Delaware firefighters all soon will be using the same mayday signal, an attempt to keep them better coordinated if the worst should happen. Individual agencies are being trained in the new procedure.   

The change is more a standardization of practice than a policy change, assuring each of the state's 61 companies and seven dispatch centers behave in unison when a firefighter is in danger. Different dispatch centers and stations previously use independent responses to maydays. 

"It puts all the firefighters on the same page. We respond with the county. The county comes in and responds with us on large fires," said Wilmington Fire Chief Michael Donohue. "When a mayday comes in, that's serious business. We don't want to have a communication breakdown." Efforts to standardize the mayday signal began more than three years ago with a former Wilmington firefighter, Jack Wilson, incoming fire chief at Seaford Volunteer Fire Department and an educator at the Delaware State Fire School. His work culminated in June when the Delaware State Chiefs Association voted to adopt a universal procedure.