Follow this guidance to prepare personnel for civil unrest incidents.
Uniforms
- Wear civilian clothes when reporting to and returning from duty.
- Remove badges from uniforms and consider wearing casual uniforms.
- Keep personnel IDs, keys, wallet, etc., on your person or otherwise secured.
Equipment
- Carry a radio and lights.
- If issued by department, wear ballistic protection in accordance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 3000, Standard for an Active Shooter/Hostile Event Response (ASHER) Program.
- Secure items such as scissors and stethoscopes on your person.
- Minimize carried equipment, such as harnesses, extra tools, pocket contents, etc.
- Always carry a radio (be sure to regularly charge/swap batteries).
- Require personnel to wear full protective equipment while riding in apparatus. This may include eye protection, turnout or rescue gear, gloves, etc.
Planning
- Review civil unrest-specific organizational and jurisdictional protocols and guidelines.
- Establish a family communication plan to share information with responder families.
- Provide emotional support for personnel and their families.
Operations
- Per NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety, Health, and Wellness Program, fire and EMS personnel should not be used for crowd control operations.
- Work in pairs or teams.
- Chief and company officers must maintain accountability of apparatus and staff.
- Develop communications code words for secure communications of emergency actions (building or area evacuation, apparatus/station abandonment, etc.).
- Designate rally points should apparatus or stations need to be abandoned and pass on to members. These may change due to situational changes.