[Press Release] : MEDIA ADVISORY: Columbia Fire Department Modifies Public Information Officer Guidelines

[Press Releases]

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact: Office - 573-874-7557
Monday through Friday 8am - 5pm

Columbia Fire Department Modifies Public Information Officer Guidelines

COLUMBIA, MO (September 2, 2016) - The Columbia Fire Department is eliminating twenty four hour, seven day a week Public Information Officer (PIO) call rotation.  Moving forward Assistant Fire Chief Brad Fraizer will be the Fire Department's primary PIO and field all media inquiries.  The following new, internal guidelines for requesting a PIO will also be adopted:

Incident Commanders will only request a PIO for major incidents which are defined as follows:


*Multi-alarm fire incidents involving industrial or commercial occupancies

*Fire incidents involving fatalities or serious injuries

*Any incident involving multiple fatalities or serious injuries

*Hazardous materials emergencies or any other incident requiring major evacuations

*Extended or complicated rescue operations

*Any incident involving death or serious injury to Fire Department personnel

*All serious accidents involving fire vehicles that result in injury or fatality to civilians or fire personnel

*Serious aircraft or railroad accidents


Press releases for events we respond to and on camera interviews for those events will be published / made available in a timely manner during normal business hours Monday through Friday.  For events occurring after hours that do not fall into the category of major incidents, media information will be released no later than 9am the next business day.

Media information for larger events will be released as information becomes available regardless of time of day or day of the week.

You may contact the Columbia Fire Department PIO by email at fire-pio at como.gov or by phone 8am - 5pm Monday through Friday at 573-874-7557.  

Please visit our Media and Public Relations webpage at: http://www.como.gov/fire/media-public-relations/

The attached Media Guide is posted on our web page and should serve as a useful tool for answering questions. 

NOTE: Rave, which is mentioned in our Media Guide, is not on-line yet.  We will let you know when it is.

 

 



This release has the following attachments:

http://www.como.gov/CMS/pressreleases/downloadfile.php?id=1349



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