just thinking out loud
Procedure 1 - Mayday is blurted out without preface - IC or dispatcher
announces a Mayday - IC or dispatcher interrogates the Mayday party -
IC or dispatcher than asks - DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE A MAYDAY? - if no
other Maydays, then Mayday procedure / rescue efforts are begun -
probably 1 commander has to take the role as communicator to the
Mayday party - a second commander has to be the leader of the RIT
Procedure 2 - MAYDAY is called as a normal radio message - for example
- "Portable 2 to Command, urgent!" - "Command to Portable 2 go ahead"
- "Portable 2 is trapped in the basement - over" - "Command to all
units, we have a Mayday" - IC asks "Does anyone else have a MAYDAY?" -
then follow procedure
Procedure 3 - IC witnesses or possibly hears a probable or possible
MAYDAY - for example, the IC sees the building explode with
firefighters inside - "Command to all units - I am declaring a MAYDAY
for this incident"
Procedure 4 - a firefighter sees or hears a possible MAYDAY -
"Portable 2 to Command, urgent" - "Command to Portable 2, go ahead" -
"Portable 2 hears people yelling for help in the basement" - the IC
will then declare the MAYDAY
I guess there oughta be a rule - never declare a MAYDAY for someone
else unless you are the IC
If the portable radios have an emergency button, then there needs to
be a tape recorder at the scene that can record the MAYDAY message -
listening on the input freqs could be very useful
Thinking back to Boston yesterday, they apparently had 2 crews run out
of air in the building - one one the 10th floor - and maybe one of the
5th floor - maybe L4 and L26 - netiher called a MAYDAY - both were
able to get out on their own power
A MAYDAY is similar to normal fireground comms ::::: IC has to determine the problem - IC has to assign the required resources - IC has to reevaluate the situation continuously (? maybe every 5 minutes a progress report should be requested from the RIT Leader)