siren and minitors, he is unable to answer you on the radio if you call him. ○ The console is busy. ○ Please be patient. He will answer you as soon as the dispatch is complete. ○ If there is someone at the backup console, he can answer you.

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Unit Identifiers Fire Service Officers ○ 33 Chief or Chief 33 ○ Assistant 102 -1 or 102 Assistant 1 Non Officers or 1 st Responders ○ Portable 58 – 2 or 58 Portable 2 Fire Service Vehicles ○ Engine 113 – 2 or 113 Engine 2 ○ 104 Rescue or Rescue 104 Know who you are or what radio you are using

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Officers Reporting in Service Chief Officers and Assistants Officer Who May Act as Command (OIC) ○ In-Service or Enroute Switching to TAC 3 ○ Will Be Acknowledged by the Dispatcher Other Officers and Personnel ○ Make General Announcement on Command Channel ○ In-Service or Enroute Switching to TAC 3 ○ Will Not Be Acknowledged by the Dispatcher

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Fire Dispatch Acknowledgements Acknowledge on Zone Fire Command TAC (2) ○ Acknowledge Alarm Station 90 Acknowledges the call ○ Acknowledge Enroute Dispatch from Engine 90, enroute with 3 + 2 ○ Dispatcher Will Assign TAC for Operations Switch to Assigned TAC ○ Acknowledge Approaching and/or On-Scene Engine 90 approaching scene requesting orders Dispatcher Will Maintain Timestamps Do Not Acknowledge if You Can’t Respond

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Assignment of Fire “TAC” Channels TAC’s Assigned by Dispatcher Fire TAC 3 through TAC 9 ○ Assigned Primarily for EMERGENCY Use TAC 10 & TAC 11 ○ May Be Assigned for Non-Emergency Use Trees and/or wires down, flooding, etc. ○ May Be Used for Department Training Requests must be made in advance by telephone or fax ○ May Be Re-Assigned for Emergency Use During Times of High Call Volumes

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Assignment of Fire “TAC” Channels Simplicity of Operation ○ Talkgroup Selector Corresponds to “TAC” Channel Position 1 is Dispatch Talkgroup / Channel Position 2 is Specific Zone Command Talkgroup Position 3 through 15 are “TAC” Talkgroups - Remembering 12 through 15 are CW TAC’s Position 16 is Talkaround or T/A TAC Channels Assigned by Priority ○ Higher Priority Calls Assigned Lower TAC ○ Lesser Priority Calls Assigned Higher TAC

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Assignment of Fire “TAC” Channels Dispatcher will assign an operations channel (TAC) during dispatch of incident Request for Additional TAC Channel ○ Incident OIC May Request Additional TAC Channel ○ Dispatcher Will Assign Second or Third TAC, if Available ○ Stand-bys Will Remain on Zone Command Do Not Assign Your Own TAC

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Assignment of Fire “TAC” Channels Dispatching outside companies into areas with municipal radio systems for alarms ○ Assigned to Municipal System’s Frequency ie. Switch to Hempfield Fire ○ Dispatcher Assisted Announcements Will be on the Municipal System and 33. 70 Dispatching outside companies for stand-by into areas with municipal radio systems ○ Remain on Zone Command ○ Announcements Made on Zone Command 33. 70

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Assignment of Fire “TAC” Channels Dispatching of companies with municipality owned radio systems out of their area for alarms or stand-by ○ Switch to Assigned a Fire TAC Channel ○ Dispatcher announcements will be made on both the municipality system and Fire TAC channel Size-Ups Response level changes Cancellations

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Zone Fire Command Channels 5 Specific Zone Fire Command Channels ○ Zone 1, 2, 3, 4 and MV ○ Correspond to Original Fire Zones ○ Position 2 on Radio (Talkgroup 2) ○ Used by OIC to Request Additional Resources Second alarms Stand-by companies Any other resource needed for specific incident

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Zone Fire Command Channels Additional Call(s) in Service Area ○ Dispatcher Will Instruct OIC to Switch to Their Command Talkgroup / Channel ○ OIC Will Instruct Center on How to Handle the Call Request second alarm Send units not committed at original scene

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Size-Ups and Additional Information Arrival of 1 st Unit or Officer ○ Initial Size-up (Assigned TAC Channel) Incident Command System ○ First On-Scene Assumes Command Tactical Call Sign (Location) Command - ie. Main St. Command (Establish Fire Ground) ○ Orders For 1 st Arriving Unit ○ Notify Center of Change in Command Chief 87 Assuming Command Tactical Call Sign Remains the Same

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Size-Ups and Additional Information Addressing the Communications Center ○ Dispatcher Will Rebroadcast Message Assigned Fire TAC and 33. 70 Direct Communications to Incoming Units ○ Dispatcher Not Involved ○ Transmission Will Not be Rebroadcast The 800 MHz Radio System is a Wide- Area, Simulcast System and it is Not Necessary to Involve the Dispatcher on Every Transmission

