OUR MISSION
As an organization, and as individual members, we will do our best to save and protect both lives and property through professional incident response.
We will also serve our community by responsibly caring for our customers and each other, and by continually educating the public and ourselves.
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Welcome to Hadley Township Fire Department (HFD). The fire and rescue field consists of many interesting and amazing facets (i.e., structure fires, automobile fires and rescue, water rescue, fire investigation, wildland fires, and the list is endless). This welcome to the fire department document will give you a head start by identifying your role and duties as a HFD probationary firefighter and/or medical first responder.
We will cover important topics—schooling, emergency response, incident scene conduct, etc.
You will quickly learn that a lot of the procedures and things we do as a fire department are a result of rules, laws and standards. These laws help fire departments maintain structure and consistency with their responses, as well as a level of professionalism.
These rules also prevent “freelancing” or disorganization which attributes for many firefighter deaths. You will be required to read and understand the contents of this document, including other department regulations (BPGs, By-Laws, Truck Check Books, etc.). If you have questions concerning any of the information in this document, please contact anyone on the department, we’re all glad to have you and are willing to help.
GEAR
Upon hire, you will be issued Turnout Gear (boots, bunker pants, coat, Nomex hood, gloves, and helmet). You will be expected to keep this gear clean and in functional condition. Rips, tears, burns or breaks in the equipment should be immediately reported to an officer on the department (Chief, Assistant Chief, Captain, Chief Engineer). After any incident involving smoke or soot, you will need to thoroughly wash your turnout gear at the fire hall. This is typically done by either having another firefighter wash it with the power washer or hose while you are wearing them or draping coats and bunker pants over a chair in the bay area and washing with a hose. The purpose is to eliminate the buildup of soot and materials on the gear that may ignite when responding to another fire. It also decreases the chances of carcinogens building up in the fabric.
When you receive your helmet, it will have a blue stripe on it. In Lapeer County, “blue stripers” are identified as probationary members who have not completed the Firefighter I & II Academy. Upon successful completion of the academy, the blue stripes will be removed by the Fire Chief.
GETTING NOTIFIED OF EMERGENCY
After receiving you turnout gear, you will also be given a pager (if available) and a charger. A full charge on your pager will usually last between 10-14 hours. Pagers should charge overnight and can remain on while charging. If the pager is completely dead, you will need to charge for at least 15 minutes in the off position before turning back on.
The pagers have four channels (A, B, C and D). The A position is referred to as the “church mode”. If there is an alarm, this position will only vibrate and give no voice message. The B position can be used in loud environments such as mowing the lawn; the pager will vibrate when HFD is toned for a run or meeting. The B position is also an open channel; this means you will hear tones for all the fire departments, first responders and ambulances in Lapeer County. The C position is described as the “alert” channel. This channel will only activate for HFD calls. A voice message will also follow. This is the perfect channel for sleeping.
The D position is and “open channel”. You will hear all county tones and a special tone when HFD is activated. A sudden beep, beep, beep, beep burst will sound followed by a voice message. HFD recommends that you leave your pager on this position during your probation, except while you sleep, to familiarize yourself with the jargon and radio etiquette that takes place countywide.
You will also notice a button in the center of the channel knob. After HFD tones have been activated the pager will record the brief message that follows (address, type of incident, meeting, time, etc.). This is a valuable feature that allows you to play back the information by pushing the button. Messages can only be deleted by turning off your pager and turning it back on.
IMPORTANT: Once you have entered a fire truck, turn your pager OFF. If it isn’t off and the mic in the truck is pushed to talk it will create tremendous feedback at Central Dispatch (911). This also goes for handheld radios—they should be turned to the lowest volume before speaking on the truck radio.
Once you receive a pager, you are expected to keep it in good working, clean and safe order. The cost to replace a pager is approximately $500. If you do lose a pager (this happens occasionally at incident scenes) notify an officer immediately so we can all search for it at an appropriate time. We can call Central Dispatch and have them set tones to make it easier to locate—if still on. If your pager is not functioning properly, we will send out for repair.
