Helping Each Other
(two articles in this series)
by Tom Forster, originally published in Plumas News in May of 2009
Imagine there is a big fire in your neighborhood. Also imagine it’s a time of day when your local volunteer fire department does not have enough personnel available to deal with the incident. Would you hope and assume that other neighboring fire departments will come to their aid quickly? That will probably happen, but maybe not in a fast or planned manner.
In our last column we gave an overview of the current state of the American volunteer fire service, including both challenges and recommendations for solutions from national experts. At the local level, one of the suggestions was to “Use mutual aid to offset service and technical deficiencies.” At the state level, “Promote regional service delivery where local capabilities and technical expertise are weak,” was recommended.
Mutual aid is an agreement between fire departments to help each other across jurisdictional boundaries. It could occur only when local emergencies exceed local resources, or there may be a more formal agreement to send the resources automatically. The more formal agreement would be known as “Automatic Aid.”
You might be thinking this would be an obvious and easy thing to do. The truth is that there are still many areas across America where mutual aid agreements do not exist. Politics, liability, and cost concerns may be in play. For example, there are areas where communities have decided not to respond to emergencies outside their boundaries. Historically this was usually due to concern about who was paying to fund the fire department, and who was not.
For example, my grandfather was a long-time fire and police Chief for a community in the Bay Area that had a mostly volunteer FD. At one point long ago, he was told by the town manager that he could be fired if they responded “one more time” across the town border to a fire. My father was one of the volunteer firefighters back then, and he remembers how frustrating it was to respond towards a nearby fire and then have to stop at the town limits sign. This was not a unique situation, and happened across America under various circumstances and for various reasons.
Luckily things have changed for the better with agreements being forged to help each other. Some counties and local fire departments have had them for a long time. In Plumas County, some local FD’s have signed mutual or automatic aid agreements. For example, the Graeagle and Plumas Eureka FD’s have been operating with an automatic aid agreement since 2007.
A Plumas Countywide local government mutual aid plan has been adopted by all local government Plumas County FD's this year (2009). It is based upon other successful mutual aid plans used in some other California counties and other states. The foundation for this is the original California Civil Defense and Disaster Relief Plan, adopted in 1950 for statewide needs under Governor Earl Warren.
Participating in the plan is not required, but all local FD’s have signed on. Participants agree to help each other in a planned and safe manner, while maintaining reasonable levels of coverage at home. In general there is no cost to the requesting community, unless the incident is an extended one. If so, food and fuel costs may be covered. Participants also agree to maintain their own insurance.
The plan also includes sections that detail guidelines for equipment, training, communications, incident command, and safety. Note: the plan is being updated and re-signed in 2016.
Local Fire Chiefs Sign Updated Regional Mutual Aid Agreement
by Tom Forster, originally published in Plumas News in April of 2011
The members of the Plumas County Fire Chiefs Association (PCFCA) have finalized an updated regional fire mutual aid agreement. All local government fire department Chiefs have signed the pact after several years of development. Federal and State resources are already covered by several related agreements.
While a number of local fire departments (FD’s) have existing, written automatic aid agreements, this is the first formal, regional mutual aid agreement. It covers those areas already served by local FD’s. Automatic aid occurs when the original incident is first dispatched, while mutual aid is usually requested on an ad hoc basis by the local incident commander. In mutual aid, the fire departments have basically agreed to give each other assistance across jurisdictional boundaries during incidents where the local department’s resources are insufficient.
This occurs only if the requested agencies have enough resources to help others at the time, and no financial charges are made for the assistance. Mutual aid is voluntary, and may not occur if the requested agencies are dealing with incidents of their own and/or do not have enough equipment or firefighters to share at the time. The closest available FD resources are usually requested, and the circle of requests gets larger until enough help can be found.
These types of agreements are common in most counties in California, and are in use across the nation. In most cases, local crews are capable of handling small incidents themselves, but in the case of larger incidents, surrounding FD’s may be called in along with the local resources. For instance, local fire departments will typically handle routine EMS and other calls such as vehicle crashes, while structure and wildland interface fires may need more resources than are available with one department.