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Dispatcher Assisted Information Response Level Changes ○ Command Contacts Communications Center ○ Dispatcher Rebroadcasts Information Assigned Fire TAC and 33. 70 Cancellations ○ Individual Units Released from an Incident Should Call “In Service” on the Command Channel ○ Cancelled Units Will be Placed Back In. Service ○ Units Will be Considered Available for Calls

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Additional Information Termination of Command ○ Once Incident Command has been Terminated, it is NOT Necessary for the Individual Units to Acknowledge “In Service – Returning” ○ The Dispatcher Will Clear All Units from the Incident and Show them Available ○ Clear the TAC Channel

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Interoperability Mobile ○ Change to EMS TAC or Police ADMIN or T/A ○ Contact Directly XTS 2500 Portable ○ Change to EMS TAC or Police ADMIN or T/A ○ Contact Directly XTS 1500 Portable ○ Request CW TAC from Dispatcher ○ TAC 12 through TAC 15 ○ Dispatcher Switches All Units Involved to CW TAC

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Interoperability TAC 12 through TAC 15 ○ County-Wide (CW) TAC Channels ○ Common to all Radios on the System ○ Police, Fire, EMS, EMA, Hazmat, Public Works ○ May be Used for Large Scale Emergencies & Events ○ May be Used for Multi-Agency Responses ○ Request for Availability and Assignment Must be Made Through the 9 -1 -1 Dispatcher ○ Dispatcher Will Notify and Switch All Agencies to CW TAC Assignment

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Interoperability TAC 16 ○ Talkaround or T/A ○ Specific T/A for Each Service ○ Designed for Close Range Communications ○ Not Recommended for Emergency, Hazardous or Potentially Hazardous Areas of Activity ○ Not on 800 MHz Digital System ○ Dispatcher Can’t Hear You ○ Emergency Button Activation Does Not Work

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Storm Mode Trees and wires down ○ Use T/A or TAC 16 OIC Monitor Command Channel Limit Radio Usage ○ Emergency or Priority Traffic ○ Keep Transmissions Short

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Interoperability Out of County Assists Helicopters and Landing Zones ○ Use Low Band ZONE Operations Frequency ○ Dispatcher May Assign a TAC Channel and Patch the TAC Channel to the Low Band ZONE Operations Channel Patching is the process of interconnecting the digital TAC channel to the conventional system via a voice-activated interface

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Fire “ADMIN” Channels ○ Z 1, Z 2, Z 3, Z 4, MV and CW “ADMIN” All Fire, EMS & Police mobiles and XTS 2500 portable radios within a Fire Zone have the Zone ADMIN channel for that zone ○ Non-Emergency Communications ○ Administration Business ○ Routine Communications Between Department Personnel

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Typical Template for XTS-1500 Selector Talk Group Name Talk Group Intended Use 1 Fire Dispatching of Calls by Communications Center 2 Z(x) Fire Cmd Command Channel, Resource Requests, In-Service Reports 3 Fire Tac 3 Fire Ground Operations 4 Fire Tac 4 Fire Ground Operations 5 Fire Tac 5 Fire Ground Operations 6 Fire Tac 6 Fire Ground Operations 7 Fire Tac 7 Fire Ground Operations 8 Fire Tac 8 Fire Ground Operations 9 Fire Tac 9 Fire Ground Operations 10 Fire Tac 10 Fire Ground Operations Lower Priority 11 Fire Tac 11 Fire Ground Operations Lower Priority 12 CW Tac 12 County-Wide Interoperability TAC 13 CW Tac 13 County-Wide Interoperability TAC 14 CW Tac 14 County-Wide Interoperability TAC 15 CW Tac 15 County-Wide Interoperability TAC 16 Fire Talkrnd Fire Talkaround, Short Range Direct Communications

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio XTS 2500 and XTL 5000 “A” Zone Selector Talk Group Name Talk Group Intended Use 1 Fire Dispatching of Calls by Communications Center 2 Z(x) Fire Cmd Command Channel, Resource Requests, In-Service Reports 3 Fire Tac 3 Fire Ground Operations 4 Fire Tac 4 Fire Ground Operations 5 Fire Tac 5 Fire Ground Operations 6 Fire Tac 6 Fire Ground Operations 7 Fire Tac 7 Fire Ground Operations 8 Fire Tac 8 Fire Ground Operations 9 Fire Tac 9 Fire Ground Operations 10 Fire Tac 10 Fire Ground Operations Lower Priority 11 Fire Tac 11 Fire Ground Operations Lower Priority 12 CW Tac 12 County-Wide Interoperability TAC 13 CW Tac 13 County-Wide Interoperability TAC 14 CW Tac 14 County-Wide Interoperability TAC 15 CW Tac 15 County-Wide Interoperability TAC 16 Fire Talkrnd Fire Talkaround, Short Range Direct Communications

