H-2 - TFD Duty Officer Program

DUTY OFFICER COVERAGE & VEHICLE USE A command officer who lives in the city limits may check out the command vehicle during weekdays when the Fire Marshal is not available, nights, weekends, or holidays for duty officer coverage. The command vehicle should be returned for the Fire Marshal to use during his scheduled working hours unless other arrangements have been made. The command vehicle may be used for personal business as long as the duty officer is available to respond to emergency calls or incidents. IAMRESPONDING The duty officer should login to IAMRESPONDING and mark the officer’s status as on duty so that responders are aware of coverage. If the duty officer responds direct to the scene of a call, they should mark “direct to scene” so other responders are aware. Command officers will coordinate their duty officer coverage. MOBILE DATA TERMINAL (MDT): The duty officer shall login to Tac10 as soon as possible when operating the command vehicle and MACH, if available. The duty officer will select the “on duty” status in Tac10 when they start their duty coverage and off-duty before they logout and conclude their duty officer coverage. RESPONDING TO CALLS: The duty officer will generally respond to calls for service using the officer’s assigned number (150, 1501, 1502, or 1503) during the officer’s coverage from the location that the duty officer is at with the vehicle at the time of the call, whether at home, the station, or elsewhere in the community or Johnson County area. This reduces turnout times and allows for the duty officer to make decisions as part of the response to the incident. The duty officer shall respond to fire calls, including structure fires and wildland fires, motor vehicle collisions and technical rescue calls, hazmat calls, and natural disasters. The duty officer may respond to emergency medical calls or any other calls within the duty officer’s discretion, including to manage or supervise personnel, such as inexperienced or new personnel or to assist. It is anticipated that the duty officer will respond to more calls to get experience in operating the vehicle and equipment and out of consideration for potential improvements to the program. It is not expected that the duty officer will respond direct to the scene in the command vehicle for routine, non-emergency calls, or non-life-threatening EMS calls. For example, if TFD is paged for a lift assist, the officer generally would not respond unless needed. The duty officer may return to the station or may respond directly to the location of the call depending on the information and circumstances at the time of the incident. If there are no authorized emergency vehicle drivers available to drive an apparatus to a scene and trained or