POLICY:

 The following procedures will be followed when determining the proper time to activate the Continuity of Operations: Dispatch/Radio Plan and procedures to follow during the activation time period. This plan, when implemented, shall provide individual Emergency Service Agencies (Police, Fire, and EMS) with both the ability and the expectation to operate and respond self-sufficiently to emergency calls in their response area. For logging and transferring emergency calls from the County Public Safety Center, agencies will receive dispatch / notifications via methods established within this plan. Each Agency is responsible to develop its own operational system and assure that agency personnel are trained and able to operate within their coverage area during the declared emergency period. It is recommended that agencies establish and utilize an Emergency Operations Center. Staffing should be at a level to adequately provide for the nature of the incident causing the outage. It is recommended that minimum staffing should include dedicated Fire, EMS and Police representation. Where staffing issues present logistical issues, it is recommended that Agencies consider a regional effort with other jurisdictions.

Contact information to be utilized during activation of the plan to contact Central Communications is in APPENDIX ‘C’. Please note, email will be the preferred method of contact during COOP:DRO Activations.

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PROCEDURES:

1. Activation of the Continuity of Operations: Dispatch/Radio Plan (COOP: DRO)
   1. The COOP: DRO will be activated upon the authorization of the Chief of Central Communications or Senior Duty Shift Supervisor when an event impacting Central’s ability to continue normal operations occurs.
      1. Storm or other Natural Emergency that causes Central Communications to receive a high amount of 9-1-1 Calls.
      2. A high number of incidents resulting in F-1 having to stack priority calls.
      3. A failure of any Communications Center Technology resulting in the loss of the CAD System or other system that prevents Central’s ability to continue normal Operations.
      4. Failure of the Burlington County Radio System that prevents Central’s ability to continue normal operations.
   2. Upon authorization to activate the COOP:DRO Plan, the following measures will be taken immediately.
      1. Fire and EMS
   3. Primary/Secondary Swift Reach/Civic Ready Notification to all Emergency Services: Swift Reach List Notification/Civic Ready (Starting 01/2020) 
      The Messages noted below will be “pre-created” and available in the Swift Reach and Civic Ready Systems. All pre-created messages will send the message to the Primary and Secondary Notification Lists of all Police/Fire/EMS Agencies.
      1. In the event of Storm or other Natural Disaster, choose the pre-created Notification for “COOP: DRO Storm Primary” message to be sent from the Message List.
      2. In the event of a loss of F-1, choose the pre-created Notification for “COOP: DRO F1 OOS Primary” message to be sent from the List.
      3. In the event of CAD Failure, choose the pre-created Notification for “COOP: DRO CAD Failure Primary” message to be sent from the Message List.
      4. In the event of Radio Failure of entire Digital System, choose the pre-created Notification for “COOP: DRO Digital Radio Failure Primary” message to be sent from the Swift Reach Message List.
   4. Immediate Notifications to Public Safety Central Communications Staff
      1. All on-duty staff at the Dispatch Center will be notified immediately of the COOP: DRO activation.
      2. Telephonic Notification to the Director and Deputy Director of Public Safety, Chief of Communications, and the Fire and EMS Coordinators.
2. Continuity of Operations: Dispatch/Radio Plan Operations
   1. The COOP: DRO is in effect for the entire County for the duration of the activation regardless of the problem being in a possibly remote or specific area.
   2. If necessary due to a potential storm or upon the activation of the COOP: DRO, if deemed necessary by the Duty Supervisor, the Generator Power System may be activated.
   3. IMMEDIATELY upon the activation of the COOP: DRO, Service (Non-Priority) calls WILL NOT be dispatched over F1.
   4. During the activation of the COOP: DRO, no special announcements, time reports, or other routine services will be available.     
   5. Dispatch of Emergent Calls:
      1. Fire:   Emergent Calls will follow normal dispatch with broadcast over F1, if available, and digital transmission through the CAD System via such means as CAD Viewer, Active 911, IAMRESPONDING, and/or email Rip and Run.
         -Response Channels will be assigned at the time of dispatch, as during normal operations. Channels utilized and assigned for Emergent Calls will be monitored by Central. These channels will include R2-R6.
         -Note: Every effort to keep responding units ON THE SAME CHANNEL during the event must be made. This will reduce the amount of channel switching responding Departments will need to make.  It is understood that this may not be possible if there is an in-service priority communication call assigned to a channel or if a department is responding as mutual aid with another department assigned to another channel.
         -Emergent calls will include Structure Fires, Motor Vehicle Accidents with Injury, and other calls identified by the CAD System and deemed to be of a Serious Nature and meeting the intent of this description.
      2. EMS: Emergent Calls will follow normal dispatch with broadcast over F1, if available, and digital transmission through the CAD System via such means as CAD Viewer, Active 911, IAMRESPONDING, and/or email Rip and Run. 
         -Emergent calls will include Life Threats, Cardiac/Respiratory Related Emergencies, any incident requiring ALS, and any other calls identified by the CAD System and deemed to be of a serious nature and meeting the intent of this description.
         -Note: ALL EMS calls will be considered Emergent and follow the normal dispatch/notification procedures on F1.
      3. Law Enforcement:   All Calls will be considered Emergency and follow the normal dispatch protocol.
         -Calls may also be relayed through the Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) and/or telephone or email to the Station or EOC at their request 
         -Law Enforcement responding to Fire Calls or EMS Calls and arriving prior to Fire/EMS should report any issues of that call that may elevate same to a Emergent call from a Service Call. This information must be forwarded to Fire/EMS dispatch so that they can elevate the call to the Emergent list.
   6. Service (Non-Priority) Calls
      1. These calls, typically of a lesser urgency, will not be broadcast over F1 for the duration of the declared COOP: DRO.
      2. The following are the options for receipt of Service calls by Fire Agencies;
           -CAD Viewer 
           -Active 911 
           -IAMRESPONDNG 
           -Email Rip and Run
      3. Note: Departments choosing, or unable, to receive Service calls by the above means will receive Service calls as quickly as possible AFTER the COOP: DRO has been cancelled. These departments must provide an email list where pending service calls can be sent. Departments are aware that there will be a significant delay in receiving notifications in this manner.  
