Incident management for the street smart fire officer

Command’s general staff positions The are four general staff positions that command is responsible for at every incident: operations, planning, logistics, and administration.. If no plan

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Incident Management

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Incident Management

John F “Skip” Coleman

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Disclaimer: The recommendations, advice, descriptions, and the methods in this book

are presented solely for educational purposes The author and publisher assume no liability whatsoever for any loss or damage that results from the use of any of the material in this book Use of the material in this book is solely at the risk of the user

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Coleman, John, Incident management for the street-smart fire officer / John F “Skip” Coleman. 2nd ed

p cm

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN-13: 978-1-59370-150-5 (alk paper)

1 Fire extinction 2 Emergency management I Title

TH9310.5.C636 2008 628.9’25068 dc22

2008004545

or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without the prior written permission of the publisher

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 12 11 10 09 08

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Since the first writing of this text, so much has changed I want to thank my

daughter Fay for her assistance in this edition Her skills saved me hours of work I want to thank my wife Theresa for giving me the time and encouragement needed to complete this project, and to my son Toby, just for being Toby I would also like to thank Martin Grube for the use of his photos in this book

Again, thanks to the 500 or so firefighters on the Toledo Fire Department for helping me look like I knew what I was doing on the fireground

Last, to Ray and Andy who were part of the 343—who took great risk to save life—a toast!

“To the Boys!”

Dedication

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Foreword to the Second Edition 11

1 The Incident Management System 1

Incident Management Defined 1

ICS Versus IMS 2

Fireground Operations 2

Incident Management System as a Management Tool 3

The Basic Premise of the Incident Management System 5

The Four Types of Command 14

Announcing the Assumption of Command 17

Three Parts of the Incident Management System 17

Effects and Benefits of IMS 18

Questions 19

2 The Essence of Command 21

Command Presence 22

Choosing Staff 23

Directing Without Interfering 25

3 Establishing Command 27

The Three Command Modes 28

Passing Command 30

Transferring Command to an Outside Agency 33

Questions 35

4 Command Posts 37

Going Mobile 38

Types of Command Post 38

The Type of Command Post and the Type of Command 40

Command Post Locations 41

Base of Operations for Command Staff Personnel 42

Tools Needed for Command Post 42

Questions 43

5 Staging 45

The Two Types of Staging 46

Chain of Command 48

Tools Needed By the Staging Officer 51

Questions 52

6 Sectoring 53

Types of Assignments 54

Differentiating Between Floor Levels 57

Combination Assignments 58

Revolving Assignments 59

Responsibilities of Sector Officers 60

The Big Four 61

Questions 62

7 Running Incidents—How it Works in the Real World 63

The Essential Elements of the System 63

Basic Command Structure 66

8 Mission Statements 73

9 The Mission of Command 75

Incident Priorities 76

Defining Objectives 78

Making Assignments 80

Size-Up 81

Command’s Tasks 86

The Last Word on Command’s Mission 92

Questions 92

Scenario Based Decision Making 92

10 The Mission of Attack 95

The Responsibility of Attack 96

Fire Attack Concepts 97

Two Basic Attack Strategies 97

The Relationship Between Attack and Command 107

Basic Attack Rules of Thumb 108

Questions 112

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· > | Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer Second Edition ––––––––––––––––

11 The Mission of Search 115

The Responsibilities of the Search Officer 115

Common Search Techniques Used Today 117

The Responsibility of Command During Searches 126

The Relationship Between Command and Search 126

Prioritizing Search 127

Reading the Building for Search 127

Where to Start and Stop Your Search 128

How Long Should You Search? 129

Search Versus Rescue 130

Searching with a Hoseline 131

Searching with a Tool 131

Searching with a Thermal Imager 132

Questions 133

12 The Mission of Backup 135

The Relationship Between Command and Backup 135

The Responsibility of the Backup Officer 137

Alternate Water Sources 138

From Where Should Backup Enter the Building? 139

Where to Position the Backup Line 139

To Charge or Not to Charge the Backup Line 144

Switching the Backup Line to an Attack Line 145

Using Backup for Subsequent Assignments 145

Protecting Other Divisions and Groups 146

Is One Backup Line Enough? 147

Assigning Backup First 149

When to Assign Backup 151

Questions 152

Endnotes 154

13 The Mission of Ventilation 155

The Relationship Between Command and Ventilation 156

Why Ventilate? 159

Types of Ventilation 160

Natural Ventilation 160

Mechanical Ventilation 163

Which Type of Ventilation to Use? 166 When to Vent 167

Outside Vent Man OVM 169

The Responsibilities of Ventilation 169 Questions 170

Endnotes 172

14 The Mission of Exposure 173

The Extinguishment Process 173

Heat Transfer 174

Types of Exposures 174

Exposure Protection 175

Prioritizing Exposures 177

Protecting Exposed Structures 178

Expanding the Assignment 179

The Relationship Between Command and Exposure 182

Responsibilities of Exposure 182

Endnotes 182

Questions 183

15 The Mission of Extension 185

When Extension Should be a Separate Group 185

Critical Factors Influence the Extension in Fire 187

Where to Check for Extension 187

Checking for Extension 189

When to Assign Extension 190

Should Extension Have a Hoseline? 190

The Relationship Between Command and Extension 191

The Responsibilities of Extension 191

Questions 192

Endnotes 193

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· > | Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer Second Edition –––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Contents | < ·

