First RESPONDER
Plan, Plan, Plan Ahead By Mark Hall, COML/COMC Why is it that communications always seems to fail when we need it most? I am not talking about the physical failure of the infrastructure due to some sort of man-made or natural disaster. I am talking about the human element that time and time again compromises both responder and public safety because we get outside our comfort zones and panic. Our greatest challenge as public safety communications and operations professionals is to train the way we fight, right? So why is “failure of communications” still among the top three items listed during an After Action Review (AAR)? Because we haven’t learned it yet. Here are ten suggestions that will give you an advantage during the next major incident that can ease the transition from chaos to order: 1) Create a standing large incident communications plan. This plan should be preprogrammed into all of your radios and should be a cooperative effort between you and all area mutual aid agencies that might respond to your jurisdiction. This plan consists of 3-5 tactical channels (i.e. the simplex/talk-around, non-repeated kind), a command channel and a logistics channel that everyone can become familiar with during normal department training. Also don’t forget your regional air-to-ground channels for wildfire aircraft and a medical channel for medical operations, if appropriate. I have some great examples I can show you. 2) Know and understand how to use/deploy all available communications assets including radios, interoperability equipment and trained communications and dispatch personnel. When was the last time someone dragged out your ICRI or ACU and actually set it up? Are your on-call numbers current? Have you identified a local individual or select individuals who can be trained as a Type 3 Communications Unit Leader (COML)? As a nationally-qualified DHS instructor, sign your folks up to one of my classes. 3) Exercise, exercise, exercise. At least quarterly. Have your department personnel find their incident group and specific frequencies in that group in their radio, with their eyes closed. Have them qualify quarterly with their radios (Cops have to do that with their guns and they use those a lot less often and guns are a lot less complicated). 4) Occasionally run extended local operations not on your department TAC channel, but using your large incident plan with the regional Mutual Aid Channels (MAC). The more your responders are familiar with their plan, the more comfortable they will be finding it and using it when it hits the fan.
8262 West Portland Avenue, Littleton, CO 80128-4495 USA Tel: 888.FRC.5442 / 303.972.4902 Fax: 303.972.4903 Web: www.firstrespondercomms.com
5) Understand that A) not everyone needs a radio and B) everyone who has a radio doesn’t need to talk on it. Teach your folks about strategic listening, seeing the big picture. It’s human nature to want to contribute, but when better than 50% of the traffic broadcast over the air on some of these incidents is irrelevant to the fight, some reigning in needs to be done. 6) Teach people that interoperability is done best face-to-face. If you can see the guy you want to talk to on the radio, go over and meet him in person. 7) Offer your responders a basic radio class. A little bit of understanding can go a long way to solving the problems we have all faced. Do they know the hazards of dragging their home talk groups to an incident? How that practice can literally shut down an entire communications network for hours at a time? Holly, Ordway and Windsor are just a few examples of communications chaos due to very, very poor operator training and discipline. 8) Build a small cache of local radios that you can hand to responders who come from far away and don’t have radios with your channels/talk groups in them. Aim for a dozen to hand out to your Divisions, Branches and Command & General Staff. 9) Call for comm help early and often. The radio geeks can save your butt and help your responders save lives. Don’t have access to such help? Ask around. Build it from within. Don’t forget the amateur radio operator community either. These volunteers are an incredible resource. When all else fails, they can always seem to get the message across. 10) See #1 above. Without that, none of the rest of this is easy. With it, it can go a long ways to saving lives, reducing property loss and catching the bad guys.
8262 West Portland Avenue, Littleton, CO 80128-4495 USA Tel: 888.FRC.5442 / 303.972.4902 Fax: 303.972.4903 Web: www.firstrespondercomms.com
8262 West Portland Avenue, Littleton, CO 80128-4495 USA Tel: 888.FRC.5442 / 303.972.4902 Fax: 303.972.4903 Web: www.firstrespondercomms.com
5) Understand that A) not everyone needs a radio and B) everyone who has a radio doesn’t need to talk on it. Teach your folks about strategic listening, seeing the big picture. It’s human nature to want to contribute, but when better than 50% of the traffic broadcast over the air on some of these incidents is irrelevant to the fight, some reigning in needs to be done. 6) Teach people that interoperability is done best face-to-face. If you can see the guy you want to talk to on the radio, go over and meet him in person. 7) Offer your responders a basic radio class. A little bit of understanding can go a long way to solving the problems we have all faced. Do they know the hazards of dragging their home talk groups to an incident? How that practice can literally shut down an entire communications network for hours at a time? Holly, Ordway and Windsor are just a few examples of communications chaos due to very, very poor operator training and discipline. 8) Build a small cache of local radios that you can hand to responders who come from far away and don’t have radios with your channels/talk groups in them. Aim for a dozen to hand out to your Divisions, Branches and Command & General Staff. 9) Call for comm help early and often. The radio geeks can save your butt and help your responders save lives. Don’t have access to such help? Ask around. Build it from within. Don’t forget the amateur radio operator community either. These volunteers are an incredible resource. When all else fails, they can always seem to get the message across. 10) See #1 above. Without that, none of the rest of this is easy. With it, it can go a long ways to saving lives, reducing property loss and catching the bad guys.
8262 West Portland Avenue, Littleton, CO 80128-4495 USA Tel: 888.FRC.5442 / 303.972.4902 Fax: 303.972.4903 Web: www.firstrespondercomms.com
