Cypress County Policy TITLE: Fire Services Level of Service POLICY NO. FP 12 AUTHORITY: Resolution No. 2014/485 DATE: October 7, 2014 REVISED: DATE: POLICY STATEMENT 1. Cypress County is authorized to provide fire services within the County s municipal boundary. REASON FOR POLICY 2. To identify fire services that the County is authorized to provide and to identify the level or standard to which each service will be performed. Levels of service authorized by Cypress County for its Fire Departments are detailed in Appendix A to this document. DEFINITIONS 3. Mode: Taking direct action to mitigate the problem. In fire suppression operations it is typified by taking hoselines to the interior of a building as opposed to remaining on the outside. 4. Defensive Mode: Operations chosen to isolate or stabilize the incident from safer locations and to minimize or eliminate further damage. In fire suppression operations this mode is used when fighting the fire directly is not feasible or safe. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS 6. Cypress County will ensure that all fire service activities will comply with the intent of the Alberta Occupational Health & Safety Code. 7. Cypress County will ensure that all fire service activities will comply with the intent of the Government of Alberta s Code of Practice for Fire Fighters. 1
ORGANIZATION 8. Cypress County fire services consists of seven District Volunteer Fire Departments: a) Box Springs b) Hilda c) Irvine d) Onefour e) Schuler f) Seven Persons g) Walsh There are five areas within the County that are under contractual agreements providing fire suppression and rescue services: a) County of 40 Mile, Bow Island b) CFB Suffield Fire Department c) Government of Alberta, Cypress Hills Provincial Park d) Medicine Hat Fire Department e) Special Areas 2, Jenner 9. Cypress County fire services management oversight is as follows: Fire Chief Deputy Fire Chief Chief Training Off icer Box Springs Hilda Irvine Onefour Schuler Seven Persons Walsh Alberta Parks Bow Island CFB Suffield Jenner S.A. 3 Medicine Hat SRD TRAINING 10. Cypress County is committed to the training of its fire fighters. 2
11. Ideally County fire services would like all of its fire fighters to hold, at a minimum the following four Fire Etc. qualification levels (or acceptable equivalents): a) FFTS-S300 General Knowledge, b) FFTS-S400 Water Supply, c) FFTS-S601 Pump Operator Basic, d) FFTS-S1100 Vehicle Extrication. 12. Within one year of joining the Onefour fire department each member shall successfully complete the grassland wildfire operations S-100 firefighting course. The Fire Chief may waive this requirement provided the member has achieved an acceptable level of certification by other means. 13. Within one year of joining a District Fire Department each member shall (subject to the availability of training courses) successfully complete the County s 32 hour Volunteer Fire Fighting course. The Fire Chief may waive this requirement provided a member has achieved an acceptable level of certification by another means. 14. In order to provide an enhanced level of service to County rate payers, County fire fighters are encouraged to take additional training as it becomes available. 15. In addition, each District Fire Department must annually conduct a minimum of 60 hours in-house skills retention training. 16. The Fire Chief or the Deputy Fire Chief may deem a fire fighter to be competent to deliver services under the Level of Service Policy should he/she be unable to attend all of the training hours in a given year if the fire-fighter is sufficiently experienced. A form will be signed by the Chief or Deputy Chief and kept on file of the deemed competency on a yearly basis. 17. A committee of District Chiefs shall be formed. The committee will be chaired by the Fire Chief to develop, evaluate and improve on-going training. This committee will review what additional training is required when new services are offered. The Training committee will make recommendations to the Fire Chief, then to the Fire Services Board and if required, to Council whenever a level of service change is affected. STANDARD OPERATING POLICIES (SOP) 18. The County is required by the Government of Alberta s Code of Practice for Fire Fighters to publish Standard Operating Policies that incorporate industry best practices to establish a standard course of action for emergency incidents to which a fire fighter is required to respond. These policies will be housed at each fire station and at the main office in Dunmore. 3
RISK MANAGEMENT 19. The concept of risk management shall be utilized on the basis of the following principles: a) In situations where the risk to fire department members is excessive, activities shall be limited to defensive operations. b) Activities that are routinely employed to protect property shall be recognized as inherent risks to the safety of Fire Fighters, and actions shall be taken to reduce or avoid these risks. c) No risk to the safety of Fire Fighters shall be acceptable when there is no possibility to save lives or property. 20. The incident commander shall evaluate the risk to members with respect to the purpose and potential results of their actions in each situation. 21. In situations where the risk to fire department members is excessive activities shall be limited to defensive operations. RESPONSIBILITIES 22. The Fire Chief or Deputy Fire Chief will ensure that: a) the level of service identified is adhered to and that employees providing services are competent, and that all fire fighters work under an Incident Management System (IMS) during all emergency incidents; and b) Standard Operating Policies for the Cypress County Emergency Services are published. 23. The Fire Services Board will review the service levels periodically and recommend specific actions for Council to consider. 4
APPENDIX A CYPRESS COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES EMERGENCY SERVICES LEVELS EMERGENCY SERVICE PROVIDED Incident Management System Fire Fighting Services Fire Fighting Structural Fire Fighting - Wildland/Urban Interface Onefour Fire Department Emergency Medical Services Medical First Responder (MFR) Rescue Services Motor Vehicle Collisions, Vehicle Extrication Livestock Transportation Incident Extrication Water/Ice Rescue (Elkwater) Technical Rescue Search & Rescue Hazardous Materials Response LEVEL OR STANDARD All emergency incident operations shall be controlled by utilizing the Incident Management System (IMS). Defensive (If sufficient numbers of qualified fire fighters [minimum 4] arrive on the scene the incident commander may, at his/her discretion [after conducting a risk assessment and determining the level of risk to fire fighters is acceptable], conduct interior rescue and/or interior suppression operations. /Defensive Is authorized to perform only Wildland Fire Suppression. The District Chief of a Fire Department may elect to conduct MFR responses within his/her response area depending upon the qualification levels of District fire-fighters. Assist Qualified Personnel Assist Qualified Personnel Defensive Other Services Public Services (Fire Permits, Alarms, Unknown Odours) Mutual & Automatic Aid Responses (As per existing Agreements & Protocols) 5