      4. CAD Viewer Assignment and Use during COOP: DRO Activation Policy Priority Requirement During Activation 
         -During a COOP: DRO Activation, the CAD Viewer System will be used by Fire, and potentially EMS Departments to receive service calls. Typically, when F1 is working, the CAD Viewer System will be used for EOC’s to receive and dispatch Service (non-priority) calls to apparatus. In order for the CAD Viewer to work, trained employees must be assigned to populate Service call information into the CAD Viewer. CAD Viewer WILL NOT WORK without employees being assigned to this function.
         -Every Shift must have multiple employees trained to be able populate Service calls into the CAD System. Several training instruction papers anda video training is available to train employees for the proper use of CAD Viewer and population of information into same. Enough employees, preferably with fire experience, need to be trained so that they are available for any shift that the COOP: DRO is activated. The training will also include the two Shift Supervisors.            
      5. Storm Talk Around Channels are pre-assigned to each Fire Agency and will not be monitored by Central Communications. (R7-R12) These channels will be utilized for communications to and from apparatus and the Area Command Post. They can be used for dispatch of apparatus to Service calls by the Area EOC’s. EOC’s are responsible for assigning calls and maintaining communications and accountability for those resources. See Appendix A for channel assignments.
         -Agencies will use the created Dispatch Form to note dispatch and response to Service Calls. The forms will note the following; CFS#, Incident #, Location of Incident, Unit(s) responding, Dispatch time, Response Time, Arrival time, and Clear time.
      6. Agencies should use Fire Ground (FG) channels for on-scene communications as to not overload the digital system. Transmissions on the digital channels should be limited to EMERGENCY TRAFFIC ONLY.
      7. Information to be relayed to other agencies and/or Public Utilities, will be sent to Central Communications from the EOC via email address:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Supervisors must keep check of this email address during all COOP:DRO activations or assign a member of Fire Desk to do same. 
         -Shift Supervisors will email utility company information to provided Public Utility addresses. Supervisors may use Emergency Utility Contact numbers for Life Hazard/Threat Emergencies. If the County Emergency Operations Center is Activated, Life Hazard/Threat Emergencies may be forwarded to the County EOC for Utility notification. Non-Life Threat/Hazard  incidents will not be forwarded to the County EOC for Utility Company notifications.  
      8. For calls not transmitted through Central as an Emergency or Service Call, and found by responders or called into agencies, the call will be noted on the Response Form with the CFS# and Incident # left blank. Area Commands can send completed forms to Central via the previously mentioned email address during or after the declared COOP: DRO. Once received and when time permits, Shift Supervisors will assign Telecommunicators to entering and clearing calls received on these forms.
         -Note: No Dispositions will be entered into the CAD System. Agencies may retain these forms if they care to keep track of their dispositions. If a call is found to have a blank CFS# and Incident #, that call should be assigned an incident number.
3. Radio System Interruptions/Outages  
   1. When normal usage of the Digital Trunk System is interrupted, operations will occur in accordance with the following procedures;
4. Site-Trunking: Operations for Field Units are NOT affected while in Site Trunking. Units will remain on channels as assigned and operate normally. Telecommunicators will switch from console to desk-set units to communicate with Field Units. -Communications from Central to Field Units is possible with the new radio system functionality. Therefore, normal communications will be used by way of the desk-set units.
5. Failsoft: During Failsoft, Operations for Field Units are NOT affected. Units will remain on the assigned channels and operate normally. Telecommunicators will switch from console to desk-set units to communicate with Field Units. -Communications from Central to Field Units remains intact by way of the desk-set units. -Failsoft differs from Site-Trunking in that field units are “automatically” moved to a Failsoft Grouped Channel. Radios will still display the originally selected channel. While grouped together, however, field units will hear units from other channels as they have been automatically moved. -Telecommunicators will continue to talk to their assigned channel units in the same way. Several Telecommunicators may be talking on the same channel, but do not need to switch to any different channel as Failsoft does so automatically. -Failsoft will group channels together as shown in Appendix A of this SOP.
6. War Channels: In the event of an interruption or outage of the Digital System (Failure of Primary, Site-Trunking, and Failsoft), the WAR Channel System (Wide Area Repeater) will be activated. -Field Units will be assigned channels by Central according to the assignments noted on Appendix A. Multiple Police, Fire, and EMS Agencies will be operating on the same channel. Due to the number of units operating on these channels, transmissions will be limited to absolute essential Emergency Communications only. -If the WAR System needs to be activated, the WAR Repeaters can be activated at the Dispatch Center or from the remote sites by the Radio Technicians. -Upon activation of the WAR System, Telecommunicators must, on their desk set, channel up or down to the WAR Bank and then channel up or down to their assigned WAR Channel as noted in Appendix B.
7. VHF Analog System (F2, F3): Fire/EMS Agencies were encouraged to maintain analog channels, F1, F2, F3, F4, and F6. Burlington County has maintained licensure and hardware to utilize these channels if necessary.  -In the event of a total system outage, Fire/EMS will utilize F2 and F3 as operating channels. VHF channel assignments are also shown on Appendix A.
8. Termination of Continuity of Operations: Dispatch/Radio Plan
9. Fire/EMS: When the emergency has been deemed to be concluded, Central will dispatch the County Wide Page Tone followed by the Alert Tone #2 for 5 seconds on the F1 frequency and announce; “The Burlington County Continuity of Operations Dispatch Plan, interruption/outage type, has been terminated, normal operations are resuming, repeating, the Burlington County Continuity of Operations: Dispatch Plan, interruption/outage type, has been terminated, normal operations are resuming”.
10. Law Enforcement: An alert will be broadcast on all channels by the P5 Operator with the announcement; “The Burlington County Continuity of Operations Dispatch Plan, interruption/outage type, has been terminated, normal operations are resuming, repeating, the Burlington County Continuity of Operations Dispatch Plan, interruption/outage type, has been terminated, normal operations are resuming”.
11. Swift Reach Primary and Secondary or Civic Ready Primary and Secondary List: The COOP: DRO Termination” message will be sent.

