New Pa Incident Command for Highways

[ddvfd]

Hello
I just read this article posted on the firehouse page...dealing with the new law i guess you could call it of sorts dealing with chain of command for an accident scene along a highway...

DeFebo said the program outlines chains of command.

"One of the things we're concerned about is keeping the safety of the responders as a priority," said DeFebo. "If it's a fire then the firefighters will be incident manager. If it's a police incident then the police would be incident manager."

By mapping out responsibilities emergency responders will be more aware of who's in charge.


Is it just me...or am i reading into it wrong, that its saying, if the police get there first...then they are in charge of everything including the extrication?

Please correct me if i am wrong, but thats just what it sounded like to me

[Plug-Ugly]

ddvfd,
The next pargraph of the article you quoted may help to explain the law better. It states:

"Whoever arrives on the scene first, by default, is the incident manager," said DeFebo. "Once the nature of an incident changes the incident management can also swap hands. If the fire is extinguished and the maintenance people open the road, then now it's up to the maintenance people."

[res7cue]

ddvfd,

I sat thru many meetings with PenDot and PSP due to a major I-81 project that just started in my district.

It is my understanding that once the scene is secured and the life safety issues are eliminated, the scene is now a Police incident and PSP is in charge. As long as we are performing extrication, fire suppression, etc the FD is the IC.

Basically the PD will be in charge of everything police related, including traffic control.

It is also my understanding that there will be several courses/ seminars offered to address this.

[ddvfd]

Thanks Guys
i was just curious because i understood that if PSP got there first, they were in charge of the accident scene and everything that normally would be handled by the fire chief

Thanks

[ntvilleff]

In a unified command structure, there is still only one incident commander at a time, but depending on what the major task is being done, it may be someone from a different agency.

[choad33]

If you check out my post in a diffrent section, the memo has not gotten to all the state police troopers yet. This is part of an ongoing battle with our neighboring department and the PSP. A few days ago the FIRE CHIEF and three FF emt were given a choice LEAVE OR BE ARRESTED and this was not on a highway just a tounship road. They were at a minor MVA with everything off the road (cars fire trucks), Your typical rear end collision fluids down and two ppl complaining of neck and back pain. The second due Als rig is 10 mins out (first rig on another call) The EMT's do their thing when the PSP show up and orders them to leave. This is not the first time I have seen this happen. The state police will give FALSE information to the county to prevent the Fire Co from being called. The ambulance is called to A Patient evaluation at an MVA so the fire co is not dual dispatched. The Ems units have arrived after traveling non emergency to such a report to find a single car high speed roll over with ejection. The Als rig got there at the same time the first affiving trooper did Lucky drunk was class 3 but this is the kinda BS They got to put up with. The state police rules are the higways stay open NO MATTER WHAT its this kinda bs that killed and injured lots of firefighter in the state of pa. If anyone things that this is going to change I got beach front property in adams county I want to sell you.

[Busterbar]

choad33...that sounds like something that happened near me involving the PSP. They were dispatched to respond with their Engine/Rescue to assist the PSP with fluids down, they arrived on scene to find that a PSP car had been involved in an accident, and the people in the other car were trapped.....they immediatly requested ALS and I believe flew the chopper...they're lucky they were equipped with Rescue tools, and had a crew able to get them out.

[choad33]

How bout this one

FD called to a car fire on a limited access divided highway time 2am. The department in question responds to the station and county advises them that PER PSP they are to return NO CAR FIRE FOUND. So they do not even start the truck. 10 Mins later the county calls the chief over the radio asking him if that he still has a crew at the station that they are getting calls for a car fire in the same spot as the first call. The psp was an *** he is screaming "I WANT THIS ROAD OPEN NOW" the total ammount of cars and trucks stopped by the attack line was 6. A truck driver who was sitting on the bumper of his truck yelled to the cop whats the rush its 2:30 in the morning. The cop told him to mind is own @#$%^ business or go to jail. I got other ones I will put up when I got the time