16 The Mission of Overhaul

and Salvage 195

What Overhaul Entails 198

When to Assign Overhaul 198

Who Should be Assigned to Overhaul? 199

Where to Overhaul 199

How to Overhaul 199

Accumulation of Debris 201

Determining the Area of Origin 202

The Responsibilities of Overhaul 202

Overhaul Versus Extension 203

The Mission of Salvage 204

What Salvage Entails 204

Who Should be Assigned to Salvage? 205

When to Assign Salvage 205

Where to Salvage 205

How to Salvage 206

Responsibilities of Salvage 206

Questions 207

Endnotes 207

17 The Mission of Rapid Intervention Teams 209

The Concept 209

The Implications of NFPA 1500 210

Who Should be the RIT? 210

When Should an RIT be Established? 210

How Rapid Intervention Teams Work 210

The RIT Mission 211

The Tools Required 211

Where the RIT Stages 211

The On-Scene Survey 212

What Happens If an RIT is Activated? 213

Questions 214

Endnotes 214

18 Benchmarks 215

Command’s Benchmark 216

Attack’s Benchmark 216

Search’s Benchmark 217

Backup’s Benchmark 217

Ventilation’s Benchmark 218

Exposure’s Benchmark 218

Extension’s Benchmark 218

Overhaul’s Benchmark 218

Salvage’s Benchmark 218

Rapid Intervention Team Benchmarks 219

Other Incident Benchmarks 219

What Benchmarks Mean 221

Endnotes 221

Index 223

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Foreword to the Second Edition

It’s now been more than 30 years since I began fighting fires To many, I have become the

dinosaur that I used to snicker at as a recruit You know, the old fellow who was set in his ways, always carried either a rag in his back pocket (so it looked like he was about ready

to, or just finished, cleaning or polishing something), or a cup of lukewarm coffee in his hand, and who was about as wide as he was tall

Many changes have occurred in the fire service since the fall of 1975 EMS (emergency medical services), ICS (incident command system), and RIT (rapid intervention team), to name

a few Safety is a word that finally has some teeth behind it Apparatus have gotten bigger and

then smaller and tools have come and gone Not only has how we fight fires changed, so has the makeup of firefighters themselves Women are more prevalent, and diversity in other areas such as race and religion has taken new strides in the fire service We always had different generations of firefighters to manage, but we now have names (or better—letters such as X)

to identify them and, hence, how to treat them To be very blunt, we do different things now

at fires, and we look at doing them differently Not only have things changed since I came

on the job, but things have also changed since I wrote the first edition of this book in 1997

September 11, 2001, comes to mind

The incident command system is probably the biggest fireground change to hit the fire service since the advent of the motorized fire apparatus Finally, we removed our heads from the sand and allowed ourselves to be thrust into the business of fireground management

To be sure, old chiefs managed fires I was one of those old chiefs who ran fires without any semblance of ICS I came on the job in 1975 and was promoted to battalion chief (then called district chief) in the spring of 1987 We implemented ICS in the fall if 1988 So for the first

11 or so years of my fire life, I responded to fires without using ICS For the first one and a half years or so as a chief officer, I ran fires without using the words “command,” “sector,”

“branch” or “staging.” The fires went out! They all go out! But, I believe, they now go out with more control and less chaos

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· > | Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer Second Edition ––––––––––––––––

Part of this book is about the ICS and how

it can be implemented into the “structural”

world of firefighting ICS was originally designed to manage large wildland fires

Chiefs looked at the system and decided it would not only help manage the resources

of a wildland fire but also could be applied

to structural firefighting The problem is the transition between the use of the system at a wildland fire and at a house fire

Another part of this book is about the relationship between the incident commander (IC) and officers I’m not talking about how they get along off duty and off the fireground I’m talking about how they relate

to each other at fires There has to be a trust, understanding, and bond between the IC (regardless of rank) and the company officers

at incidents Each needs to know what the other is doing Each needs to know the other’s objectives They must communicate

Additionally, this book is about tactical and strategic considerations at typical incidents This book will center on typical incidents Large complicated fires and other incidents are covered in my second

book, Managing Major Fires (PennWell/Fire

Engineering, 2001) This book rarely goes past the command structure necessary for the typical house fire in your community

Last, you may not agree with everything

in this book That’s OK Take what you like—apply it to your department and the tools and evolutions you use Understand the rest, and likewise, understand why “that dog won’t hunt” in your department Not everyone has a six-person engine or truck company—many departments don’t even have a truck company

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The Incident Management System 1

In one of the recent articles in Fire Engineering Magazine, the question was asked, “What is

the one greatest invention or advancement in the fire service since the advent of motor driven fire apparatus?” Several good responses were given Among them were the self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), thermal imagers, Nomex™, and automatic sprinklers Along with equipment, the incident management system (IMS) should be right up there as one of the greatest innovations in fire service

Incident Management Defined

There is no one standard definition

of incident management Most use some

of the same words such as standard and

management The definition I use is IMS

is a standard method of operating at every incident that a fire department responds to IMS defines the roles and responsibilities

of every unit that responds to an incident, regardless of the incident type In fact, IMS should be used on all incident types—fires, emergency medical services (EMS), hazardous materials, confined space, and so on I will discuss these adaptations to IMS later; in general, IMS fits everywhere (fig 1–1)

Of course, every department in the United States does not fight fires the same way We all live in different regions with different climates, topography, economic status, department size, and population served Some departments have five firefighters and an officer on each apparatus, while others respond with only one firefighter Some send 28 or more to a report of

Fig 1–1 IMS can be used at all incident types.

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a fire in a single-family residence, and others are lucky to initially get six or seven But, once

a department (or departments—with mutual

or automatic aid) gets on the scene of a fire, the organizational structure, terminology (to some extent), and some operations should

be very similar The one person in charge

will probably be referred to as the command

Units that have arrived on-scene but are not given an assignment will normally be referred

to as staged The rear of the fire building will

generally be referred to as side C or side 3.

