Crisis Response Plan Signed

A blueprint for handling emergencies was signed Monday by Sheriff Mike Carona and Chief Charles “Chip” Prather of the Orange County Fire Authority.

The agreement will allow the fire and law enforcement agencies to work together from one command post and to coordinate resources for the 20 cities they serve.

Prather said officials were concerned that having more than one field command post could cause duplicated efforts and that, in a crisis, there might be disputes over who is in charge.

Now, in a search-and-rescue situation, there will no longer be a question of which agency takes the lead.

For example, Prather said, “ ‘Fire will take responsibility for this,’ or, ‘Here is where we will have a joint operation.’ The beauty of it is, they will look at a document, and they will have it spelled out for them.”

Ventura County already has such a plan, Prather said, and Los Angeles County is working on one.

The Orange County plan is based on guidelines from the Office of Emergency Services, Prather said, adding that he hopes local cities such as Santa Ana, which has its own police and fire services, will adopt similar systems.

The two countywide agencies were already working together frequently, Prather said, most recently on Sunday, when a 4-year-old Coto de Caza boy was pulled unconscious from a community swimming pool. Paramedics from the Fire Authority tried to resuscitate him, then a Sheriff’s Department helicopter took him to a hospital. The child died Monday.

The county agreement had been in the works for about six months. It resulted from discussions at several semiannual meetings between the two agencies.

Capt. Paul D. Hunter of the Orange County Fire Authority said serious clashes between agencies during emergencies have not been an issue here but have occurred on occasion in other places. He would not elaborate except to say, “Coordination between law and fire was nil, and it contributed to a very confused and insufficient delivery of emergency services to that community.”