GENERAL STATION REGULATIONS

Breakfast – Breakfast is permitted in the morning and should be eaten as early as possible. The kitchen should be cleaned after the dishes are cleaned. Degrease grills, stoves, vent hoods as necessary, and on scheduled day.
Special Cleaning For Kitchen Utensils – Cleaning of the kitchen applies after each meal (includes cleaning the table and the floor underneath it). Cast iron skillets, certain knives, and other special items should not be placed in the dishwasher.
Station Orderliness - Newspapers and furniture need to be arranged to keep the station appearance looking good. Burned out light bulbs are to be replaced immediately. After these as-needed duties are finished, there may be special duties; there may be special assigned duties for a particular day that need to be completed. If something needs cleaning, regardless of the assigned day to clean that area, clean it. Remember, the station is home to you and others.
Trash – Station trash should be taken to the dumpster and the trash cans washed out to keep down odors in the station. Accumulative trash for the entire day should be taken care of after the evening meal for health and odor reasons.
Mops – Mops should be cleaned before and after each use and put on storage racks to dry. All cleaning supplies should be stored away properly.
Bathrooms – Bathrooms could be health hazards if not kept clean. All toilets and urinals and sinks should be cleaned and disinfected everyday. This includes kitchen sinks. Medical equipment should not be washed in kitchen sinks/bathroom sinks.
Garden Hoses – Garden hoses should be wound neatly on their storage racks after each use. In the event of freezing weather, all outside hoses should be brought in and drained.
Station Lighting – Outside lighting should be monitored and security lighting should not be left on in the daytime. Interior station lighting should be shut off when the area is not being used and when the station is empty due to a non-emergency function.
Television – The viewing of television during shift duty hours is at the discretion of the station officer. The station officer shall insure recreational television viewing does not interfere with station duties, training sessions, or in any way hampers the mission of Red Oak Fire Rescue. The following guidelines are to be used by the station officer in deciding whether or not to allow the viewing of television:
1. The television should not be on during class time, training sessions, “round table” or “tailboard” reviews of runs, etc.
2. It is not appropriate for a crew to watch television when regular duties remain undone. This includes not only assigned daily duties, but all reoccurring situations as well. For example, vehicles that need washing, trash in the yard, minor repairs or maintenance of equipment, etc.
3. It is not appropriate for part of a crew to be watching television while the remaining members continue to work. From 1130-1300 hours on Monday-Friday TV viewing is acceptable.
4. If a visitor comes in while the TV is on, the sound should be turned off and full attention given to the needs of the citizen.
5. The sound on the TV should not be allowed to be at a level that interferes with hearing the station speakers. When the tone sounds, the TV should be muted to insure all personnel are able to hear the station speaker.
6. The TV should be turned off prior to leaving the station unmanned for any reason.
7. The station officer has full discretion on whether or not TV viewing is appropriate during the entire twenty-four (24) hour shift. Therefore, the station officer has full responsibility to insure that recreational TV viewing does not hamper crew performance, accomplishing assigned tasks, or accomplishing those unassigned tasks that need to be done.
8. During special events or breaking news the station officer may allow TV viewing during daytime hours.
Training – Each week has some type of training. There should be no unnecessary interruptions during the training. Personnel should refrain from using abusive or offensive language; respect should be given to all instructors and the public.
Special Projects – If a special project is worked on during the day, clean all areas used before the end of the day. If a project extends beyond 1700 hours or to another shift, make every effort to clean the area so that accidents will not happen. Do not work near compressors or cascade systems.
Operational Readiness – Station officers are to ensure that crews and equipment remain in a state of operational readiness at all times or are returned to a state of operational readiness as soon as possible after an emergency response. Daily activities are to be accomplished from an operationally ready position. The station officer is to ensure that all daily duties, scheduled activities, training, etc., are accomplished during the twenty-four (24) hour shift whenever possible. This may require the assignment of activities after 1700 hours in some situations. When everything is done, the station officers may allow leisure time. Leisure time may include activities of TV viewing, reading, games, etc. Sleep time is limited to after 1700 hours in all cases. Station security is 2200 hours at which time all station doors will be secured and minimal lighting will be required. Personnel staying up longer may do so with doors opened and lights on as long as the area is secured.
Telephone – During the day there may be numerous phone calls. These should be kept short to keep lines clear for the business to the department. The telephone should be answered: Red Oak Fire Rescue, and your name. Messages should be taken for anyone not available. Courtesy should be exhibited at all times; we are here to serve the public.