Major incidents that are not mitgated the first day usually result in an escalation to the larger state and federal agreements, managed in California through the California Emergency Management Agency (CAL EMA), formerly known as the California Office of Emergency Services, or CAL OES.
Unfortunately the new pact does not address the roughly 20% of Plumas County residences that are not within a fire district. While the FD’s will respond to incidents in those areas, costs may be charged to those served since there is no funding or tax exchanges being made for the local FD’s currently. This challenge was detailed at length by the 2009-10 Plumas County Grand Jury report, and is currently being worked on through the Board of Supervisors, Plumas County OES, the Special Districts Association, and PCFCA.
The new mutual aid agreement was one of the goals in a long-range strategic plan for PCFCA developed starting in 2008. It is updated each year for the next three year period. Our mission statement describes PCFCA as “A volunteer association of fire chiefs and rural fire departments united in our efforts to organize, lead, and improve the fire services in Plumas County.”
The vision statement for the organization is “We are rural fire departments who are united and working together to provide high quality Fire/EMS/Rescue services in a seamless and cost effective manner. To achieve this vision, we will:
Many of these efforts are rooted in the National Incident Management System and Framework (NIMS), where key roles and responsibilities promote partnerships at all levels.
The NIMS Framework has five key principles, promoting:
Now that the plan is adopted and signed, the next steps include developing “run cards” for each department so that dispatch and resource escalation is pre-determined, working with the Plumas County Sheriff’s Dispatch for much of the County and/or the contracted dispatch services from CAL FIRE in the north-western areas of the County.
Numerous appendices to the plan will also be developed starting this year to help responders. These include helpful guidelines for tasks such as response, communications, command, training, and handling specialized incidents. “We are working to become a strong team to better serve our communities and the County,” said PCFCA President Gary Castagnetti, “We look forward to building and exercising our plans.”
Imagine there is a big fire in your neighborhood. Also imagine it’s a time of day when your local volunteer fire department does not have enough personnel available to deal with the incident. Would you hope and assume that other neighboring fire departments will come to their aid quickly? That will probably happen, but maybe not in a fast or planned manner.
In our last column we gave an overview of the current state of the American volunteer fire service, including both challenges and recommendations for solutions from national experts. At the local level, one of the suggestions was to “Use mutual aid to offset service and technical deficiencies.” At the state level, “Promote regional service delivery where local capabilities and technical expertise are weak,” was recommended.
Mutual aid is an agreement between fire departments to help each other across jurisdictional boundaries. It could occur only when local emergencies exceed local resources, or there may be a more formal agreement to send the resources automatically. The more formal agreement would be known as “Automatic Aid.”
You might be thinking this would be an obvious and easy thing to do. The truth is that there are still many areas across America where mutual aid agreements do not exist. Politics, liability, and cost concerns may be in play. For example, there are areas where communities have decided not to respond to emergencies outside their boundaries. Historically this was usually due to concern about who was paying to fund the fire department, and who was not.
For example, my grandfather was a long-time fire and police Chief for a community in the Bay Area that had a mostly volunteer FD. At one point long ago, he was told by the town manager that he could be fired if they responded “one more time” across the town border to a fire. My father was one of the volunteer firefighters back then, and he remembers how frustrating it was to respond towards a nearby fire and then have to stop at the town limits sign. This was not a unique situation, and happened across America under various circumstances and for various reasons.
Luckily things have changed for the better with agreements being forged to help each other. Some counties and local fire departments have had them for a long time. In Plumas County, some local FD’s have signed mutual or automatic aid agreements. For example, the Graeagle and Plumas Eureka FD’s have been operating with an automatic aid agreement since 2007.
A Plumas Countywide local government mutual aid plan has been adopted by all local government Plumas County FD's this year (2009). It is based upon other successful mutual aid plans used in some other California counties and other states. The foundation for this is the original California Civil Defense and Disaster Relief Plan, adopted in 1950 for statewide needs under Governor Earl Warren.
Participating in the plan is not required, but all local FD’s have signed on. Participants agree to help each other in a planned and safe manner, while maintaining reasonable levels of coverage at home. In general there is no cost to the requesting community, unless the incident is an extended one. If so, food and fuel costs may be covered. Participants also agree to maintain their own insurance.
