Communications Interoperability

Communications interoperability — the ability for different agencies and community responders to communicate with each other directly — has historically been the most common failure point at complex incidents. During the September 11 attacks, firefighters in the World Trade Center towers could not communicate with police helicopters observing the imminent structural collapse. After decades of such failures, NIMS mandates plain language radio communications for all incident communications — eliminating the agency-specific 10-codes (10-4, 10-20, etc.) that differ between agencies and create confusion when multi-agency communication is required. Plain language means complete sentences and clear descriptions: instead of '10-4, 10-20 is the CP' say 'Confirmed, my location is the Command Post on Main Street.' Standard radio communication procedures for community responders: before transmitting, listen to ensure the channel is clear (stepping on another transmission blocks both); press the push-to-talk (PTT) button and wait one full second before speaking (radio squelch delays require this); identify yourself and the intended recipient (example: 'Shelter Three, this is CERT Team Leader Johnson, over'); deliver the message clearly and slowly; end transmissions with 'over' (I am done talking, respond) or 'out' (communication is concluded, no response needed). The NATO phonetic alphabet is used to spell unclear words or names: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Example: spelling 'CERT' = 'Charlie, Echo, Romeo, Tango.'