ICS Versus IMS

Let me take a few moments to explain the difference between the incident command system (ICS) and the incident management system (IMS) Both have their roots in the military Both sprang from FIRESCOPE (Firefighting Resources of Southern California Organized for Potential Emergencies) ICS is the older version of the system; it provided continuity in fireground operations and management IMS is the newer, more all-purpose version of ICS To be sure, they are

very similar, and we in the world of structural

firefighting see little if any difference Some things are called by different names, such as sector (IMS) and division (ICS) But these are minor differences in the overall context

On a larger scale, I believe that IMS is

as much an attitude as it is a tool It has

a confidence, a form of control It demands communication and information, and it has checks and balances that ideally provide for

a safer fireground The days of chief officers

pulling up to a fire, and allowing the fire to run

them, are over Incident management makes thinkers out of commanders No longer could

a chief or first-in officer stand by and allow the troops to manage themselves There were old chiefs who never gave an order or

provided direction and encouragement to crews advancing on the fire or, worse, going above it to look for children without a line

With IMS, that shouldn’t happen Command should be established by the first-in officer, and from that point on, no one—better said,

no company or crew—should do anything without being assigned

Fireground Operations

There are two types of fire department operations: preincident and incident-specific assignments (I’m not talking about the differences between paid and volunteer fire departments—I’m talking about the way they operate once they arrive on the fireground.)

Preincident assignment

Preincident assignment is used by many larger departments (A lot of smaller departments use preincident assignments at high rise fires and alarm drop calls.) Initial crews responding are given assignments by procedure Usually, in larger cities, many

of the crews responding arrive at about the same time To save time and avoid confusion, companies are procedurally given assignments by the order in which they were

dispatched This is also called concurrent

fireground operations In concurrent fireground operations, most of the operations are going on all at the same time or being done concurrently An example of a set of preincident assignments is the following:

· > First due engine—Take a line to the fire.

· > Second due engine—Augment the

first-in engines water supply and take

a line above the fire

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· > Third due engine—Provide a backup

line if needed

· > First due truck—Force entry, OVM

(outside vent man), search,

· > Second due truck—Search and ladder

the building

· > Squad—Assist with rescue and attack.

· > Chief—Run the fire.

With preincident assignments, crews are given the ability to complete other tasks if necessary, but they must inform the incident commander (IC) as soon as it is practical

Incident-specific assignment

Incident-specific assignment is probably used by the majority of departments in the United States This method is used in smaller departments where response times are greater and is built on the principal that one company will arrive at a fire, and then, a few minutes later, another company will arrive, and so on With this response, not all things can be accomplished at once Command must prioritize initial and subsequent actions This

is also called sequential fireground operations

Things are done in more of a sequence of events rather than all at the same time As an example, the chief arrives first and assigns the first-in engine exposure D, because the fire originated in a vacant house and is spreading to the occupied exposure on the

D side The next-in unit (an engine company)

is then assigned to source attack The

next-in unit may then be assigned to source

search, or some other assignment Again, the IC assigns incoming units on a priority basis for that specific incident as opposed to

by procedure Sometimes, in rural America,

the same crew will darken a fire, vent, and then search a house because no other crews have arrived on-scene yet That is a classic example of sequential fireground operations

I understand both types of operations I can understand why big cities use concurrent

or preincident assignments Likewise, I can understand why smaller departments use sequential or incident-specific assignments

Whatever works best for your department works for you What is vitally important is that everyone responding to your incident knows how you and your department operate

It must also be understood that both types of fireground operations use an incident commander With preincident assignment, command has the ability to deviate from procedure as necessary Normally, a lot less is said in the initial few minutes of a working fire over the radio when preincident assignments are used That is because crews understand what their assignments are More chatter

is conducted over the radio with specific assignments because command (not procedure) dictates the assignments of all responding units, and this must be conveyed via radio Face-to-face assignments should

incident-be kept to a minimum initially at routine fires, and face-to-face assignments should

always be backed up with a subsequent and confirming radio transmission In this case, redundancy is a necessity If it wasn’t said over the radio, it wasn’t assigned

Incident Management System

As a Management Tool

Incident management is a tool used to define the role and responsibility of every person who responds to a fire Everyone has a place, and everyone has a purpose Everyone!

From the moment a crew leaves the house for

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a fire run, everyone has an assignment Now

we have a playbook for the fire department No longer should crews ever report to a fireground and start to take up work without being given

an assignment by command That’s known as freelancing So, as units respond, they either:

1 Assume command—the officer only

The remainder of the crew can and should be used in some firefighting task (This will be discussed later.)

2 Are given an assignment Now, only the name used to talk to the unit should be changed until their next assignment, but they also know where

to report (such as attack, search,

or division D exposure) Once the assignment is given, officers should turn to evolution-based operations such as stretching and advancing lines, raising ground or aerial ladders,

or conducting searches

3 Stage If a unit responds to a reported fire where command is established and that unit has not been given an assignment, it should stage in an appropriate location (fig 1–2)

I like to think of IMS as a big tool belt

Command (the position) is the hammer of the belt It is the tool that is always pulled and used The belt has other tools such

as operations, logistics, safety, and so

on These tools are pulled and used when necessary, but not on every run As a carpenter, if our only task is to drive one or two nails, all we need to pull is the hammer

(Remember, the hammer—command—is used at all incidents.)

In the fire service, liken that scenario

to a report of a fire at 1945 Vermont Avenue The crew responds, and the officer establishes command upon arrival as part of the on-scene announcement The command finds Vermont Avenue contains no 1945 address and, further, sees no indication of fire, and no one makes themselves known

In this circumstance, the command is

in service as a false alarm; the only tool

“pulled” is command

Let’s now say a carpenter has to put an addition on an existing house The carpenter needs a hammer, as well as saws, levels, measuring tapes, and so on The carpenter needs more tools on the tool belt and needs to know how to use them In fact, the carpenter needs other carpenters who also know how to use all the tools Liken that to working a fire

at a house Command (the tool) is needed

So, possibly, is an operations section, logistics, attack, search, and ventilation groups One person can’t effectively do it all

In this instance, one person can probably handle command, operations, and logistics, but additional crews (tools) will be needed to attack, search, and ventilate the house

Fig 1–2 Staging sets the tone for the incident It provides a

focus to even uncommitted units

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The Basic Premise of the Incident Management System

