Communicate the availability of resources

Effective communication is important at all incidents. Accurate information should pass between the incident commander, personnel and the fire control room. The incident commander also has a duty to make sure messages and information are exchanged with the fire control room to enable them to maintain and record an accurate picture of an incident and the availability of operational resources.

Incident commanders should consider whether vehicles can remain at the incident ground, while being available for deployment to other incidents. This decision should be made following a risk assessment and the fire control room should be informed of any availability status change. The personnel of available vehicles at incidents should be informed and deployed only in accordance with their current status.

The fire control room will generally have a more accurate interpretation of the availability of resources across the service than personnel attending operational incidents. Information on the availability or commitment of resources will support the fire control room in determining covering moves, or the reallocation of resources from one incident to another.

The decision to release resources should consider operational priorities, the length of time personnel have been deployed at the incident, and their roles.