Swannanoa Volunteer Fire Department & Rescue Squad Inc. Auxiliary Appendix R of the Standard Operating Guideline Revision Date 07/18/2001

Transcription

1 Swannanoa Volunteer Fire Department & Rescue Squad Inc. Auxiliary Appendix R of the Standard Operating Guideline Revision Date 07/18/ Purpose of the Auxiliary 2.0 To gain membership with the department as an Auxiliary member 3.0 Auxiliary Officer Positions 4.0 Other Plans & policies that pertain to Auxiliary members 5.0 Callout Procedures for Auxiliary members during emergencies 6.0 The Incident Command System Basics

2 1.0 Purpose of the Auxiliary The Auxiliary serves a vital logistical role in supporting the Fire Department during emergencies and other events. During emergency incidents, the Auxiliary will typically provide food & drinks to Fire & Rescue personnel. The ability to have a group provide these services means that Firefighters or Rescue workers are not taken away from any mission assignments where their training and experience are needed the most. There are two basic areas that efforts of the Auxiliary positively affect the incident... A. Nourishment - The food services provide the emergency workers with nourishment needed to complete their missions. Some incidents such as a search for a lost person, a wildfire or other large event may go on for hours or days. Inadequate food intake or fluids during long incidents may lead to fatigue, muscle cramps and other problems that will adversely affect the Fire or Rescue Worker=s safety. B. Morale - Emergency workers will inherently experience stress from decision making to the physical expectations of the job. If a worker is not fed within reasonable amounts of time during an incident, they may start thinking or concentrating on that fact which takes away thought that should be on their mission, again leading to a problem involving safety of the individual. Lack of adequate food or drinks will ultimately lead to poor morale and even if it involves inadequate supplies for just one member of a crew, the one individual will affect the morale and performance of the others. The workers need Arefreshment@, whether a container of cold water or tea during hot weather or a cup of coffee during cold weather to keep morale up. One basic feeling that will keep workers coming back to other calls is knowing that they will be taken care of. One incident of being left hungry or thirsty while on a long call may affect their decision to respond to the next call like that. 2.0 To gain membership with the department as an Auxiliary member, the individual... A. Must be at least 18 years of age. B. Must live within 2 miles of the Swannanoa Fire District. C. Must not have been convicted of a Felony. D. Must submit a completely filled out application (Section V of the Information Manual) with a criminal background check from the Clerk of Courts of Buncombe County and any other county of residence within the last year. E. Must be interviewed by the Auxiliary Officers of the department at the designated meeting and receive a majority vote for probationary acceptance. After the meeting where the member was approved for probation, they must complete the following before full membership. 1. Sign a Conflict of Interest Policy statement (SOG Appendix G) 2. Sign a Drug Policy statement (SOG Appendix F) 3. Attend two more consecutive meetings directly after the initial acceptance night. 3.0 Auxiliary Officer Positions For coordination and management of Auxiliary functions, there are four Officer Positions. Each position is voted on by Auxiliary members on the first Thursday in July of each year. The descriptions of each position are below President Vice-President Treasurer Secretary Coordinates meetings and manages or delegates Auxiliary Functions. Performs duties of President in their absence Manages finances for Auxiliary Records minutes and documentation for Auxiliary

3 4.0 Other Plans & policies that pertain to Auxiliary members Standard Operating Guidelines By-Laws 1.0 Outlines the mission statement and statement of Intent of the Swannanoa Fire Department 6.2 Vehicle Insurance coverage for your deductible 8.0 Department Conduct & Procedures 9.0 House Rules 11.0 Public Relations 12.0 G & I Communications - Long distance calls & who can answer the telephone 15.4 A through D Accountability - All Auxiliary members will adhere to the accountability system 17.0 Fire Officers - Understand positions of Fire Officers 17.1 Command structure SOG Appendix D - Employee Assistance Program 5.0 Communications for Procedures for Meeting/Emergency Callout Each member should keep a current roster containing names and contact numbers for other members. The Auxiliary will meet monthly on the set day and time. Other meetings may be held as needed. A quorum is not necessary to conduct business. The Auxiliary President or Secretary will give all members 48 hours notice of all meetings. Auxiliary members are to notify an Auxiliary Officer if said member is unable to attend a meeting or other Auxiliary Events. Auxiliary members missing two meetings in a row or five meetings in a year without reasonable cause of notification said member will be dismissed from the Auxiliary. The Personnel Committee must be notified to discuss and take to the board. An attendance list for meetings and events/functions will be recorded and given to the board treasurer at the October board meeting. An Auxiliary report including but not limited to, treasurers report, secretary s report, fundraiser and/or call out for service, will be given at the next scheduled board meeting following an auxiliary meeting/event. For service during emergency situations, the following events will take place: The Incident Commander or assigned individual at the scene will evaluate the need for food or drinks. If food and drinks are decided to be needed for the incident, an assigned individual from the scene will be appointed as either the Logistics Chief or simply a contact person for the Auxiliary. The Logistics Chief or individual will attempt to achieve contact with at least one individual on the Auxiliary roster and provide them with the following information: A. General type of food or drinks needed (Cold, hot drinks or both, if a quick meal in the field is needed or larger type meal) B. How many people need fed (may include current and/or expected numbers) C. Where the food or drinks need to be delivered to and any special instructions about the route D. Who they will make contact with when delivering E. Auxiliary President and Treasurer will at all times have access to the auxiliary checkbook and both will have the authority to sign checks for supplies as needed. The first Auxiliary member contacted will call a second Auxiliary member. The second member will contact other members while the first begins preparing necessary items for that event. A notebook containing the Auxiliary Call-out procedures is kept with the Auxiliary supplies.

