Who can authorize emergency traffic?

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Emergency traffic is a high-priority radio function used to get urgent safety messages through immediately. On-scene, the person with overall command—the incident commander—has the authority to direct operations and communications. If safety concerns require it, the incident safety officer can authorize emergency traffic as well. Both do this in coordination with the dispatcher, who controls the radio system and can implement the priority so the urgent message overrides routine chatter and reaches all responders. The public information officer handles media and public messaging, not on-scene radio control, and the fire chief may not be on-scene to authorize such traffic. So the correct path is the incident commander or incident safety officer, in coordination with the dispatcher.