Climbing up into the cab of the apparatus, we heard the initial units go on the scene of the gas explosion and collapse in the East Village in New York City. The transmissions between the dispatcher and units on the scene took priority over everything else as the tone alert and signal were broadcast for a major emergency response, followed by the second and third alarms. Then over the department radio we heard a unit transmit that an officer had given a "Mayday" over the portable radio. Everyone in the rig felt as if they'd just been punched in the gut, knowing the severity of that signal. After backing into quarters, everyone assembled in the housewatch listening to the radio. The alarm tones suddenly went off, and out the door we went on another run. While responding, we heard that the unit transmitting the Mayday was all accounted for.
Getting back to quarters after the run, we all congregated back in the housewatch. The television was on with live news footage. One of the members asked a question, and suddenly an impromptu drill occurred while we watched the action unfold. A section of wall collapsed, and we began going over the importance of the proper uses of a Mayday message. The first point we reviewed was that the signal is used when an immediate life-threatening situation is about to occur or has occurred. All members should cease radio transmissions, and only the incident commander (IC) should speak to the member who transmitted the Mayday.
If your radios are equipped with emergency alert buttons, they can be depressed to send out an audible warning and boost up the wattage of the transmission. Once the message has been received and responded to, the emergency alert button should be reset.
If you are a current subscriber,login hereto access this content.
If you would like to become a subscriber, please visit ushere.
