It seems as though you can’t go a week watching the nightly news or reading a newspaper without hearing (or reading) about someone discussing the threat of terrorism in this country between now and the presidential election. Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Deputy Chief Ray Downey was quoted as saying about a terrorist attack, “It’s not a matter of if, but when.” Many of us today are now saying, “It’s not only a matter of when, but where!”
I’m confident that most of you have thought about your community’s vulnerability to terrorism. We all know what happened on 9/11. We are more than aware of the locations, the circumstances, and the aftermath of that day. Hopefully, none of us will ever forget. Our focus here is, Where will it happen next, and how prepared will those departments be?
Who would have thought that FDNY would ever sustain an incident of the scope of 9/11, which stretched its resources and necessitated comprehensive mutual aid beyond firefighters, to include trade workers (steel workers and heavy equipment operators) from all over the country? That was FDNY—the biggest department in the United States!
What resources do you have in your stockpile? FDNY has 12,000 or so firefighters. How many are in your department? You may be thinking that FDNY has 12,000 firefighters along with buildings in its jurisdiction like the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building. You may not have 75- and 100-story buildings in your community, but you do have schools and hospitals and malls, and so on.
The 9/11 Commission report states that not only is another attack expected, but it is anticipated that it will be bigger than the last one. We have learned from the WTC that no department can “stand alone.”
— John “Skip” Coleman, deputy chief of fire prevention, Toledo (OH) Department of Fire and Rescue, is author of Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer (Fire Engineering, 1997) and Managing Major Fires (Fire Engineering, 2000), a technical editor of Fire Engineering, and a member of the FDIC Educational Advisory Board.
Question: Does your department use mutual aid? Have you strengthened, maintained, or decreased your mutual-aid agreements since 9/11?
Rick Lasky, chief, Lewisville (TX) Fire Department
Response: We have had mutual-aid agreements in place for years. Prior to 9/11, we had agreements with the following agencies/organizations:
- Denton County—Most of our city falls within this county. We can send and receive mutual aid from any fire department within the county and from the Denton County Fire Marshal’s office, which assists us in a variety of ways. There is a great relationship between that office’s Bomb and Arson Division and ours.
- Dallas County—A portion of our city falls within this county. Under our long-standing agreement, we can send and receive mutual aid without restriction, as with Denton County.
- City of Grapevine—The terms of the mutual-aid agreement are substantially the same as those in the counties’ agreements. We entered into this agreement because we often work with Grapevine, which is located in Tarrant County, with whom we do not have a mutual-aid agreement.
Because these agreements were in place before 9/11 and they have worked so well, we didn’t feel they had to be strengthened in any way. We have also continued to work with some of our neighboring departments by means of automatic-aid agreements, which also have worked extremely well.
Unfortunately, we are still waiting for a statewide mutual-aid agreement to be developed. It has been a work in progress; many put a lot of hard work into it, and we hope it will be available soon. Having one agreement covering every agency in the state so that one jurisdiction can assist any other jurisdiction in need would be an exceptional way to provide mutual aid. Several states have such agreements, and they appear to be working extremely well.
Lewisville is situated in a very progressive area within a very progressive state. Everyone cooperates and works together in a time of need. The understanding is that no one can do it alone and that eventually we are all going to need help. Without good working mutual-aid agreements, you’re really just one step away from getting caught short.
Steve Kreis, assistant chief, Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department
Response: Our department was one of the original departments in the valley to participate in the Automatic Aid System. This system began in the mid-1980s with the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Glendale; it now has grown to include 22 (soon to be 23) neighboring fire departments/fire districts. Most of the fire departments in Maricopa County participate in the system.
Within the Automatic Aid System, jurisdictional boundaries virtually disappear. Units are dispatched by the Phoenix Fire Department’s dispatch center or the Mesa Public Safety dispatch center. Fire units cross jurisdictional boundaries several hundred times each day to provide service to members of the different communities. Units are dispatched to every emergency on the basis of the “closest most appropriate unit” regardless of jurisdiction.
Each participating agency agrees to staff its units with four members, use a common set of SOPs, have common radio frequencies and terminology, use GPS automatic vehicle location devices, have mobile computer terminals, train together, and play nice together.
