By Vincent Dunn

Fire departments must establish preplanned emergency responses with local utility companies and train firefighters to do the electric shut-off procedures when it's needed at incident scenes.

Departments must provide trained firefighters with required personal protective equipment: rubber nonconductive mats, lineman gloves and lineman-insulated cutting tools.

If utility companies do not respond, and we don't train our firefighters to shut off electricity, then untrained firefighters may risk their lives attempting an extremely dangerous act to save lives.

• Vincent Dunn is a retired FDNY Deputy Chief. For more tactical advice and tips, go to Vincentdunn.com. For lecture information, call 1-800-231-3388.