The plan also includes sections that detail guidelines for equipment, training, communications, incident command, and safety. Note: the plan is being updated and re-signed in 2016.
Local Fire Chiefs Sign Updated Regional Mutual Aid Agreement
by Tom Forster, originally published in Plumas News in April of 2011
The members of the Plumas County Fire Chiefs Association (PCFCA) have finalized an updated regional fire mutual aid agreement. All local government fire department Chiefs have signed the pact after several years of development. Federal and State resources are already covered by several related agreements.
While a number of local fire departments (FD’s) have existing, written automatic aid agreements, this is the first formal, regional mutual aid agreement. It covers those areas already served by local FD’s. Automatic aid occurs when the original incident is first dispatched, while mutual aid is usually requested on an ad hoc basis by the local incident commander. In mutual aid, the fire departments have basically agreed to give each other assistance across jurisdictional boundaries during incidents where the local department’s resources are insufficient.
This occurs only if the requested agencies have enough resources to help others at the time, and no financial charges are made for the assistance. Mutual aid is voluntary, and may not occur if the requested agencies are dealing with incidents of their own and/or do not have enough equipment or firefighters to share at the time. The closest available FD resources are usually requested, and the circle of requests gets larger until enough help can be found.
These types of agreements are common in most counties in California, and are in use across the nation. In most cases, local crews are capable of handling small incidents themselves, but in the case of larger incidents, surrounding FD’s may be called in along with the local resources. For instance, local fire departments will typically handle routine EMS and other calls such as vehicle crashes, while structure and wildland interface fires may need more resources than are available with one department.
Major incidents that are not mitgated the first day usually result in an escalation to the larger state and federal agreements, managed in California through the California Emergency Management Agency (CAL EMA), formerly known as the California Office of Emergency Services, or CAL OES.
Unfortunately the new pact does not address the roughly 20% of Plumas County residences that are not within a fire district. While the FD’s will respond to incidents in those areas, costs may be charged to those served since there is no funding or tax exchanges being made for the local FD’s currently. This challenge was detailed at length by the 2009-10 Plumas County Grand Jury report, and is currently being worked on through the Board of Supervisors, Plumas County OES, the Special Districts Association, and PCFCA.
The new mutual aid agreement was one of the goals in a long-range strategic plan for PCFCA developed starting in 2008. It is updated each year for the next three year period. Our mission statement describes PCFCA as “A volunteer association of fire chiefs and rural fire departments united in our efforts to organize, lead, and improve the fire services in Plumas County.”
The vision statement for the organization is “We are rural fire departments who are united and working together to provide high quality Fire/EMS/Rescue services in a seamless and cost effective manner. To achieve this vision, we will:
- Strive to be leaders who promote regional efforts through common goals, mutual and automatic aid, fire prevention, and training;
- Operate in a well organized manner and serve as a role model for other rural county fire chief associations;
- Exercise our political influence in a positive and helpful manner and promote equitable fire protection and funding/taxation throughout the County.”
Many of these efforts are rooted in the National Incident Management System and Framework (NIMS), where key roles and responsibilities promote partnerships at all levels.
The NIMS Framework has five key principles, promoting:
- Engaged partnership, developing shared response goals and aligning capabilities so that no one is overwhelmed in times of crisis.
- A tiered response system, meaning that incidents must be managed at the lowest possible jurisdictional level and supported by additional capabilities when needed.
- A response that is scalable, flexible, and adaptable depending on operational needs.
- Unity of effort through unified command. Unity of effort respects the chain of command of each participating organization while encouraging seamless coordination in support of common goals.
- A prepared readiness to act.
Now that the plan is adopted and signed, the next steps include developing “run cards” for each department so that dispatch and resource escalation is pre-determined, working with the Plumas County Sheriff’s Dispatch for much of the County and/or the contracted dispatch services from CAL FIRE in the north-western areas of the County.
Numerous appendices to the plan will also be developed starting this year to help responders. These include helpful guidelines for tasks such as response, communications, command, training, and handling specialized incidents. “We are working to become a strong team to better serve our communities and the County,” said PCFCA President Gary Castagnetti, “We look forward to building and exercising our plans.”