Fire Departments in Clark County Forming a Mutual Aid Box Alarm System
Thursday, June 25th, 2015 -- 9:27 AM
-Fire Departments serving Clark County are coming together to form a Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) Division in Clark County. Clark County will be known as MABAS Division #152.MABAS is a mutual aid measure that may be used for deploying fire, rescue and emergency medical services personnel in a multi-jurisdictional and/or multi-agency response. MABAS involves the pre-planning of mutual aid resources needed in advance of an incident. This planning helps to make sure that the stricken community receives the assistance that is needed while not leaving other communities without protection. This is accomplished by reaching out to more departments for resources and not requesting neighboring communities send all their personnel and equipment. The use of backfilling stations can also be an effective option.
Thorp Fire Chief and MABAS Division #152 Chair Robert Ebben stated "We are excited to be a MABAS Division. The cooperation and pre-planning will have a positive impact on our capabilities to serve our communities." He went on to say "Having a resource like MABAS will allow us to plan for a major incident and provide the most effective response possible."
Fire Departments assemble "Box Cards" to document resources needed for different types of responses ranging from structure fires to hazardous materials incidents. These resources are divided by type and the response levels are outlined as alarm levels. These levels of response can then be activated based on the severity of the incident. Each department shares their Box Cards with the other departments they have listed as well as the County 911 Communications Center. This allows for efficiency in requesting and tracking resources during an incident.
Clark County MABAS will be "going live" on July 1st. currently there are five departments who have their Box Cards completed and there are four more that are working towards that goal. It is anticipated that they will have their Box cards ready in the next couple of months and will join with the first five departments in utilizing MABAS once this is completed.
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