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Each agency signs a
standard agreement, which has changed little since its inception,
stating that they will help in an emergency and are subject to MABAS
policies.
MABAS is organized into Divisions, with each division made up of
mutiple, adjacent, Fire and EMS emergency services. MABAS
includes over 25,000+ firefighters and daily staffed emergency response
units including more than 750 fire stations, 900+ engine companies,
275+ ladder trucks, 600+ ambulances (mostly paramedic capable), 150+
heavy rescue squads, 125+ light rescue squads, and 225+ water tankers.
Fire/EMS reserve (back-up) units account for more than 600 additional
emergency vehicles. MABAS continues to grow, and is currently
over 50 divisions. MABAS has been adopted as the statewide plan
for Fire and EMS Mutual Aid in Illinois. More divisions are being added
and eventually the entire state will become MABAS divisions.
MABAS provides an orderly mutual aid response to the scenes of fires,
accidents or other incidents. Equipment is sent to the scene according
to predetermined lists, called "Box Cards". Each card covers specific
types of incidents in specific areas. Help is sent from many
surrounding agencies a little at a time, instead of one adjacent agency
sending everything it has. This keeps equipment available in the
event that a surrounding agency also has an incident. As the
original incident escalates, more equipment and manpower are drawn from
surrounding agencies. If more help is still needed, equipment and
manpower sent by surrounding agencies is replaced by new equipment and
manpower sent from agencies adjacent to them. This "cascade"
effect insures that no one is left unable to respond to an incident.
All responding units report to an "Incident Commander" (who is in
overall command of the incident). MABAS has adopted the National
Incident Management System to coordinate responses in an orderly and
recognized manner. This allows agencies that may be unfamiliar
with each other to work together under a unified command and with
common procedures.
For a good article on MABAS, click here.
MABAS Division 39 offers a course called "MABAS 101" that teaches how
to create and use Box Cards. This is about a two hour session
based on materials used by the State MABAS organization. It is
suitable for both Firefirghter/EMS and Dispatch personnel. To
schedule a session, or for more information, contact Don
Adams by e-mail.
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