Cowlitz County Fire Chiefs Association Resource Mobilization Plan

Adopted February 2007

Introduction The Cowlitz County Resource Mobilization Plan has been developed for the coordination of emergency resources (personnel and equipment) for major fires, significant EMS incidents, disasters and other major emergencies. The plan provides for the rapid provision of a large number of resources and the effective coordination of remaining resources. This plan is coordinated and adopted through the Cowlitz County Fire Chiefs Association. The Washington State Fire Resource Mobilization Plan:

1. Provides for the election of an individual from the Cowlitz County Fire Chiefs Association as the representative to the Southwest Region Fire Defense Board as provided in RCW 38.54.

2. Establishes personnel resources for use in incident command

positions.

3. Provides the process for mobilization and utilization of County and mutual aid resources.

4. Outlines the procedure for activation and utilization of a regional

mobilization center.

5. Defines the procedure to request State mobilization. Regional Fire Defense Board Representative Per RCW 38.54.040, the Cowlitz County Fire Chiefs Association shall appoint a representative to the Southwest Region Fire Defense Board annually. The function of this person shall be to work the Regional Fire Defense Board in organizing and coordinating those Cowlitz County fire resources who desire to participate in Statewide Mobilization activities. This person shall be elected by the Cowlitz County Fire Chiefs Association and shall serve until resignation or until replaced through re-election.

Mutual Aid All Cowlitz County fire districts and municipal fire departments are signatories to an automatic mutual aid agreement in which they agree to:

1. Provide, when possible, emergency medical and firefighting resources and personnel to any point within the jurisdiction of the requesting organization.

2. Provide such services without reimbursement from the host

jurisdiction.

3. Provide specified and other necessary logistics to mutual aid agencies if warranted by the duration of the incident.

Definitions and Terms Refer also to the definitions and terms in the State and region mobilization plans. Assembly Point: A pre-designated meeting place for assembly and check in. Available Resources: Firefighting personnel and equipment that can be mobilized and sent to another jurisdiction without jeopardizing the capabilities of the sending jurisdiction. Host Jurisdiction: Any jurisdiction in which an emergency exists. Incident Commander: An individual who is in overall command of an emergency incident. Mobilization Officer: A person who coordinates the mobilization of County fire resources for use in Cowlitz County, the region, and the State. The mobilization officer is a Cowlitz County Chief officer who is not directly involved in the major incident. Regional Fire Resource Coordinator: The individual selected by the Southwest Region Fire Defense Board who has the responsibility and authority to request state mobilization. Regional Mobilization Center: A facility or location serving as the coordination and mobilization center for regional fire resources being mobilized under the State Fire Mobilization Plan. Resource Database: A secure, web-accessible database of currently available resources for mobilization as updated by each individual agency.

Staging Area: An area designated as an assembly area for resources to be used at an incident. Strike Team: Five of the same kind and type of resources with common communications and a leader in a separate command vehicle. Task Force: Any combination of single resources, within span of control, assembled for a particular tactical need, with common communications and a leader in a separate command vehicle. Utilization of County Resources Routine incidents will be handled in the fashion as outlined by and for each host jurisdiction. During a major incident as outlined in this plan, the following progression will normally occur.

1. When the incident needs exceed the resources of a host jurisdiction the incident commander may request specific mutual aid resources or CAD programmed mutual aid recommendations.

2. When the demands of the incident exceed the requested aid or the

programmed recommendations, the Mobilization Officer will be activated to coordinate the remaining resources needed and available.

3. If the needs of the incident(s) exceed the host jurisdiction’s and mutual aid

resources, State mobilization can be requested as per the process outlined in the regional and State mobilization plans.

EVENT ACTION First Alarm Handled by local jurisdiction unit recommendation and/or specific resources requested.

No further action.

Second Alarm Handled by local jurisdiction unit recommendation and/or specific resources requested.

The 911 Center shall page the on-call Mobilization Officer who shall in turn contact the 911 Center and/or incident commander for additional information.

Third Alarm Handled by local jurisdiction unit recommendation and/or specific resources requested.

The 911 Center shall re-page the on-call Mobilization Officer who shall contact the incident commander to determine if resource coordination will be needed; the Mobilization Officer shall respond to the 911 Center to assist dispatch with resource allocation.

Fourth Alarm or General Alarm Incident has grown beyond the capabilities of the third alarm assignment.

If the Mobilization Officer is not at the 911 Center, he/she shall be re-paged. The Mobilization Officer shall coordinate resource utilization and call coverage.