Miscellaneous – Attempts should be made to repair items that are broken around that station. If service calls occur during the day where all personnel are taken away from the station, the overhead bay doors will be closed.
Firefighters will not go back to bed at night returning from a run until apparatus is back to emergency response condition.
Wake-up – In the morning, wake-up time is 0730 with shift change at 0700. Station officers should wake up at 0700 hours. All linen should be picked up and beds returned to their regular daytime stations. Turnout gear should be neatly returned to lockers. Information about the previous shift should be passed on to the oncoming shift.
Station Apparatus Room Heaters – The apparatus room heaters will be set at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. If there are prolonged periods of times with the doors open causes the heaters to run, the heaters should be turned off. Even during emergency runs, efforts should be made to shut the doors. Heaters should be cleaned during September before cool weathers hits.
Special Instruction – The Bauer Air Compressor needs to be run daily for at least 5 minutes. This will dry up any moisture built up in the compressor’s cylinder heads. A daily check list will be made to insure this operation is completed.
1. Turn compressor on
2. Open the remote fill valve.
3. Set the regulator valve just a small amount until air flow can be heard.
4. After the five (5) minute run time, turn compressor off and return all valves back to normal operations.
5. Date and record compressor run time on daily check off list.
Yard Maintenance – Yards are kept as a matter of pride and good public relations for the department and the city. Trash that is noticed in the yard should be picked up.
Security – Security is a matter for everyone. Personal security applies to locking your vehicle, personal locker, etc. Leaving the building requires that lights be turned off. All doors should be secured. Emergency runs leave the station very vulnerable to theft or vandalism. Every attempt should be made to keep security at a maximum at all times, by keeping the public to designated areas, and to accompany the public when they are not in access areas. This may mean closing the apparatus doors during the summer unless fire department personnel are in the area. Personnel are to close apparatus doors while leaving on emergency calls. Station doors will be locked at 2200 hours.
Station Accidents – The first priority is to attend to the injured person. The second priority is to notify the Chiefs. A Chief must be notified in all cases of injury to civilian personnel, regardless of how minor the injury. For fire rescue personnel, the standard worker’s compensation forms should be filled out, regardless of how minor the injury is. If it is not written, it did not happen. For civilians, get their name, address, telephone number, and a brief description of what happened, in their words, along with their signature (use long memo form). The station officer should also submit, in writing, a description of what happened, what was seen by fire department personnel, and any statements made by the victim, whether these statements are derogatory towards the fire department or statements that would clear the department from fault.
Station Library – The station library; all material used for testing for promotion, any books donated to the fire department related to the fire service, any magazines related to the fire service , the station dictionary, mapscos, map books, policy books and dictionary should be maintained and inventoried the last day of each month. Any time something is found missing, a memo should be written immediately and turned in.
Station Repairs – Repairs of equipment should be handled at the level that they can be properly handled. On duty personnel should attempt repairs when possible. If this is not possible, send in a Repair Request to Chiefs and station officers. Upon completion of the repair, the request should be noted as complete and notify the fire department personnel. The request should have name of personnel making the request, and a detailed explanation of what needs to be repaired. Parts should be tagged with proper information.
Pest Control – Pest control is a station concern due to the health safety for personnel. The station officer may request the pest control visits. The station officer may request the pest control company to come between the regular visits as he deems necessary, and notify his superior officer.
Station Log – The information needed in the station log is the status of personnel assigned to a shift on a particular day, the daily activities, all paper generated runs, weather description, and any other special notations which are concerns of that station or the department. It is the responsibility of the officer to enter the information into the computer or designate the firefighter to make the required entries. It is the station officer’s responsibility to read the prior shift’s entries.
Tours – It is the responsibility of the station officer to prepare for a station tour. The tour should be conducted in such a way as to: (1) educate, and (2) to present a positive public relations effort. All tours should be conducted during normal business hours, except where special arrangements are made. All requests for tours should be directed to the Fire Marshall’s office.

This is the GENERAL STATION REGULATIONS page of the City of Red Oak website

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4th Dec 08

GENERAL STATION REGULATIONS