There is a basic premise behind IMS, which is what makes it work at large wildland fires as well as heart-attack runs As I said earlier, IMS is as much an attitude as it is a tool IMS develops teamwork As the saying goes, there is no “I” in team I wish I could say there is no “I” in IMS, but obviously there is

However, the “I” in “I’ll do what ever I want”

is not there Everyone has an assignment

Everyone knows everyone else’s assignment

If everyone does his job, it all gets done, all under the direction of one person

One person will be in charge of every incident we respond to

IMS eliminates multiple commanders

The days of three or four chiefs responding

to the same fire and all giving orders are over

That isn’t to say that three or four chiefs (or more) can’t all respond to the same fire

In fact, there is a trend in the fire service today to send a minimum of two chiefs to

a report of a fire I applaud that concept

Sometimes, running even just a house fire with a single chief can be a very stressful situation, especially when you have to assign crews to stretch themselves due to life-safety concerns It’s nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of

Under IMS, command is the only person in charge of the incident (fig 1–3)

Command’s responsibility is to determine the objectives of the incident, convert those objectives into a strategy, and then assign crews to tactically carry out the strategy

Multiple or conflicting strategies can burn down buildings and kill firefighters Too many cooks spoil the broth, and too many commanders can spoil the fireground

Fig 1–3 Only one person will be in charge of every incident.

Larger or complicated fires require multiple chiefs, not multiple commanders

At a complicated house fire (trapped victims, exposure problems, etc.), an operations chief becomes a necessity I advocate almost never pulling a company officer off a crew for this purpose, especially at a complicated fire

Special-call for another chief (even using mutual aid), and once that next chief arrives, assign that officer to operations Even better yet, let the chief take command, and you go

to operations (I’ll explain why later.) Now you have a chief running the fire (operations) and another chief in charge of the rest (command)

Command is still in charge, but this officer can leave the placement of apparatus, and concerns such as which line needs 20 more pounds of pressure, to operations while he or she oversees the bigger picture

I recall responding to a second-alarm fire

as the operations deputy in an apartment complex When I arrived, I gave the first-in chief operations and I took command I didn’t

do anything spectacular After the fire,

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I remember officers coming over to me and saying how things calmed down and got controlled much faster after I got there

I thanked them for the compliment but explained that the only reason things got better was that once I arrived, I assigned the battalion chief to operations The chief still ran the fire As IC, all I did was handle the other aspects of the incident, which allowed operations to concentrate solely on the fire

By other aspects, I mean tasks like calling for

the Red Cross to set up the canteen, helping displaced occupants, asking the electric company to cut the drop, having the gas company turn off the gas, getting an air wagon started, having the police block the street so cars don’t cross our hoselines, and so on

While I did that, mostly on another tactical channel, all operations had to concentrate

on was the fire It wasn’t my arrival, but the fact that we expanded the command structure and divided responsibilities that eased the situation That’s what IMS is about, divide and conquer

Command will be held ultimately responsible for the outcome of the incident.

“The buck stops here.” One person must

be responsible That’s why chief officers get the big money! We are paid to make decisions and accept responsibility for those decisions

IMS is not designed as a vehicle to place blame, although IMS does define the roles and responsibilities of everyone who responds to an incident Command is on the top of the pyramid or flowchart and, as such, should be held ultimately responsible for the outcome of the incident As deputy chief of operations, it was my job to respond to fires (normally as an observer at first-alarm fires) and to evaluate the actions of the battalion

chiefs and their crews When things went well, I would pat the chief on the back and say, “You done good,” or simply, “I’m out of here.” Either meant the same thing It wasn’t uncommon for me to get on the radio as I was leaving and tell “All crews on _ Street, you did a good job.” However, sometimes the converse was true If I responded or was informed that a problem existed, the incident commander would have been the first (and normally the last) person I talked to If it wasn’t the IC’s fault, then the IC should have addressed the problem with the subordinate officer, not me My job, as operations deputy, was to ensure that the chiefs did their job It

is the job of the battalion chief to ensure that the company officers do their job

Command must have total control

of the incident—no freelancing.

I’ll run any incident in any community

as long as I have one thing: total control of the incident If I’m the only one in charge, and you or someone else (like the public, for example) are going to hold me responsible, then I must have control of what gets done

and when it gets done How is a different issue The how refers to evolutions, and under

most circumstances, command shouldn’t get involved in evolutions That’s a training and procedural issue

If your department operates using preincident assignment or incident-specific assignments, when you deviate from those assignments or act on your own without permission, that’s considered freelancing

Freelancing defined

Freelancing is defined as acting without authority In essence, it’s doing whatever you as an officer or firefighter want to do

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Freelancing kills Freelancing not only kills firefighters but has also probably killed hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians at fires (fig 1–4) Freelancing is one of those dirty little secrets in the fire service: We all know it’s done yet we rarely do anything to stop it, especially at the lower ranks of the service

Fig 1–4 Freelancing kills civilians and firefighters.

There is another type of freelancing I call

it “assigned freelancing.” Assigned freelancing

is completing tasks other than what you were assigned Normally, one would find nothing wrong with someone doing more than they were asked, but let’s look at it in a practical sense Take the following scenario:

Battalion 1 arrives first at a structure fire

in a single-family two-story frame home at

1334 hours Heavy smoke is showing, and there are flames coming from windows on the

B side of Division 2 Command assigns the first-in engine to attack.

As attack pulls and stretches a 13⁄4-inch line up the stairwell, they come across a victim lying on the stairway landing.

