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Whats your advice?
We were paged out to a farm accident. Being first on scene I established command. The patient was a few hundred yards from the road in a patch of weeds and hard to find. Second thing I did was have a medavac helicopter dispatched. Are captain arrived I ask him if he wanted command. He told me I was doing fine he is a EMT. I am a First responder so he had his hands full with patient care. The next to arrive was someone with about the same training as myself so I sent him to set up the LZ about one mile away. I was assisting are captain with patient care,sending probies to help EMS find there way in. I ask are dispatch to defer all LZ traffic to the firefighter at the LZ. They told me I couldn't do that I was command. Hum I thought in training I was told I could break down command how I see fit. How was I to know what LZ conditions were from a mile away. Thats the meat of the subject but I wanted to paint the scene for understanding.
I was told to be more forceful by a fire officer. But in that time frame I didn't think it prudent to argue incident management with dispatch just do the job at hand.
If this happens in the again how would you handle it?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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I ask are dispatch to defer all LZ traffic to the firefighter at the LZ. They told me I couldn't do that I was command. Hum I thought in training I was told I could break down command how I see fit. How was I to know what LZ conditions were from a mile away
First off, since when does dispatch have a say about command structure? That isn't their job to worry about who is talked to etc. As IC you do have the ability to branch off and have someone else fill a sector type of role. I see no difference in designating a LZ officer and designating a staging officer or water supply officer, etc.
My advice would be to name the sector person as LZ officer etc. I would also talk with the chief to look into the dispatch issue, it isn't their job to question command nor deny a request.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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You can delegate functional groups and how they communicate any way you wish when you are the Incident Commander.
How is it more prudent to risk the helicopter and everyone in an LZ that you can't see than to tell Dispatch that they need to have the helicopter call the LZ Supervisor on whatever secondary channel you designate.
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Permalink Reply by John Dobson on
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Yes when the radio patch was finished, I went around dispatch straight to the the inbound helo and had them talk to LZ for landing info. There was no way I could control that scene at the LZ I fully understood that.
Does a pilot and the medic have the abilty to be on two talk groups at the same time??
That may be question I should call about to day.
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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You did everything right. As many have already said Dispatch is there for you, not the other way around. Their job is to assist you and help you stay safe. I think telling the helicopter contact to switch to a secondary frequency and call LZ is the best move. I'd still ask my chief to clarify the policy with Dispatch right away and make sure everyone is on the same page for the next one. Communication is everything!
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