1. Dinwiddie County Fire & EMS Personnel Accountability System
“ Everyone Goes Home Safe”

2. Purpose
To provide an Accountability System that will allow for constant awareness of the personnel and resources deployed to incidents. The system shall be flexible and provide basic incident personnel accountability and the capability to be expanded to more detailed accounting for high hazard or expansive incidents at both the local and regional level.

3. “THE BASIC’S”
In order for any accountability system to work a few basic rules must be followed:
The system must be utilized on every response
All personnel shall be aware of and function within the incident management system
Freelancing cannot be allowed or tolerated
All personnel must be aware of who they report to and who reports to them, their assigned location and their assigned function at all times.

4. SYSTEM COMPONENTS Personnel ID Tags Blank or Make Up Personnel ID Tags
Vehicle Identification Tags/Collectors
First Due Collector Boards
Command Boards and Assignment Tags

5. Personnel ID Tags
One(1) stored on D ring of safety helmet to be utilized on each response
One (1) to be stored above the suspension system of the safety helmet for use on complex incidents.
If personnel do not have an issued safety helmet they shall insure the availability of both tags at an incident

9. Blank/Make Up Personnel Tags
Located with First Due and Command Boards
Utilized for personnel who report to scene without issued tags
Utilized for Responders ( Utilities, Co. Reps, Etc.) that do not have tags but need to be in the Accountability System

11. Vehicle Identification Tags/Collector Rings
Located on every response vehicle
Red or Blue Tags with black lettering that have DCFEMS, unit ID and punched holes along right edge for Driver, Officer and four(4) Crew member ID tags.
Located in the cab of the vehicle in conspicuous spot where it can be accessed by the driver and officer positions. Personnel should familiarize themselves with the vehicle collector locations.

14. First Due Collector Boards
One located on each first out engine
Additional boards are located on other apparatus as deemed necessary. (Know your stations locations.)

16. Command Boards & Assignment Tags
Each agency has one(1) that should be carried on the agency unit to be utilized at incidents as the incident command post.
Assignment tags are preprinted tags with common incident functions that personnel and vehicle tags can be attached to for tracking

18. ACCOUNTABILITY LEVELS
Personal
Single Resource
Scene
Point of Entry
Functional

19. Personal Accountability
Is the key to the whole system!!!
Each person is responsible for maintaining their tags in the proper place and getting them into the system on EVERY response!!
Three ways to achieve entry into the system: Unstaffed Unit, Staffed Unit or by POV response

20. Unstaffed Unit
On EVERY response when personnel board an apparatus they should remove the tag from the helmet D ring and place it on the units Vehicle ID Tag/Collector before leaving the station
The Officer should verify that all on board personnel have placed their ID tag on the Collector
Upon completion of the call Personnel should remove their tag and place back on the helmet
Tags inadvertently left on the unit could cause accountability issues on the next call

21. Staffed Unit
Personnel manning staffed units (i.e ambulances) should remove their ID tag from the helmet and place it on the Vehicle Collector at the beginning of each shift
Personnel should remove their tag and place it back on the helmet at the end of each shift.

22. POV Response
All personnel who respond to a scene by means other than Fire/EMS apparatus must report to appropriate on scene personnel such as the IC, Safety Officer, Staging Officer or Accountability Officer and communicate their presence on the scene prior to engaging in ANY activity.
Upon reporting personnel must place their ID tag in the system if it is with them or have Make Up tags created prior to engaging in any incident function.
Upon leaving the scene personnel must retrieve their ID tags or ensure that their make up tags have been removed from the system.

