What terminology does your department use for a MAYDAY?

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Permalink Reply by Dave LeBlanc on June 17, 2008 at 5:40am

Eric,

I am from Massachusetts and we do use ICS / NIMS.

We have a County Wide Mutual Aid System that includes it's own ICS manual. This Manual follows the NFA Model, but is tailored for our use. The system for all the Departments in my County for Firefighter Emergencies is MAYDAY. The Manual also details what procedure should be followed. Each Department then develops it's own SOP from that as far as response to and dealing with.

For Critical Information we use Priority Traffic. I am hoping that in the future we substitute URGENT for that.

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Joe Heim on June 17, 2008 at 6:35am

Eric,

I am from Illinois, we do use the NIMS/ICS System.

Our department utilizes Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, for a firefighter emergency. We are working with our MABAS Division on putting a policy together so all fire departments in our county utilize the same traffic. We also utilize Emergency Traffic when Command either see's dangerous situations or is advised of dangerous situations, e.g. potential building collapse, deteroiting conditions, etc.

Hope this helps.

Stay Safe!!

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Permalink Reply by Todd McKee on June 17, 2008 at 5:20pm

What state are you from?
Ohio
Does your Department follow the NIMS/ICS system?
Not really
And finally, what terminology does your department use for a Firefighter emergency?
We use MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY and then LUNAR

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Permalink Reply by Rudy Horist on June 17, 2008 at 8:28pm

Our department is in Illinois and we are in the process of changing our terminology and procedures to be NIMS compliant. When developing our lost/trapped firefighter policy we researched this topic and decided to use MAYDAY for firefighter emergencies and EMERGENCY TRAFFIC for other critical events (i.e. loss of water supply, possible collapse, flashover, etc.). A good article to read is by Dr. Burton Clark of the NFA titled "It's okay to use MAYDAY". I believe you can find the article on Firehouse.com.

After looking at both sides of the debate we decided we wanted a term that would stand out and be specific to a firefighter in trouble. Attached is our curent policy which will be updated after some upcoming training we have planned.

Irregardless of the NIMS statement, our department will continue to use MAYDAY.

Stay Safe.

Attachments:

• 2023.04 - Safety - Lost or Trapped Firefighters.pdf, 169 KB

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Permalink Reply by Adam Bean on June 19, 2008 at 6:45am

Eric,

I work in Portland, ME - we've been using NIMS/ICS for a number of years now. Our Mayday procedure is just that Mayday is used for Firefighter Emergencies while Urgent traffic or Emergency traffic is used for things that need to be addressed ASAP but are not a RIT activation. Hope that helps. I think I met you a few years ago at a New England FOOLS training event up in Brunswick at an illustrious hotel maybe?

Adam

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Permalink Reply by Eric Hankins on June 19, 2008 at 9:06am

Yes I was there. God what a great training in a wonderful building. You don't get places like that very often...

Thanks for your reply Brother. Be Safe

E

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Permalink Reply by Barry Aptt on June 20, 2008 at 1:31pm

I work in MA and we follow ICS/NIMS on paper only. As far as terminology we use MAYDAY for emergency and URGENT for pressing matters that the IC must know but doesn't rewuire emergency traffic or RIT

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Green on June 25, 2008 at 8:29am

From New York State. We utilize MAYDAY. We also state URGENT for requesting the air for an emergency radio transmission. We are trained in NIMS/ICS....and supposed to be folowing it...

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Permalink Reply by Wesley Stephens on June 25, 2008 at 10:16pm

Eric,

I work at North Little Rock Fire Department, AR and we use the NIMS system

Our deparment uses "Code Red" for our firefighter emergencies


Thanks,

Lt. Wesley Stephens

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Permalink Reply by Drew Smith on June 25, 2008 at 11:14pm

We use MAYDAY and EMERGENCY TRAFFIC as many others have described. When thinking of this topic, why would you call a mayday anything else? While emerency traffic, priority traffic and urgent all relay the same intent, when someone's life is in danger mayday, even when garbled, is easy to understand and remember. Not to sound too sarcastic but to me asking what do you use for mayday is like asking who's buried in Grant's tomb.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Hankins on June 25, 2008 at 11:40pm

Chief,

I don't disagree with you in the slightest. I probably should have used firefighter emergencies instead.

I appreciate your, and everyones replies on this topic. It agree 100% that MAYDAY should be the only term used when one of our lives is in danger. I am simply doing a little research before we present the topic to the Fire Chief. I am sure we can solve this issue quickly. Always better to be prepared right?

Thanks again to those that have replied and to those that will continue.

Everyone Goes Home


Eric

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Permalink Reply by Mike Puchol on July 5, 2008 at 4:16pm

We actually use a slight variation of how maydays are sent from an aircraft:

1. Mayday mayday mayday
2. This is [firefighter's ID]
3. I am located at [location]
4. [Nature of the emergency]

Be safe,

Mike

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