In the preceding scenario, I don’t expect the crew to charge past the victim saying,

“Coleman says if we pull you out, that’s freelancing.” What I expect is for you to have crew members grab the victim, and as you begin to drag the individual out, the officer reports over the radio “Attack to command,

we have a victim and are bringing the victim out.” Once the IC says, “Command OK,” over the radio, the crew is no longer freelancing

They are acting under authority When statements like that are made to an incident commander, the IC has two choices, which normally have to be made instantaneously

One is to say “command OK,” which 99 times out of 100 will be the prudent thing to say The other would be to say “maintain,”

which means continue on with your present assignment Let’s say command is out front with two firefighters from another crew, and the above transmission comes over the radio These men are outfitted with their MMR (mask mounted regulator) snapped in

All they have to do is follow the line into the house, up the stairs, and grab and drag the victim The initial attack crew can stay with the victim until they arrive and then continue advancing on the fire In essence, command

is now killing two birds with one stone

Look at it in another scenario:

Battalion 1 arrives first at a structure fire

in a single-family, two-story frame home at

1334 hours Heavy smoke is showing, and there are flames coming from windows on the

B side of Division 2 Command assigns the first-in engine to attack.

Knowing that the next-in crew will be a minute or two out, Command decides that this is a good time to do a 360° evaluation of the building and heads toward sides B and C

of the building.

As attack pulls and stretches a 13⁄4-inch line up the stairwell, they come across a victim lying on the stairway landing The crew drops

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the line and begins to bring the victim out and begin life-saving efforts in the front yard.

Command is now at the B/C corner and can’t understand why the crew isn’t darkening the fire “Why is it taking them so long?”

Command nervously heads back to side A and gets on the radio and asks attack for

an update: “Command to attack, give me an update.” Command reaches side A and then discovers why the fire didn’t get darkened and why attack didn’t answer the radio

That brings me to the second rule in

freelancing: Freelancing is only freelancing if

you don’t tell command I will never discourage officers and crew members from taking initiative, but only after informing command

We’ve been there We know and understand what it’s like to be assigned something and see something else important that needs to

be done You have to remember two things:

1 Command can only see what one person can see If you’re inside and see victims, see fire while searching, holes in the floor or people hanging out of windows on side C, command needs to know Tell command Say something to the effect of, “Command, this is Engine 21, we have people hanging from windows on side C

We’re going to throw a ladder and get them down.” Then let command decide Under most circumstances, if you tell command what you have, the response will be “OK.” However, under some circumstances, it may not The choice and the responsibility falls

on command However, it would be wrong in that situation to simply pull ladders and begin a rescue without informing command

2 Command should have the bigger picture Once assigned, interior

officers get a myopic view of the entire fire scene All in all, that’s not a bad thing I want interior officers to focus

on their task Command should have the bigger picture, including what assignments have already been made, approximately where those crews are

in the building, what units are staged and available, and how are things looking (as compared to a minute or two ago) Command may have already assigned crews to that task, and the crew that noticed the people hanging out windows wasn’t aware of the assignment It may be looking very good from side A, and perhaps crews can walk the victims down the stairs

in a very few minutes

The bottom line is, let command know what you are doing if it at all deviates from the assignment or the norm

Command, command’s general staff, and command’s staff positions

There are still those who believe that ICS isn’t necessary at a house fire Those individuals believe that fire officers should understand their duties at a “simple” house fire While I agree that a house fire should

be a relatively simple operation and that officers should understand their duties, I disagree with the assertion that ICS then isn’t necessary One individual needs to prioritize and direct even the simplest house fire Someone needs to coordinate resources and take responsibility for the incident That someone should be the incident commander

I must state here that there are many who may view my knowledge and use of the incident command system as myopic and extremely limited I am referring in general

to those members of the fire service who

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practice wildland firefighting For that type

of firefighting, this view is probably correct I have never fought anything larger than a few acres of grass fires However, the system that

I learned, and taught, and believe in so much comes directly from FIRESCOPE and ICS My

world of ICS is the structural world of ICS

We have little use for base, tankers (those that have wings), and a logistical section that provides for both a support and a service branch We need SCBAs, more water, and some fans and tools to breach a wall or two with It’s not that we don’t need a logistics section at a structure fire—we do, but it usually is handled by the chief in charge who may or may not be called “command.”

Please don’t misunderstand ICS is the backbone of wildland firefighting Firefighters are brought in for these incidents from all

over the country They must speak the same

language and operate under a management system that is universal However, due to the limited resources needed at a house fire, the management system can be more parochial

I am not discounting ICS or its use at even the simplest room and contents fire, but in the real world of residential firefighting, we can afford to downsize the system a little

to meet our own particular needs It’s hard

to establish (let alone justify the use of) a full-blown command structure when all you have and are going to get at a house fire

is seven members

IMS is built on focus It’s “divide and conquer.” Everyone has a task and a subsequent focus If the personnel on the fireground each focus on their individual tasks, then all the tasks get accomplished It sounds pretty simple, but it isn’t always that easy

This text is not solely about IMS Anyone reading this book should already have a firm understanding of IMS and its principles

As a quick review, however, I will provide

a brief review of all the command, general, and staff positions and how they fit into the average house fire

Command is the person in charge of the incident As such, this officer is responsible for directing the resources necessary to handle the incident Command’s task is

to focus on the incident as a whole and ensure that what needs to be done is being done (but not necessarily how) The task

is to coordinate resources, direct incoming units (crews), communicate and act upon communications from group or division supervisors, and a host of other tasks that,

to put it in the simplest terms, make the incident go more smoothly

Command is responsible for operations, planning, logistics, and administration

These are referred to command’s general staff Safety, liaison, and information officers are referred to as command’s staff positions

These positions are referred to as sections, such as the planning section or the logistics section What command can’t or doesn’t want

to handle should be passed off to a subordinate, peer, or superior as soon as practical There are still those who believe that to truly work under a strict incident management system, all of the above sections must be filled prior

to any pulling and stretching of hose or other fireground tasks Nothing could be further from the truth, especially in structural firefighting In my mind, command’s general staff and command’s staff positions must

be treated as a luxury in the big scheme of things This is especially true of smaller and rural departments Command should rarely

if ever take firefighters from the fight to fill

a staff or general staff position This does not mean that at these types of fires, those positions are never or rarely filled They are filled when additional crews and chief officers arrive at the incident