We have not done anything differently since 9/11. We continue to refine the Automatic Aid System, which has allowed us to deliver an extremely high level of service to the community. The premise behind the system is fairly simple; I have heard Chief Alan Brunacini say it more than 100 times: “Mrs. Smith doesn’t care what color fire truck responds when she is having a heart attack or her kitchen is on fire. She just wants us to get there quickly, be well trained, solve her problem, and be nice.”
Robert C. Krause, captain, Toledo (Ohio) Department of Fire and Rescue
Response: Toledo has had mutual-aid agreements with several surrounding communities for many years. Toledo is the largest municipality in the region, with 17 engine houses surrounded by many smaller, very professional volunteer and paid fire departments. Historically, Toledo has received more aid than it has provided to each of these surrounding communities. On a number of occasions, fire crews in Toledo have been stretched very thin because of a number of simultaneous working fires within the city. When this occurs, a deputy chief initiates the order for mutual aid through the dispatch office. Depending on our needs, additional engines or truck companies will be requested. Fortunately, the surrounding communities are quick to respond; often mutual-aid companies are filling in Toledo fire stations within 30 minutes of our request.
Prior to 9/11, we realized the need for a strong bond not only among area fire departments but also with the health agency/hospital, public works, emergency management, and law enforcement. Work toward achieving this objective began with the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) in 1999.
Immediately after 9/11, Toledo created a Homeland Security Bureau under the direction of the fire department. Offices were established in the County Communications Center, and a staff of six chief and company officers was assembled.
After 9/11, many of the agencies involved in MMRS began solidifying plans and contingencies with increased urgency. Since then, we have worked together to eliminate (as much as possible) duplication of efforts and the distribution of resources. Federal and state grants provided funding for acquiring stockpiles of resources; plans were developed for their quick dispersal throughout the county. These stockpiles include antidotes, personal protective equipment for law enforcement, and mass-casualty decon equipment. As an example, every advanced life support (ALS) rig in the county (including ALS engines, transport, and private ambulances) now has MARK 1 antidote kits. Second, we have conducted and continue to conduct areawide drills across jurisdictional and functional (law, health, public works) lines.
Additionally since 9/11, we have focused on communications and interoperability. Toledo’s Special Operations Bureau, in cooperation with the Fire Communications Bureau, has provided each surrounding community with portable radios that can be used to communicate with Toledo Fire dispatch and training in how to use the radios on alternate frequencies should the main 800-MHz system fail. We want to protect against communication failures in a regional emergency. We implemented a network that allows communication among Toledo crews, mutual-aid companies, and other outside agencies responding to an incident. The network has been working for several months, and it is anticipated that it will continue to function without difficulty. With continued diplomacy and the spirit of cooperation among administrators in the region, fire departments and other emergency response systems in Northwestern Ohio should be able to continue to benefit from the present effective mutual-aid system.
Josh Thompson, battalion chief, Avon (IN) Fire Department
Response: We must rely heavily on mutual aid for most working incidents. I don’t believe 9/11 specifically changed how we approach the use of/need for mutual aid, but it has changed for us over the past few years. Our department and surrounding departments are working toward better communications, mutual-aid training, and standardized policies/procedures. It is crucial that we break down barriers, change attitudes, and put aside politics to achieve these common goals. I enjoy a great working relationship with my counterparts in the surrounding departments. Communication has increased, which has brought to light similar ideas and attitudes and has fostered networking (the “how does your department do this …?). The bottom line is that we have relied heavily on mutual aid in the past and will continue to do so in the future. We must put aside our attitudes and opinions and work together for a safer environment for our fellow brothers and sisters and to provide better service to our citizens.
Currently, our biggest problem lies in our dispatch systems; there are five dispatch centers in the area departments. Two of the departments can communicate without too much difficulty; the others are working on it, and it is getting better. Some of the other problems are dissimilar equipment (which creates some rapid intervention team problems), nonstandardized SOPs, and the ever-constant need to train together. We are all working well together; I hope we can work through these problems for the greater good.
Ron Hiraki, assistant chief, Gig Harbor (WA) Fire & Medic One
Response: As a smaller suburban fire department, we use mutual aid on a regular basis. Our greatest need is for handling multiple incidents or a working emergency that requires a second-alarm response, as it is for every smaller county fire district or small municipal fire department within Pierce County. Because of need and cost effectiveness, the majority of the smaller fire departments in our county established mutual-aid agreements and common practices years ago.
