SOP 206.16 TRANSPORTATION SECTOR

The Transportation Sector is responsible for the management of patient transportation from multiple patient medical incidents. The Transportation Sector also allocates patients to appropriate medical facilities in consultation with the Treatment Sector.

Transportation Sector responsibilities include:

Determination of patient transportation requirements and availability of ambulances and other transportation.

Reporting of resource requirements and progress to Command.

Identification of ambulance staging and loading areas and helicopter landing zones.

Communication with ETMSEMS dispatcher to obtain medical facility status.

Coordination of patient transportation and allocation with Treatment Sector.

Transportation of patients from the Treatment Area to ambulance and helicopter loading areas.

Coordination with other sectors.

The Transportation Sector Officer receives hospital status information from the ETMCEMS dispatcher. This indicates the capacity of each hospital to receive patients, by triage categories.

The Treatment Sector advises Transportation when each patient is ready' to be transported to a medical facility. The Transportation Sector Officer allocates those patients to medical facilities according to hospital capacity, availability of transportation, and when possible, hospital specialty.

Transportation Sector personnel pick-up patients from the Treatment Sector when they are ready to be transported. Patients should not be removed from the Treatment Area until transportation is available for them.

Transportation and Treatment personnel should consu1t together to determine the most appropriate allocation for each patient when options are available.

TRANSPORTATION GUIDELINES

The Transportation Sector Officer should be located close to the Treatment Area since frequent coordination and communication is necessary between these sectors. Management of this function may require several personnel (one or more companies) to assist the Sector Officer. The Transportation Sector Officer shall wear an orange vest for identification purposes.

Communications should be initially established between Transportation and the dispatcher on Ennis fire primary (channel 6). The dispatcher will assign an available channel to maintain communications. This designated channel should be constantly monitored by the Sector Officer since all ambulance and hospital information will be relayed on this channel.

Ambulances should be staged and brought in one at a time to load. It may be necessary to establish a separate ambulance staging area close to the Treatment Area. The Transportation Sector will assign personnel to manage Ambulance Staging. Each ambulance should be loaded with patients for one hospital only. When other options are available, not more than one Priority 1 patient should be loaded in each ambulance.

Rescue trucks may be used as extra ambulances if necessary by assigning drivers and attendants. Supplies and equipment that may be needed at the scene should first be unloaded.

If helicopters are to be used, a Landing Zone must be identified at a safe distance from the scene. Transportation Sector personnel must be assigned to the Landing Zone to coordinate patient loading. Helicopters should be used to provide immediate treatment and transportation to unstable patients.

It may be necessary to use ambulances or other vehicles to carry patients to the Landing Zone. Transportation Sector should advise Fire Alarm of the number and condition of patients being sent in each ambulance or helicopter. This information will be relayed by the Medical dispatcher to the appropriate hospital. The Transportation Sector shall keep track of the number of patients sent utilizing the, tear-off portion of the triage tags.

MULTIPLE SITE TRANSPORTATION

In some cases it may be necessary to transport patients from two or more treatment areas at the same time. This could occur in an incident that involves a large geographic area, making it necessary to treat patients at more than one location. This requires the Transportation Sector Officer to coordinate transportation functions for all of the treatment locations.

The Transportation Sector Officer will be stationed at a central location, preferably at or. close to the Command Post. Transportation Sector personnel will be assigned to each Treatment Area as well as to the Ambulance Staging Area and Helicopter Landing Zone. The Transportation Sector Officer will coordinate all of these assignments and assign necessary resources to them. Each assigned area will require at least one full company with a portable radio.

Due to the complexity of this operation, a separate radio channel should be assigned exclusively to the Transportation Sector. This will facilitate the amount of communications necessary between the Sector Officer and the assigned personnel at each location. The Transportation Sector Officer will handle all communications with the dispatcher (on Channel 6).

The Transportation Sector personnel in each location will report their transportation needs to the Transportation Sector Officer to obtain resources. The Transportation Sector Officer will then direct Ambulance Staging to assign one or more ambulances to a specific pick up point.

When an ambulance is ready for loading, the Transportation Sector Officer will specify the number and priority of patients and the destination hospital. The assigned personnel at the pick up location will confirm this information when the ambulance departs.

The Transportation Sector Officer will assign necessary resources to the Helicopter Landing Zone to pick up patients from treatment areas and move them to the Landing Zone. This may require a rescue truck or ambulance. Helicopters should be used to remove Priority I patients to the more distant appropriate medical facilities as quickly as possible, relieving the demand on Treatment Sector personnel.

The Transportation Sector personnel assigned to each Treatment Area will follow the same-procedures as are established for an incident with a single Treatment Area. The Transportation Sector Officer functions as a coordinator and resource allocation, consolidating communications with Alarm and Command.