News & Announcements

The County Fire Paging Initiative undertaken by the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors in conjunction with the Office of Emergency Services will provide replacement pagers for Saratoga County Fire Departments on the 155.925 paging frequency. Migration of all EMS and Fire paging to this frequency is expected to begin in May 2009. Talk back for EMS units in the field to EMS Dispatch will be migrated on an agency by agency basis to the EMS Ops frequency (154.355). The contract awarded by the County to Motorola is open to EMS agencies who may wish to acquire additional pagers. Pricing is highly competitive. Details are on the OES web site which can be linked to by clicking here. Ordering information is available through OES Director Paul Lent (email: plent@saratogacountyny.gov).

EMS Coordinator Mike McEvoy issued an April 26th advisory to all Saratoga County EMS Agencies outlining key strategies for EMS agencies (including Fire Department first responders) to implement for protection of their members and public health partners in managing patient care. Dispatch level strategies have also been implements and are included in the outline. Click here for a copy of the advisory. We have also established a separate page with other documents we’ve been asked to share with you.

In a memo to all Saratoga County EMS and Fire Services, EMS Coordinator Mike McEvoy and Fire Coordinator Ed Tremblay outline two Radio Procedure Changes that will take effect April 1, 2009. The first is a specific “manpower request” procedure that will assure timely and appropriate assistance by activating both EMS and Fire with automatic fire department mutual aid when no response is received after 5 minutes. The second change is implementation of automatic EMS mutual aid for Priority 3 standbys at structure fire scenes when no response is received from the ambulance corps of jurisdiction. The full memo can be downloaded by clicking here or by visiting the downloads page. NOTE: Implementation has been delayed until May 1 by the Fire Service.

Senator Roy McDonald and the Saratoga County Council on Autism will hold an Autism First Responders Conference on Thursday, March 26th (2009) at the Comfort Inn Suites in Clifton Park from 9 am until 3 pm. There is no cost to attend. RSVP is needed by March 16th to Jennifer Ciulla at 885-2212 or to jenciulla@saratogacountyny.gov. This event has been approved for 6 hours of REMO CUE credits (additional category). Click here for an invite/announcement.

A draft amendment to the EMS Mutual Aid Plan that incorporates crew confirmation to comply with a REMAC advisory on Agency Response Parameters was presented at the February 11th EMS Council meeting. Although agencies are able to comply with the directive under the present MA Plan, adding crew confirmation to the existing alerting system would assure that any response time gaps are covered automatically. Implementation of the plan will not occur until upgrades to the Sheriff’s Department Communications Center mapping system are in place to accommodate the changes. Click here for a copy of the draft document. Comments should be submitted to EMS Coordinator Mike McEvoy.