Directive: 24-10 - Medic Unit Roles at Structure Fires
2024 Directives
Date Issued: 08/12/2024
Last Modified: 06/03/2025 13:10
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There will be (2) medic units dispatched to Structure Fire incidents. This is comparable to the recent policy of having (1) life squad and (1) medic unit dispatched under the old Lucas County EMS system and will accomplish the same on-scene objectives.
The RCOG’s running order will first dispatch an ‘ALS medic unit’ and the second unit will be an additional ‘TFRD medic unit’. In the vast majority of incidents, these will be two TFRD medic units. The current 9/2-minute rule is in play for the ‘ALS medic unit’ so it will be possible that another fire department’s crew could be dispatched as the EMS sector.
The RCOG will announce, during the dispatch of the Structure Fire incident, that the first medic unit is the EMS sector. The second medic unit will be utilized as a fire operations resource based upon the decision of the Incident Commander. This order is to ensure that ALS EMS capabilities are available as soon as possible. Deviations from this directive must be justified and properly documented.
The EMS sector medic unit will operate as did the LC life squad previously. Their primary concern is the well-being of our TFRD crews operating on-scene. This involves being ready for immediate EMS treatment and Rehab sector as the incident progresses. If immediate patient care is required for civilians, they will act and an additional medic unit will be dispatched.
The fire operations medic unit will always be assigned to an on-scene officer and will not be assigned to perform fire operations independently. This is not an issue when this medic unit is dispatched with their engine officer but is a safety and operational concern when they are not. This is to ensure that when a medic unit is sent without their officer, that their safety and operational tasking is not compromised. This medic unit can be utilized for EMS operations when needed.
9/2-minute rule = the primary jurisdiction’s ALS medic unit will be dispatched unless the closest unit is more than 9 minutes away and another jurisdiction’s unit can reduce the arrival time by more than 2 minutes.
Effective Date: August 12, 2024