Think of your last big fire At first, it’s likely that there weren’t enough people to do all the tasks that needed to be done, but 20

or 30 minutes into the fire, there probably were a number of firefighters standing

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outside, leaning on hooks Now you have enough personnel to start filling command’s staff and general staff positions as needed

Command’s general staff positions

The are four general staff positions that command is responsible for at every incident: operations, planning, logistics, and administration

Operations is responsible for handling the emergency At a fire, operations is responsible for directing crews assigned to fight the fire and any other incident-related task such as emergency medical treatment, evacuations, and the like Operations reports directly to command and, in my opinion, should work

at the command post All tactical crews (groups, divisions, and branches) report directly to operations If established, staging reports to operations

Planning is responsible for assessing what has happened, what is currently happening, and what could happen in the future as it relates to the incident Because this book focuses on residential structure fires, I will emphasize that planning is responsible for documenting what resources are on the scene and what their current assignment

is In other words, planning is responsible for accountability If no planning section is assigned, then command is responsible for assuring scene accountability—normally

by and through the operations section

if one is established

Logistics is responsible for getting the necessary tools and equipment to the incident Generally, at a house fire, this may entail extra SCBA bottles, a canteen

or auxiliary to bring coffee or cold drinks to the crews operating the fire, or the like In wildland firefighting, Logistics can be a very weighty and complicated section Setting up

base camps, bringing in extra hand tools and larger earth-moving equipment, as well

as setting up site hospitals to treat injured

or ill firefighters (medical unit) falls under their purvey However, at the vast majority

of house fires, command can handle this section At larger apartment fires, command may opt to designate a logistics officer to tend to tasks like acquiring a temporary location to put displaced citizens or to secure demolition crews if the dispatch center can’t take care of that request Again, if command does not designate a general staff position, then command is responsible for the task

Administration is responsible for handling the administrative requirements

of the incident In the world of wildland firefighters, administration (called finance

in FIRESCOPE or the incident command system) is established very early into the incident In the world of the structural firefighter, administration is probably the last section to be established if it is established at all I have been to many hundreds of working fires, and commanded hundreds myself, and have yet to establish

an administration section at one of my fires

I can envision the instance where I would, but other than mandated disaster drills, I have yet to establish one Again, this book is mostly about structural firefighting

Command’s staff positions

There are three staff positions, referred to

as officers, that command must fill at every

incident: safety, liaison, and information

officers As stated earlier, commands’ general staff positions are referred to as sections,

as in operations section The individuals

filling the individual positions in commands’

general staff are referred to as chiefs, as in

operations chief or planning chief.

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Safety The scene safety officer is

responsible for assuring the safest fireground possible That’s a pretty tall order ICS rules state that the incident commander can fill the role of the safety officer if one is not designated In my opinion, at a working residential fire, safety is an essential staff position that should be filled when staffing allows As an incident commander, I feel better knowing that there is one person who

is focused on safety When that section is established, a lot of pressure is removed from the incident commander

Safety officers should be located wherever safety problems are evident at the specific fire If roof operations are taking place, then the safety officer should be up the ladder, ensuring that the ventilation operation is being conducted as safely as possible The safety officer needs to be sure that the ladder

is raised correctly and butted, the firefighters are operating on the correct side of the vent hole, and that all the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is in place If the crew must go defensive on a vacant residential occupancy, the safety officer must make sure that all the collapse zones are maintained If it’s 20° below zero, the safety officer should make sure the crews are protected as much as possible and that they are provided frequent breaks While all of this is occurring, the IC can focus elsewhere, knowing that one individual is concentrating

on the safety aspects of the incident I am blessed with 24-hour safety officers in my department Absent them, safety would be one of the first staff positions I would fill at a residential structure fire

Liaison The liaison officer is the office

keeper of the command post in structural firefighting In most circumstances, liaison

is a luxury for residential fire At large, multiple-alarm apartment fires, the liaison officer can be a very valuable asset At

the command post, the liaison officer can communicate with outside entities and persons who have an interest in the incident without bothering command For example, command can tell liaison that when the electric company arrives, to have them cut the drop to the source building and exposure A, and that when the gas company arrives, have them shut the supply to the source building at the curb At that point, command can go back to commanding Some departments that are short on staffing use a police officer as the liaison officer You have

to ask yourself what is more important, to have a firefighter act as liaison at the scene

or to use the firefighter to fight the fire and, instead, enlist a police officer to help direct outside agencies

Information officer The information

officer provides information to the media, victims, families of victims, and fire personnel At a vacant house fire, the incident commander can fill the role of information officer and normally not miss a beat In the excitement of the fight, before the fire is under control, I usually tell the media to take some pictures, and I’ll give them a sound bite

in a few minutes At a multiple-alarm fire, I usually assign a specific information office to handle the media

At working apartment fires, the information officer can provide information

to displaced occupants Such information could pertain to when and if they can get back into their apartments, help make arrangements for temporary housing and clothing needs, and help notify family members of their status Additionally, the family members who arrive at the scene

of a large apartment fire can be referred

to the information officer to give them information on their family and friends

While this is being done, the command is freed up to command

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When to fill the boxes

When you’re talking about IMS at residential structure fires, “When do you fill the boxes?” is the big question The command function must be filled all the time and at every incident Someone has to be

in charge Someone has to be accountable for the incident Someone needs to be able

to “change the play at the line” and call

an audible At a fire, that someone is the incident commander Now if your standard operating procedures (SOPs) dictate that the first-in officer can participate with the crew until the next-in officer, or even the chief, arrives, that’s OK! But the first-in officer should be in charge and held accountable for the incident until another officer takes command; in an ideal world, the first-in officer is in command and should announce that fact in the on-scene announcement

However, I’m not here to dictate procedure, but every department should have a policy that states who is in charge and when