A few examples of common mutual-aid practices in our area follow:
- A majority of the career or combination fire departments in Pierce County work the same shift schedule. This enables the B-shift members to train frequently and respond together.
- Many of these fire departments are dispatched by the same communications center, which monitors incidents and tracks available resources for much of the county. Additionally, common radio frequencies and radio jargon are used.
- A group of chief officers from these fire departments has created a countywide tactical operations manual, which defines procedures for accountability, operations, emergency communications, and rapid intervention teams. Currently, a committee is in the process of revising this manual.
- Individually, these fire departments would not be able to staff, afford, support, or justify a full technical rescue team. Collectively, the fire departments have formed the Pierce County Special Operations Rescue Team (PCSORT). Each department trains and equips several members on each shift for the technical rescue disciplines. Specialty equipment is cached in strategic locations throughout the county. When there is a technical rescue incident, all of the on-duty technicians respond and are backed up by off-duty members.
In addition to common mutual-aid practices, the training chiefs have organized monthly drills with representatives from each fire department. The purpose of the drill is to get to know each other and become familiar with each other’s method of operation.
Prior to and especially after 9/11, we have strengthened and will continue to strengthen our mutual-aid agreements. We recognize that there is more to mutual aid than an agreement. Common practices, pooling resources, and training are critical to its success.
Christopher J. Weir, battalion chief, Fort Lauderdale (FL) Fire-Rescue Department
Response: We have made great strides in the continued evaluation and strengthening of our total resources before and after 9/11. Our department has been part of the Fire Chief’s Association of Broward County Mutual-Aid System since 1987. All 104 fire stations from 23 fire rescue agencies in Broward County are under a uniformed numbering system to effectively and efficiently track resources should there be a major incident necessitating mutual-aid responses.
This Broward County Mutual-Aid Committee continues to work hard to review and revise fire/EMS/special team response policies regarding our mutual-aid response system. The main concerns have been improving the communications network among the 23 agencies and keeping up with the rapid growth Broward County has been experiencing since 1993.
Automatic-aid agreements continue in Broward County; they provide a borderless response approach for smaller departments to share fire/EMS resources in compliance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards. In addition, Fort Lauderdale has fire/EMS automatic-aid agreements with the cities of Dania Beach and Oakland Park.
Prior to and after 9/11, the Tri-County area of South Florida has gone outside the box and has focused on specialized resource responses such as hazardous-materials response teams, a technical rescue team (TRT), and US&R FL-1 and FL-2. This approach regionalized the specialized teams to respond to catastrophic or multiple natural or human-inflicted events within Broward County and the South Florida Tri-County area as efficiently as possible. In addition, Florida has identified regional response zones for specialized resources.
Mutual aid has been strengthened and has evolved in levels beyond the traditional fire response needs. In specialized operational needs, Florida’s mutual-aid systems are statewide regional zones that range from hazardous materials to TRT to wildland to other catastrophic natural and human-caused events. The system is continually evaluated and improved.
Gary Seidel, chief, Hillsboro (OR) Fire Department
Response: Our department has relied heavily on mutual aid since 1948. No community has sufficient resources to cope with all emergencies that potentially exist; therefore, fire and rescue managers must preplan emergency operations to ensure efficient use of available resources. This includes conducting a risk assessment to determine all potential hazards and types of incidents; vulnerabilities; and a capability assessment to determine the minimum/maximum available resources and personnel on a daily basis and for a worst-case scenario.
The types of agreements we have in place include closest resource dispatched, automatic aid, contract or assistance by hire, mutual aid, memorandum of understanding, and the State of Oregon’s Master Mutual-Aid Agreement.
The county’s dispatch center dispatches the closest resources to an incident regardless of jurisdiction. Each agency within the county has also developed specific automatic- and mutual-aid agreements with one another to ensure on request a seamless allocation of specific types of resources and equipment, if available. We have also established an assistance-for-hire contract and memorandum of understanding agreements for the dispatch of a command officer into a district that does not have one and for fire investigators or fire prevention inspectors when the district cannot fill the request from its own personnel.