Appendix ‘A’

Appendix ‘B’

Desk-Set War Channel Assignments

POLICE

P-1--- WAR 4

P-2--- WAR 7

P-3--- WAR 3

P-4--- WAR 4

P-5--- WAR 3

P-7--- WAR 5

P-8--- WAR 6

P-9--- WAR 3

P-10--- WAR 7

P-11--- WAR 7

P-12--- WAR 6

FIRE

FIRE SR--- WAR 5

FIRE SPARE--- WAR 10

R-2--- WAR 4

R-3--- WAR 6

R-4--- WAR 3

R-5--- WAR 7

APPENDIX ‘C’

CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS DISPATCH PLAN: CONTACT INFORMATION

The following links will be used in order for Police and Fire/EMS to provide Central Communications with Primary, Secondary, and Emergency Operations Center (Unified Command) Contact Information. In addition, this form will provide Fire Departments with the opportunity to send a Primary Grid to be used in the event of CAD Failures. It is to be noted that, if one grid does not cover the needs of a larger town, then that town can create a COOP:DRO Grid that includes additional alarms, and forward that grid to Central Communications Chief Carroll. (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Fire/EMS Form: https://burlingtoncountynj.formstack.com/forms/all_hazards_dispatch_plan_contact_list_update_form_fire_ems

Police Form: https://burlingtoncountynj.formstack.com/forms/all_hazards_dispatch_plan_contact_list_update_form_law_enforcement

This information will allow for the creation of the most up to date Primary and Secondary Calls lists for when we activate our Continuity of Operations Dispatch Plan and send that notification to the Swift Reach System.

Any Agency not submitting the form will not be included in the Swift Reach notifications.