23. Single Resource Accountability
95% of incidents are handled by one or two response resources and the command structure does not extend beyond an IC and Single units. Accountability of resources generally can be handled by the IC.
Upon arrival on scene the Vehicle Collector with the ID tags of all on board personnel should be left in the unit unless directed otherwise.
The IC may chose to utilize the First Due Collector Board and collect the Vehicle Collectors as deemed necessary or as the incident escalates.
The IC shall utilize Personnel Accountability Reports as needed to verify the accounting of personnel

24. Personnel Accountability Reports
Personnel Accountability Reports shall be done as follows:
At any report of missing or trapped personnel
At any major shift of incident tactics (I.e Offensive to Defensive)

25. Personnel Accountability Reports
After any sudden hazardous event on scene ( i.e. flashover, back draft, collapse etc.)
After any evacuation order of a hazard area
Periodically during incident operations (minimum of every 20 minutes with shorter intervals for high risk incidents)
At any point deemed necessary by the IC

26. Personnel Accountability Report (PAR)
Shall be conducted by IC or their designee
The IC will announce over the assigned incident radio channel “ All units at XYZ incident stand by for PAR”
All personnel shall hold all non-emergency radio traffic and monitor the entire roll call
The IC or designee will roll the incident by Units, Divisions, Groups, Positions or personnel names as deemed appropriate for the incident

27. Personnel Accountability Reports (PAR)
The assigned officer or leader of each roll called entity shall answer the roll call with their personnel status
EXAMPLE: “IC to Engine 1 PAR”
ENGINE 1: “All personnel accounted for”

28. Personnel Accountability Reports (PAR)
If personnel of a roll called entity cannot be accounted for the officer/leader shall report the name and last known location of the missing personnel
EXAMPLE: “IC to Engine 1 PAR”
ENGINE 1: “Engine 1 to IC FF Smith is unaccounted for and was last seen Side A at the front door”

29. Personnel Accountability Reports (PAR)
EXAMPLE “IC to Ventilation Group PAR”
VENT GROUP LEADER “Vent group has all personnel except FF Smith and Jones which went to rehab”
IC “OK, FF Smith and Jones to Rehab”
IC “IC to Rehab, account for FF Smith and Jones from Vent Group”
REHAB LEADER “ FF Smith and Jones are accounted for in rehab”

30. Personnel Accountability Reports (PAR)
EXAMPLE: “IC to Tanker 1 PAR”
TANKER 1 “ All personnel accounted for and operator is with the unit”
IC: “ Copy PAR and operator with the unit”
IC: “IC to Tanker 1 operator PAR”
TANKER 1 Operator: “Tanker 1 Operator accounted for with the unit”

31. Personnel Accountability Reports (PAR)
If any personnel are reported unaccounted for the IC only shall initiate immediate corrective actions. Personnel should not leave their designated assignment unless directed to do so by IC.
Upon completion of the PAR the IC shall announce that the PAR is complete and incident radio traffic can resume.

32. Scene Accountability
Incidents that grow beyond the Single Resources incident, and become to complex in size for the IC to effectively maintain accountability shall utilize Scene Accountability.
The Incident Commander shall appoint an Accountability Officer to handle personnel accountability.

33. Accountability Officer
Shall collect all first due boards, vehicle collectors, personnel tags and make up tags that are in use or on scene.
Should set up the Command Board and maintain accountability function in close proximity to the IC
Shall initiate PAR’s as needed or directed by IC
Report all PAR results to the IC

34. Point of Entry Accountability
Point of Entry Accountability is used at incidents where there are extreme hazard zones ( I.e. Haz Mat, Industrial,etc.) and accountability in those areas is needed in addition to Scene Accountability.
The IC shall appoint an Entry Control Officer who shall maintain the integrity of the high hazard area

35. Point of Entry Accountability
The Entry Control Officer shall utilize a First Due Collection Board to collect the second Personnel ID Tag from each person entering the high hazard area.
The Entry Control Officer will then perform Accountability for the high hazard area and report to IC or Accountability Officer.

36. Functional Accountability
Funtional Accountability shall be utilized on large scale incidents where it is expected that regional, State, Federal or private resources will be on scene.
These incidents are challenging due to integrating different accountability systems or agencies with no system into the incident accountability.

37. Functional Accountability
The IC shall establish a unified command and accountability shall be established as a function under the Incident Command System
The accountability function shall be staffed with appropriate numbers and types of personnel and equipment to effectively manage incident accountability.

38. Demobilization Needs to be an orderly and planned process
All resources shall only be released by the IC
All units and personnel should check out and have their accountability resources returned to them as they are released.
If ID tags remain after demobilization the IC shall initiate corrective actions