All of the other boxes (operations, planning, logistics, and administration sections; safety, liaison, and information officers) are plain and simply a luxury Now,

if I had a department where the command vehicle pulled up to every fire with eight chief officers on it, life would be simple and all of the boxes would be filled However, not even the largest cities have that luxury,

at least initially, at a fire Policy, common sense, and circumstances need to be used in determining what other, if any, of the boxes get filled at any fire

Policy should dictate when command and any other section might get filled Our only policy to this end states that at any second alarm and over (except for “precautionary”

second alarms) an operations section shall

be established Usually, the first dispatched battalion commander who was the command moves down to operations and the next-in

chief assumes the role of command From that time on, command is on a separate radio channel and, more or less, handles the other aspects of the incident while operations tends to the fire Command is there, working alongside operations and making the final decisions However, operations handles the nuts and bolts of the fire, while command takes care of the rest This is only a suggestion, and in Toledo this works well for us National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1561 is silent on when the boxes get filled

Common sense would suggest that filling all the boxes at the onset of an incident (with the arrival of the first-in unit) may not lend itself to a successful outcome One of the first rules in accountability (of personnel) is that any accountability system should not interfere with initial operations That rule should likewise apply to filling in the boxes

ICS is not a tool that should distract from the safety of firefighters, civilians, or our mission

In fact, ICS should enhance the incident if used correctly When the first crew arrives in

a working factory fire with three firefighters

on it, the initial priority of that first-in crew should be firefighter and civilian safety, and then they should start to work the fire if it can

be done safely and in accordance with policy and procedure The first priority should not

be to fill the command structure This in no way means that the role of command should not be filled from the onset! Nothing could

be further from the truth However, all of the command’s staff and general staff positions can and should be filled as more crews and chief officers arrive

Think of your last good multiple-alarm fire Think of the fire in the first 5 minutes

or so Chances are that there was too much

to do with too few firefighters Now, think

of that same fire 20 or 30 minutes into the incident Close your eyes and picture the scene You can probably see 10 or more firefighters standing around with hooks in

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their hands, watching the fire burn and the crews work That’s the time to start filling

in the boxes

In the world of structural firefighting, rarely is a finance section required Most of the structural fires a department encounters last 12 hours or less (and that would be a pretty good fire!) As already stated, we always assign an operations chief at any working second-alarm fire I can see the need for a planning section chief at many working multiple-alarm fires Some fires involving hazardous materials will require a logistics section Keep in mind that what command doesn’t pass off, command is responsible for

If command starts to get so bogged down in getting air cylinders replaced and charged

or thinking of where the water runoff is headed and what’s in it that it’s not possible

to concentrate on the fire and its specifics, then the command needs to start getting help Let the incident and its nuances dictate what boxes to fill And, finally, planning, logistics, and the other boxes (notice I didn’t list operations) at most structure fires are a luxury They should be filled when on-scene staffing is adequate and at safe operating levels I would never consider pulling a firefighter off of a necessary line or from conducting a search to fill a box for me I simply couldn’t justify it

Command teams

In many areas of the country, command teams are a new concept In California and parts of the West and South where wildland fires are a concern, they have been around for

a while In the formal sense, command teams are a group of individuals who are trained and certified to fill the boxes in the incident command system Once established and certified, they are allowed to respond to other jurisdictions as a team and help command

a major incident Members are certified

to fill specific boxes Some are certified

to act as IC, planning, and operations, for example Not only are standards of qualification required, but hands-on time

in the specific area of expertise (say, filling the planning section) at real incidents is also necessary Again, this is a requirement for wildland firefighting The State of California certified incident management teams (IMTs) for wildland firefighting and for other emergencies Certified members are allowed

to carry a “red card,” issued from the state, verifying their qualifications

In an informal sense, some departments are taking the concept of IMTs and applying

it to fit more local needs In Lucas County, Ohio, we are training chief officers in the county to fill the boxes at major incidents

This will provide a pool of trained teams that can manage a large incident and still provide the municipality having jurisdiction a pool

of home chiefs to manage other day-to-day incidents The State of Ohio is starting a credentialing process to certify IMTs as part

of a statewide mutual aid system

To be fair and to show the other side of the coin, I would like to take a few minutes

to discuss the “command team” concept used by the Phoenix Fire Department

The Phoenix Fire Department has its own interpretation of command teams At a major incident they dispatch a second battalion chief and what they call a senior chief to assist the incident commander These three individuals make up a command team It consists if an incident commander and a senior and junior advisor Together, they manage the incident

Regardless of the type of command team that you use, IMTs have their place in residential fires I am becoming more and more of a believer in the use of a team to assist command in managing even simple fires As already stated, I don’t believe in

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taking firefighters from the fight to build a staff However, when staffing is available,

I believe in getting the IC a little help, too

The Four Types of Command

I would assume that in the infancy of the incident management system there was only one form of IMS Much of IMS, as anything else, comes from necessity It must be remembered that IMS sprang from FIRESCOPE in the ICS This system was designed specifically for wildland firefighting These were large fires, which required massive numbers of resources After the inception of ICS, it soon became apparent that this system could be used not only at large fires but also at more routine incidents as well

There are four types of command used today: informal, formal, unified, and area

The type of command used is dependent on two or more factors:

1 The number of units of officers responding

2 The number of entities formally represented at the command post

Informal command

Informal command is established when only one officer responds to the incident, such as in normal emergency medical services (EMS) and “still box” alarm responses In many cities, this also includes the normal first responder or medical runs

on advanced life support (ALS) runs (fig 1–5)

In these responses, traditionally only one officer responds to the incident on a single unit (In some rural departments where volunteers are used, more than one officer

may respond on these runs I suggest that the procedure should designate the highest ranking officer as the informal commander

at these incidents.)