4 6.0 The Incident Command System Basics The Incident Command System has been developed to help properly identify, account for and utilize each resource to it=s maximum effectiveness during an incident. The typical roles and function of the Auxiliary have already been recognized as part of the Incident Command System so members should familiarize with the system to understand where they fit into it and how to function as a part of it. Basic Definitions and positions 1. Incident Commander (IC) - Only one individual may be the Incident Commander. This individual is in overall charge of the entire incident. The IC must delegate other persons to serve in roles to make sure objectives are completed. An individual can only handle so many objectives at one time that is why we use what is known as the Span of Control. 2. Span of Control - Depending on the tasks at hand, one supervisor can only effectively manage so many subordinates. In emergency work, we typically can have a range of 1 supervisor managing no more than 7 people. Most crews on a wildfire don=t even exceed 1 supervisor for 5 people. With other difficult or dangerous tasks we may only have two persons assigned to one supervisor. With Auxiliary functions, you should evaluate tasks at hand and decide what span of control is needed for preparation of food supplies or even during special events or projects. 3. Public Information Officer (PIO) - This individual is appointed by the IC to organize information and properly distribute it to the news media or to the community. 4. Safety Officer - Usually appointed per incident, this person acts as the eyes and ears for all safety concerns on the incident. 5. Operations Chief/Section - Operations section is the function that actually fights fire, rescues people, searches for them or basically the physical aspects of carrying out the objectives for the incident. 6. Planning Chief/Section - The planning section basically plans things. They receive a list of objectives from the IC and decide strategies or ways to complete those objectives and forward them to the operations Section. They formulate plans for the next operational period; take care of certain aspects of documentation and other items. 7. Logistics Chief/Section - Some may call it the backbone of an incident. Logistics section supports the incidents with various types of supplies and functions. Everything from the Food Unit, which the Auxiliary falls under to transportation needs, batteries for flashlights, gas for power equipment and uncountable other things. 8. Finance Chief/Section - Obviously, an incident cost money. Most incidents do not require a separate Finance Officer but when we get into a longer incident involving more resources we definitely need to track the costs. 9. Accountability System - As mentioned in the main Standard operating Guideline, the Auxiliary will also be involved in the accountability system. Although Auxiliary personnel should not be placed in hazardous areas when delivering supplies to an incident, however situations can rapidly change. The department=s foremost concern is for the safety of every individual involved and using the card for each member=s accountability is extremely important. When food is prepared at the station and Emergency Workers will eat there, accountability cards can be kept with one auxiliary member who is supervising the function. When reporting to or near to a scene, the Auxiliary member=s card should be given to the staging officer when they arrive and picked back up when you leave.

5 7.0 Problem Solving & Disciplinary Actions Areas of the Standard Operating Guideline outline certain expectations of a member=s character, performance of duties and dealing with others. If an Auxiliary member has been found to have violated rules or items pertaining to plans or policies then some type of disciplinary action may be taken. The action will be based on the circumstances surrounding the incident or problem including it=s severity, frequency or steps already taken to attempt to solve it. Personnel issues will be taken to the chief. The chief will decide if the issue needs to go to the personnel committee. Actions may range from a verbal warning to dismissal from the department. Dismissal of an auxiliary member a quorum vote must be taken and at least two officers of the auxiliary must be in favor of dismissing a member. The vote to dismiss must be done in a regularly scheduled monthly meeting. The personnel committee will be notified to discuss and take the dismissal to the board of directors. The chief of the department and the personnel chairperson has the authority to suspend auxiliary members, including officers, until an issue is resolved by the Board. 8.0 Conduct Unbecoming There are other types of conduct which common sense dictates they cannot be permitted in the interest of the department or fellow members, even though not covered by specific rules. Appropriate action, including dismissal, if necessary, will be applied in cases involving conduct of this type.