Oregon also has in place an Emergency Conflagration Act, which provides that local firefighting forces will be mobilized when the fire marshal believes a fire is causing, or may cause, undue jeopardy to life or property. The Act, invoked by the governor, provides in addition to resources and equipment incident management teams and fire defense boards during major operations.
Since 9/11, we have ensured that partnerships (mutual aid or contracts) with our city’s other departments—other public safety agencies and law enforcement, public works, water, sanitation, schools, park and recreations, for example—have been enhanced. We have also ensured that city and county Emergency Operations Center (EOC) personnel are up to date on our current agreements and have recently conducted joint city/county training as well as a joint scenario-based exercise.
Thomas Dunne, deputy chief, Fire Department of New York
Response: Our department has provided mutual-aid support to surrounding communities prior to and since 9/11. When requested, we have committed land units to help towns faced with challenging fires and marine units for waterfront operations.
Our communications vehicle responds to large incidents within the city and is capable of coordinating mutual-aid situations. This unit can establish communication on the radio frequencies of all neighboring fire departments and with emergency responders from other government agencies.
A number of departments graciously assisted us for several days following the 9/11 attack. However, being a very large organization, the FDNY has not normally relied on mutual aid for support. Since 9/11, our efforts have been focused mainly on improving our equipment, training, and communications capability.
The real challenge for our large city lies in establishing cooperation among our own emergency responders. There must be a plan for determining which agency would be in charge of the various types of disasters that may occur.
Politics and the power needs of some public officials can be serious obstacles to creating such a plan. However, firefighters, police officers, and other emergency responders deserve a command system geared to keeping them as safe as possible while performing their duties. Establishing this system in our city has proved to be more essential and more difficult than expanding our mutual-aid agreements with neighboring jurisdictions.
Jeffrey Schwering, lieutenant, Crestwood (MO) Department of Fire Services
Response: My department, like most in St. Louis County, uses mutual-aid companies regularly. Prior to 9/11, we increased our mutual aid to four engines per alarm for residential and commercial structure fires. In addition to our two engines, two additional mutual-aid companies, one of them a quint, were added. Any alarm past the first alarm gets all mutual-aid companies.
Since 9/11, we have maintained our mutual aid until recently. My department is now looking to add an additional engine to all alarms. When this plan is put into place, five engines/quints will be assigned to each alarm. The additional engine will increase our personnel at a fire scene, enabling us to continue to provide the service our citizens need and to ensure the safety of our firefighters in these days of tight municipal budgets.
My department regularly participates in mutual-aid training with departments in our county, neighboring counties, and the city of St. Louis. In St. Louis County, mutual aid is a tool that must be used to safely and efficiently handle any type of incident, from a single-story house fire to a large haz-mat spill in a commercial structure.
Nicholas DeLia, chief, Groton (CT) Fire Department
Response: Without a doubt, mutual aid (receiving and providing it) has undergone significant changes over the past couple of years. It has changed at the local, regional, and state levels. The driving forces, however, are not all related to 9/11.
At the local and somewhat at the regional level, CFR 1910.134 (two in/two out) and other initiatives for safely delivering services have driven the changes. As noted in previous responses, our regional dispatch center uses a run-card system for response assignments. The departments involved have recently completed revising those cards as part of a system upgrade. In many cases, we added additional response units, including the FAST team, when a second source reports specific types of emergencies. As a result of these revisions, we are going farther out into our region for assistance. Whether it’s for training, drills, or actual emergencies, we find we are spending a lot of time in each other’s districts.
In addition, many more specialty issues are being dealt with at the regional level. From hazardous materials to smallpox to technical rescue, the coordination of plans, resources, and personnel is now done on a much larger scale. One significant regional/statewide initiative began shortly after we lost the six brothers in Worcester, Mass. The ability to cover the Worcester fire stations with mutual aid during those difficult initial days ignited an interest in doing the same thing in Connecticut. A committee created at the state level researched the plans of Massachusetts and other states.
Many regional and statewide initiatives were progressing slowly until 9/11. As in many states, 9/11 was the wake-up call to get them done. Today, our state fire administrator has a seat at the State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Hartford. To support his need to deploy resources, he has a statewide director who assists three regional directors (east, central, west), who support eight county coordinators. All of these positions have at least one alternate, and often two.