Mobilization Officer The Mobilization Officer (MO) is a chief officer who is not directly involved with the mitigation of an ongoing major incident. The Mobilization Officer’s duties are as follows:

1. When paged by the 911 center because of a second alarm or greater, a Chief officer who is not directly involved in the major incident response shall assume the position of MO and take appropriate action as listed in the table above.

2. If the MO determines that resources mobilization is necessary because of

incident needs or because of a need to cover additional calls in areas of the County, the MO shall respond to the 911 center and initiate move ups, call backs, and assignments for call response.

3. The MO’s duties upon a request for State Mobilization are outlined later in

this plan.

Incident Command System Cowlitz County follows the State and Regional Mobilization Plans in adopting the National Incident Management System (NIMS) for its Incident Command System. On Scene Operations

1. Teams and resources assigned to incident operations will report as directed, usually to a staging area.

2. Upon arrival, only single resource leaders will report to the staging

manager, IC or other official.

3. Personnel from single resources shall stay together under the control of the team leader.

4. Single resources shall maintain radio communications capability at all

times on the assigned radio frequency. Local Support Functions Fueling, feeding, and housing of resources will be the responsibility of the host jurisdiction and pursuant to the Cowlitz County Automatic Mutual Aid Agreement. Logistics assistance may also be provided by tertiary agencies such as the American Red Cross or the Cowlitz County Department of Emergency Management. Staging Areas The Mobilization Officer shall designate staging areas and assembly points for units mobilized out of the County on a case-by-case basis. Station Move Up All departments shall provide a handbook of information and maps readily available for moved resources assigned to cover a station or district. All departments shall provide a Knox Box / Supra Titan system for their stations. Communications Radio use and communication procedures shall be consistent with the Cowlitz County Fire Radio Procedures Manual.

ACTIVATION PROCEDURE FOR STATE MOBILIZATION

Host Jurisdiction

1. State criteria for requesting State mobilization requires a host jurisdiction to use their own resources and mutual aid resources to control an incident.

2. When an incident occurs in any jurisdiction and exhausts the resources of

that jurisdiction and its mutual aid resources the situation shall be reported to the Cowlitz County 911 Center by the incident commander; the mobilization officer shall be paged.

Responsibility Any Fire Chief, Sheriff, or the County DEM Director may request activation of State mobilization for regional and State resources by utilizing the procedure outlined below.

1. Upon determining that all available local and mutual aid resources have been used, available resources are inadequate to achieve incident stabilization and control, and additional resources are required, the local incident commander shall determine the following:

a. Specific numbers and types of resources required. b. Assembly point and cont for mobilized resources c. Radio frequency assignment for incoming mobilized resources.

2. If the mobilization officer is not at the 911 center, the above information

shall be conveyed to the 911 center with a request for the mobilization of resources in accordance with the Washington State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Procedures.

Cowlitz County 911 Center

1. Upon receipt of a request for mobilization of resources under the State Mobilization Plan, the 911 center will page the mobilization officer as well as the DEM on-call duty officer. A Chief officer not involved in the incident shall assume the duties of MO.

2. If requested by the Mobilization Officer, the 911 center shall contact

CRESA and cause the activation of the Regional Mobilization Center.

Mobilization Officer

1. When notified by the 911 center of a request for State mobilization, the MO contacts the IC to determine that the requirements for mobilization of State resources have been met.

2. The MO initiates, through the 911 center, activation of the Regional

Mobilization Center. 3. The MO shall directly communicate with the Regional Fire Resource

Coordinator:

a. The MO shall provide a situation report and a statement that the requirements for regional or State mobilization have been met.

b. The specific numbers and types of resources required.

c. An assembly point for incoming resources.

d. Radio frequency assignments for incoming resources.

APPENDIX ‘A’ – STATION MOVE UP INFORMATION

Each station that may have a move up apparatus from a mutual aid district should have a “move up kit”. This kit should have any materials or information that the mutual aid company may need. It should be located by the BASE RADIO and be well marked. The following is a suggested minimum list of items for each kit:

1. Pre Fire Plan Book a. The pre fire plans book should have information on all target

responses in the fire district. This information normally includes responsible name and phone number, hazards, construction type, location of the FDC, alarm panel, electrical panels, lock boxes, and any other pertinent information or diagrams.

2. Map Book 3. Lock Box Key

a. If your district uses a Knox Box or Supra Titan key box system for fire department access, a key should be included in the kit. The key should be mounted in the kit in such a way that it is not easily lost.

4. Information

a. List any information that may be helpful to a move up crew such as door codes, phone numbers, how to reset the radio or doors, and the location of hospitality items for the move up crew such as coffee, etc.