Directive: 25-19a - Cancelling Specialty Units (Update)
2025 Directives
Date Issued: 11/19/2025
Directive Clarification:
This is to clarify specific circumstances not covered by the October 5th issuance of this Directive; Whenever a TFRD incident includes a building with significant structural compromise due to car vs building, general deterioration, or other insult to its structural integrity, regardless of a victim or not, at least one crew the TRT will be brought to the scene to assist in the determination of the course of action to be taken. This by rule, does not automatically include our ‘Working Fire’ buildings since our crews have sufficient experience with such conditions to make appropriate determinations.
This directive is issued to better ensure that trained and appropriate decisions are made when cancelling dispatched Specialty Units (HazMat, Water Rescue, Technical Rescue, Extrication, Elevator Removal). The Specialty Units will only be cancelled when the potential victim(s) is completely out of the hazardous condition.
To spell this out in practical terms, the victim(s) must be totally removed from the conditions requiring the Specialty Unit to respond to. This means the victim(s) must be out of the confined space, trench, water, where ropes are needed, elevator, damaged vehicle, hazardous material environment, etc. and there is no foreseeable reason that our personnel might have to enter into the space. Only then can the entire Specialty Unit compliment be cancelled by TFRD crews on scene.
If those conditions are not met, then at the very least, one Specialty Unit will continue Code-2 to ‘lay eyes’ on the situation and determine whether the incident should remain as a technical response incident.
Thank you
Effective Date: November 19, 2025