BRYX APP
Along with a pager, you will need to download the Bryx app. This is our smartphone pager. You will need to download the app, search Hadley Twp. Fire Department and submit a request to join. The Fire Chief will receive an email for the request and approve through the online admin. The Fire Chief will then text that you’re all set up.
Once in the Bryx app, you will be able to be alerted for an incident. When you click on the incident, you will be able to Respond with one of three options: I’m Responding, Not Responding or Responding Delayed. The app will also have the address and other information regarding the run. The information is a duplicate of what Central Dispatch records for the incident. A map will also activate. IMPORTANT: the maps are not always accurate! Know the roads in the township.
NAVIGATING THE TOWNSHIP
Hadley Township is 6 miles x 6 miles (36 sq. miles). North to south (Stewart & Sutton Rds to Davison Lake and Sawmill Lake Rds)… addresses run 3000 at the northern end of the township to 6000 at the southern border. The only road that doesn’t is Washburn Road. East to west (Baldwin Rd to Washburn Rd)… addresses run 3000 to 6000 from east to west. Paying attention as you drive around will give you a sense of where an incident’s address will generally be located. Also… all north and west sides of the road will have an even number and all south and east sides of the road will have an odd number. Paying attention to addresses every time you drive in the township will help immensely.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Heart attacks contribute to the highest number of firefighter deaths. Responding to and from emergencies is the second highest rate of fatalities. The HFD has established strict guidelines to ensure the safest delivery of our emergency services, to ourselves and the public. The following will provide guidance regarding how you will respond to emergencies.
When an alarm has been activated, you are to respond to the hall. Even if you must pass the incident. The only two members of the department allowed to go directly to the incident are the Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief.
You will drive to all incidents obeying all traffic laws. The only diversion from this is if you are medically licensed and responding to a medical… AND have already gone over emergency responses to medicals by the Fire Chief.
You cannot possess lights and siren until successfully completing Firefighter I&II Academy, and the Fire Chief’s approval. If you are a medical first responder, you can possess lights and siren only after the Fire Chief approves.
Lights and siren are a privilege and can be legally removed by the Fire Chief (I will have the Michigan State Police help remove if necessary).
If all apparatus has left the hall and you arrive to get your turnout gear, you can proceed non-emergency to the incident. Observing all traffic laws. When arriving at an incident, try to park on the same side of the road as the incident. Park away from the incident allowing enough room for other responding emergency vehicles (fire, ambulances, police, utilities, etc.). Activate your hazards to alert other traffic.
ONSCENE DUTIES
If you arrive at an incident as a passenger in a fire truck, the driver or officer will instruct you to either perform functions that will assist him/her or will have you go to Staging. You will not be instructed to perform tasks that you are dangerous. Staging is an area (usually near the main pumper/engine) where everyone who has not been given a task stage and await instructions.
If no Staging area has been assigned, you will stay with and assist the pump operator.
As a probationary firefighter “blue striper”, you will be expected to perform tasks such as placing ladders, stretching hose, replacing air bottles, and several other important fireground duties. Knowing where all the equipment is on each apparatus will be valuable.
IMPORTANT DATES
Business Meeting is every first Wednesday of the month @7pm
Training Meeting is every third Wednesday of the month@7pm
Saturday Morning Truck Checks every Saturday 8-10am
Special training and meetings will be notified
MISC. INFO
Hadley Twp. FD is Station 7
There are 15 fire departments in Lapeer County
Pumpers/Engines have a 21, 22, 23, etc. after the station #
7-21 is Hadley’s pumper/engine
7-22 is Hadley’s pumper/rescue
Tankers/Tenders have a 31, 32, etc. number
7-31 is Hadley’s tanker/tender
Brush Trucks/Grass Rigs have a 41, 42, etc. #
7-41 is Hadley’s grass rig
7-42 is Hadley’s grass rig/medical licensed vehicle
Ambulances/Rescues/Combo trucks have a 51, 52, etc. #
7-52 is Hadley’s ambulance