In our county (New London), the system is further broken down into two divisions, north and south, each with a manager. They support six task forces—three in the north and three in the south, each with a leader. In case intra- or interstate mobilization is needed, it can be initiated by contacting the state EOC, state administrator, state director, regional director, or county coordinator, who passes the request up or down the chain.
Since the creation of the system, task forces have been used several times for intracounty mutual-aid responses. Additional advantages of all this planning are the networking and cross-discipline bonding that have taken place. Fire departments have long been praised for their ability to provide mutual aid. Many of our varied weapons of mass destruction partners are just breaking into that realm and are looking to us for assistance.
The advantages of this large-scale mutual-aid planning are consistent training and command procedures—for example, the coordinated use of incident command system (ICS) forms for incident action plans and functional checklists for incident coordination and planning. As in the 9/11 operations, the ICS system used by the Federal Incident Management Teams has proved itself during the most difficult of times. The final exam, TOPOFF 3, is coming next year; we’ll see how we do.
Brian Singles, firefighter, Hampton (VA) Fire Department
Response: Our fire department has a very strong mutual-aid agreement with the surrounding localities. For more than 20 years, we have responded with the Newport News Fire Department on a daily basis, and it also depends on us.
I think all fire departments have become closer since the 9/11 disaster. Even though geographical boundaries separate cities, towns, or even counties, I believe that everyone in the emergency services can always count on his neighbor to help in any way, because our main goal is to help those in need. If firefighters or EMS workers need extra help, our brothers and sisters from the mutual-aid departments are just a radio transmission away.
Joseph Pronesti, captain, Elyria (OH) Fire Department
Response: Our department has been hit hard by budget cuts. We have gone from an authorized strength of 88 to our current level of 61 line firefighters.
Our minimum on-duty shift strength is 17 firefighters. Our city is 19 square miles, and we are closely bordered predominantly by volunteer/part-paid departments. The next closest paid department on which we rely is at least 15 to 25 minutes away from most points in our city.
The number-one problem we face is what to do in a Mayday situation or a collapse on the fireground that entraps our members. If we call our bordering departments, their turnout time would be unknown because they are mostly volunteer and would have to be paged out to respond. When we have working fires, our department recalls off-duty members by phone, not pagers—and, let’s face it, in today’s society, everyone is mobile and usually away from home. We’ve had extreme difficulty getting enough of our own personnel recalled in a timely manner.
- After many years on the outside looking in, our department finally joined a countywide mutual-aid box alarm system, but, again, striking a box alarm and getting the adequate number of personnel and apparatus on-scene in an emergency are time-consuming. It looks good on paper, but it takes time for the units to arrive. If one of our own is in trouble, time—as we are all well aware—is always against us.
- As many of our fire service leaders have observed, in the months following 9/11, fire departments could do no wrong. We were the heroes, the darlings of our communities. Local politicians praised us; they jumped on our bandwagon. But now, time has passed, and we are once again forgotten, the first to be slashed and cut.
- In my opinion, mutual aid is something you need to have. It’s another tool, but it should not be a crutch. My department has strengthened its mutual-aid policy and increased its use, but the only real solution for protecting the lives of our firefighters and citizens and property is to have adequate on-duty staffing—to have arriving in a timely fashion enough firefighters to provide the right ventilation, a backup line, and a RIT.
Jeff A. Welch, reserve firefighter, Coeur d’ Alene (ID) Fire Department
Response: Our mutual-aid agreements have been in place for quite a number of years. We (like many other departments) sometimes struggle to deploy an adequate number of firefighters to allow for safely and effectively mitigating an incident. The deployment hinges on pending/prior calls and the size of the incident. Quite a few years ago, even though mutual-aid agreements were in place, they were not used consistently or at all.
The “white shirts” keeping the seat warm or the upper bosses in some of the agencies would not call for help. They were more worried about who called whom a “name” and the “other” department that went “across the line” to a call to which they were dispatched. I have learned over the years that egos, white shirts, and bosses do not put out fires. With those ground rules, the ones who suffered were the firefighters, who did not have enough personnel to function effectively. They are willing to perform their jobs under the most adverse conditions; they deserve help when conditions warrant.
Over the years, because of some progressive thinkers, we have moved into the era of automatic aid. We typically get it for anything and everything—for the smoking microwave and the burning outhouse and the occasional structure or wildland fire. We are working through the five-engine response to a smoking microwave in a structure that could be considered a structure fire.