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio XTS 2500 and XTL 5000 “B” Zone Selector Talk Group Name Talk Group Intended Use 1 Z(x) Fire Adm Specific Fire Administration Talkgroup for Each Zone 2 CW Fire Adm County-Wide Fire Administration Talkgroup 3 D(x) PD Adm Specific Police District Administration Talkgroup 4 Police Talkrnd Police Talkaround, Short Range Direct Communications 5 EMS Dispatch 6 EMS Tac 2 EMS Operations 7 EMS Tac 3 EMS Operations 8 EMS Tac 4 EMS Operations 9 EMS Administration Talkgroup 10 EMS Talkrnd EMS Talkaround, Short Range Direct Communications 11 Future 12 Future 13 Future 14 Future 15 Future 16 Future

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio XTS 2500 and XTL 5000 “C” Zone Selector Talk Group Name Talk Group Intended Use 1 EMA Cty Wide County-Wide EMA Talkgroup 2 EMA North Operations 3 EMS South EMA South Operations 4 EMA East Operations 5 EMA Central Operations 6 EMA S Cent EMA South-Central Operations 7 EMA N Cent EMA North-Central Operations 8 EOC Planning 9 EOC Logistics 10 EOC Administration 11 EOC Ops EOC Operations 12 EOC T/A EOC Talkaround, Short Range, Direct Communications 13 Future 14 Future 15 Future 16 Future

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Monitoring Calls From Other Agencies Do Not Switch to TAC Channels You Are Not Assigned To ○ Changing TAC’s Uses Resources and May Create Busy Signals ○ Accidental Mic Keys or EBA Will Interfere with Fireground Operation

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Monitoring Calls From Other Agencies If You Must Monitor Someone Else’s Call ○ Place the TAC Channel You Wish to Monitor into Your Scan Group ○ This Will Allow You to Listen to the TAC Channel Without Taking Up Valuable Resources on the System Talking or Listening Across Zones Will Tie-up a Frequency in Each Zone ○ 9 Frequencies in the West (11%) ○ 6 Frequencies in the East (17%)

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Emergency Button Activations (EBA) Each Radio is Equipped with an Emergency Button ○ Orange Button on Top of Portable ○ Red Button on Front of Mobile and Control Station ○ Used For Immediate Life-Threatening Situations Which Require an Immediate Response

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Emergency Button Activations EBA Activation is Received by Center ○ Communications Center Will Attempt Voice Contact with Unit Transmitting EBA ○ If Contact is Unsuccessful Alert Tone Transmitted Announcement Made on Dispatch, Command Channel, Appropriate TAC Channel and TAC Channel EBA was Received, if Different than Assigned TAC If Possible the Unit Transmitting the EBA Should Contact the Center - Identify Themselves, Location and Nature

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Emergency Button Activation If EBA Radio is on a Specific Incident ○ Incident Commander Will Be Notified ○ If IC Determines EBA to be Possibly Valid Additional Alert Tone Will be Given Announcement made on Dispatch, Command Channel, Appropriate TAC channel and TAC channel EBA was Received on, if Different Than Assigned TAC Announcement Made to Clear the Channel EBA was on New TAC channel Will be Assigned for Incident IC Advised of Which TAC the EBA was Activated on RIT Activated Attempts Made to Communicate with EBA Radio

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Emergency Button Activation Clearing an Emergency Button Activation ○ If Determined to be False Activation ○ If Threat is Removed and/or Under Control Dispatcher will notify radio operator to clear the Emergency Button ○ Press and hold emergency button for 2 to 5 seconds until a steady tone is heard, then release the button Accidental (Trip) Activation ○ Dispatcher Will Call Your Radio ○ Tell the Dispatcher it was an Accidental Activation ○ Dispatcher Will Notify You to Reset ○ If You Activate the EBA, Do Not Switch TAC’s

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Dispatching of Drills Request Made in Writing At Least 24 hrs. in Advance List All Agencies Involved With Request Signed by Appropriate Officer Fax to 724 -600 -7393 Activate and Announce Only Once Should Use Talkaround if Possible Request TAC if Available Prior Permission Needed to Use 800 System

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Announcements Communications Center announcements will take place on the Fire Zone Command Talkgroup and 33. 70 Weather related announcements will take place on the Zone Command Talkgroup and 33. 70

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines General Communications Make sure the transmit button is completely depressed and the three “permit tones” are heard before talking Hold the microphone or portable approximately 1½ to 2 inches away from your mouth and at an approximately 30 - 45 degree angle Talk across the mic instead of directly into it Talk in a normal volume and tone Do not shout into the microphone

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines General Communications Make call in “To” and “From” format Beware of open mics Do not lay the mic on the seat or in your lap Keep messages short Avoid unnecessary words Avoid long-winded descriptions Do not repeat yourself Think about what you’ll say before transmitting 45 second time-out-timer

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines Non-Emergency Status Reports Out of Service ○ Unit is NOT available for dispatch In Service ○ Unit is available for dispatch Non-Emergency Status Reports may be made via radio on the respective Zone Fire Command Channel If a unit is going to be out of service for more than a few hours, report should be made via telephone to the center

Westmoreland County 800 MHz Radio Standard Operating Guidelines QUESTIONS?