Or. Admin. Code § 837-120-0040 - Dispatch Process

(1) Before a regional or limited response team may respond to an incident, an initial assessment or size-up of the emergency shall be made.

(2) The initial assessment or size-up will usually be made by the agency having jurisdiction, either emergency spill responders, public safety agencies, local, state, federal, or tribal government officials (including team members), the county sheriff, or Oregon State Police personnel.

(3) If, after making an assessment or size-up of the incident, the on-scene incident commander or unified command determines that the emergency involves a hazardous material spill or release and that it cannot be successfully controlled with local resources, the on-scene official may request assistance from the regional or limited response team in whose region the incident occurs.

(4) The general boundaries of the primary response areas for regional hazardous materials emergency response teams are depicted on the map in which is available for viewing on the Department of the State Fire Marshal website.

(5) Emergency response requests shall be directed to the appropriate regional hazardous materials emergency response teams.

(6) If contact with the appropriate RHMERT dispatch center cannot be made, or if the incident occurs in an area outside of a primary response area, the requesting on-scene government official shall direct the response request to the Oregon Emergency Response System (OERS) at 1-800-452-0311 any time or day.

(7) RHMERT contractors, when acting under state authority, may respond outside of their local jurisdiction in accordance with the criteria established by OAR 837-120-0030(2) and (3), or under specific written or verbal approval of the State Fire Marshal Hazardous Materials Duty Officer.

(8) Granting of emergency response approval by the Department of the State Fire Marshal Duty Officer constitutes the State's agreement to pay Contractor's team expenses from the State Spill Response Revolving Fund if full recovery of emergency response costs from a responsible party(ies) is not possible under OAR 837-120-0090.

(9) The State Fire Marshal's emergency response approval may take the form of written Standard Operating Guidelines wherein the State Fire Marshal grants regional and limited response team contractor pre-authorization to respond to well-defined types of emergency incidents when time is of the essence.

Notes

Or. Admin. Code § 837-120-0040

FM 8-1992, f. 7-15-92, cert. ef. 8-15-92; OSFM 6-2019, amend filed 09/26/2019, effective 10/1/2019; OSFM 20-2023, minor correction filed 07/03/2023, effective 7/3/2023

The Appendix referenced in this rule is not printed in the OAR Compilation. Copies are available from the agency.

Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 453.367

Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 453.374 - 453.390