Our mutual aid has come full circle; some very smart officers have learned to make it work. If dispatch sends a full complement of five apparatus to the microwave fire (as is done regularly in our department) and the first-due officer feels it is not warranted, the officer can request that the remaining apparatus drop code but continue in until he arrives on-scene. After the first-arriving company has had an opportunity to investigate with its pump can, that opportunity can be used to share a quick thought for the day with the brothers from that “other department.”
We have not changed much about our mutual-aid agreements, just the lines where the white shirts and bosses sign. Firefighters have learned once again how to make the best of the best job around. For those out there who feel that calling for mutual aid will never happen “across that line,” sometimes the moon and stars line up, and things change.
Mitch Brooks, lieutenant, Columbus (OH) Division of Fire
Response: We have a long-standing, strong mutual-aid agreement and automatic response policy with neighboring departments. It has not been affected by the 9/11 tragedies.
Lance C. Peeples, instructor, St. Louis County (MO) Fire Academy
Response: St. Louis County, with 42 fire departments protecting more than one million people in more than 90 municipalities, represents a logistical challenge in providing mutual aid. Fortunately, long-standing mutual-aid agreements have provided the entire metropolitan area with a better level of fire protection than any one fire department or district could if it attempted to “go it alone.” As evidenced by the tragic events of 9/11, even our nation’s largest fire department needed outside assistance. Fortunately, the brothers and sisters rose to the call.
The task that lies before emergency planners is to ensure that adequate resources are available to handle emergencies that are seemingly incomprehensible in their level of devastation. Perhaps the biggest challenge in disasters of this scope is to control and coordinate unsolicited assistance. Certainly, FDNY faced this problem in the early hours and days after the vicious attack that decimated their ranks. Fire chiefs must plan for this eventuality.
Fortunately in St. Louis County, fire service leaders have taken a proactive approach to this issue. As an example, dispatching services were recently consolidated among five fire departments. Certainly, interdepartmental training has increased in recent years. Have we done everything that needs to be done in this regard? Undoubtedly no. However, when one considers the political fragmentation in a fire protection system composed of 42 fire departments protecting more than 90 municipalities, one can see the difficulties inherent in effecting change.
Bob Murphy, captain, Blaine Hill Fire Company Elizabeth Township, Pennsylvania
Response: Our department uses mutual aid for a large number of our incidents, ranging from specific apparatus to full-station responses. Since the unfortunate occurrences on 9/11, our department initially did not look into the concept of written mutual-aid agreements because it belongs to a group called “Mon-Yough Fire Defense Council.” As a member of that group, all participating departments, 99 percent of our mutual-aid departments, agree to respond with any form of assistance when called. Our department has always had a very strong sense of trust and a well-developed relationship with our automatic- and mutual-aid departments; however, we are working to strengthen this relationship by training and working together as much as possible, striving to bring our own firefighters to a new level.
Within the past year, we have been working to revise the formal written mutual-aid agreement concept to ensure that each department is well aware of what is expected when it is called to assist and, of course, also aware of the gray legality issues. It is anticipated that this work will be completed by the end of our fiscal year.
David Giordano, chief, College Station (TX) Fire Department
Response: We use mutual aid and automatic aid to ensure adequate personnel on the fireground. Since 9/11, we have more closely solidified those agreements already in place. Also, we have developed regional mutual-aid agreements as part of a statewide initiative. We are in a situation where demands for service are increasing while our governing council is attempting to hold or reduce taxes. Departments must rely on each other’s support for major incidents.
Dennis Wolf, chief, Germantown (TN) Fire Department
Response: Local fire departments in my area have had written mutual-aid agreements for years. We did not strengthen them after 9/11, but we did use them to form a task force to respond to “suspicious powder” (anthrax) incidents across jurisdictional boundaries.
One recent change in mutual aid occurred as a result of a new Tennessee state law: Effective July 1, any existing mutual-aid agreements were declared null and void and replaced by a model statewide mutual-aid agreement. Local jurisdictions had the option of passing a resolution to continue existing agreements. If they did not pass the resolution, then the old agreement was null and their city/town/jurisdiction was covered by the statewide agreement.