Fig 1–5 A fire crew operating at an EMS run

When operating under an informal command, the command does not have to formally establish or announce that he or she is in charge It is understood that there

is only one officer on the scene, and that this officer is command and is, as such, in charge

of the incident In these responses, when the officer reports on the scene, the officer should give an initial on-scene report, stating that the unit is on the scene and including

an initial conditions report At this point, the officer should handle the incident as training and procedure dictate

Formal command

Formal command is used whenever more than one unit responds to an incident Under formal command, the officer assuming command announces that fact over the radio Every incident where more than one

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unit responds must have only one person

in charge (fig 1–6) Procedurally, we must have a way of determining who the officer in charge will be on these multiunit responses

Most departments today in the United States operate under the procedure that the first officer on the scene will be the incident commander until the incident is over, or until that officer is relieved by higher authority

Fig 1–6 A chief officer operating at a formal command post

There are still some cities in the United States where procedure dictates that the highest ranking individual on-scene is command regardless of the situation I have several problems with this First, when a higher-ranking chief officer arrives, the entire burden of command shouldn’t be placed on that individual, who may not be ready to assume that task Simply pulling up and putting yourself on the scene does not mean that you have done your own size-up and are ready to assume command Second, many departments dispatch more than one chief, especially on multiple-alarm or large-area incidents The incident may not dictate or necessitate using a higher-ranking chief simply because that individual arrived on the scene

As stated earlier, incident management

is based on the premise that one person

is in charge of every incident to which we respond The formal command allows us

to proceduralize this vital basic premise

Upon the arrival of the first-in officer, command should be assumed Procedure should then dictate when and how command should be transferred

Not too many chiefs can run an incident while putting on their fire gear As you read

on, you’ll see I use the term focus a lot If all

personnel focus on what they’re supposed to

be doing, everyone gets the job done well It’s hard to focus on running an incident while you’re parking, dressing, or walking up to

an incident You may not even want to take command It may be too small an incident for your involvement, or you may want the officer on a promotional list, who initially took command, to continue to run the fire with you standing nearby so the officer can gain experience and confidence (fig 1–7)

Fig 1–7 A command post expanding to unified command Note

the presence of police at the command post

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of decision making and responsibility of the incident An example of a large incident at which unified command would be established would be a large spill on Lake Erie A spill of that nature could affect not only the United States but also the Canadian waters of Lake Erie In this instance, unified command that incorporates the representation by Ohio, Michigan, and Canadian fire officials, as well

as the United States and Canadian Coast Guard, could be established These officials would jointly make decisions and share responsibility for the outcome of the incident

On a much smaller scale, unified command may be established at wildland fires involving two or more jurisdictions

When unified command is used, it must be announced over the radio and documented All the agencies and the representatives of those agencies must be continually documented throughout the incident Time has taught us that under these incidents where unified command is used, it

is best to appoint a command lead agency

Most incident types dictate which agency will act as the lead agency As an example,

in a chemical weapons of mass destruction (WMD) incident, unified command would be established by representatives of the police, fire, EMS, and local health department In this case, the health department would be the lead agency In the case of a bombing incident where the police, fire, EMS, and other agencies responded, the police or other law enforcement agency would probably become the lead agency

becomes unified area command, when

incidents are multijurisdictional The following scenario shows that having an area command can be advantageous

A tornado touches down in your community The tornado does damage in the north, central, and south portions of your city These three areas cannot be managed

by one incident commander In this case, area command would be established An area command post would be established somewhere in the city This command post would have an incident commander, and possibly a logistics chief and a planning chief

In the incident described earlier, we could possibly establish a north, a south, and a central command These three command posts would be in charge of their respective areas Request for resources and personnel would go through the area command post

Now with area command, each incident is managed by its own incident commander An operations section, planning section, or any other command or general staff position can

be assigned to better manage the incident

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For the confines of this text, we will concentrate primarily on formal command

In this day and age, it’s incumbent on every fire department and chief officer to have a clear understanding of not only formal but also unified and area command

Announcing the Assumption

of Command

When formal command is established, it should be announced over the radio along with the initial scene report This radio transmission is how everyone responding knows from whom to take direction This fact

is vital Only one individual should be giving direction to incoming units Too many chiefs spoil a fire Mobile officers with multiple priorities and multiple strategies to get into place can only lead to disaster

The first officer on the scene should announce that fact and that he or she

is the command, and from that time on, that individual is the only officer to make strategic decisions at that fire More than anything else in recent history of the fire service, IMS has made it essential that the fire administrators train their officers in how

to make strategic decisions at incidents

Not only do they need to know how to make strategic decisions, but they also need to inform incoming crews of their objectives I will discuss fire objectives later

The incident management system allows chief officers to sit back and watch officers, young and old, new and veteran, take command at all types of incidents IMS has given us the opportunity to see who has good strategic concepts and to identify areas of weakness It also has allowed us to identify and distinguish the team players from the

hot-dogs In short, with IMS we’ve identified some weaknesses that procedures have covered up, and we have been directed toward some new areas that needed training

Three Parts of the Incident Management System

I’ve heard almost every excuse in the book why some departments don’t use IMS “We don’t need all that stuff to run and put out a house fire,” some would say “It’s only good at second alarms.” No one has convinced me yet that IMS is not needed at every incident that

we respond to For something that cleans up incidents the way IMS does, there’s not a lot

to it Basically, IMS consists of three parts:

· > Command defines the roles,

relationships, and responsibilities of personnel responding to an incident

· > Staging sets up the placement of

uncommitted apparatus at the scene

of an emergency

· > Sectorization divides the area

into manageable units or task-oriented assignments

That said, IMS defines who’s doing what and where You need a place to put uncommitted units and personnel responding, and you also need a formal way of dividing up the incident Now, to make this system flow and to enhance the basic premise of IMS, we need to address a few additional areas

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Effects and Benefits of IMS

Basically, incident management affects and, if correctly used, improves the following aspects at every emergency situation:

Command then can systematically build the specific structure that will effectively meet the needs of that particular incident

Fig 1–8 Command affects and improves communication.

Span of control or communications

Incident management sets guidelines relevant to the span of control of emergency

scenes Span of control is defined as the

number of subordinates one supervisor can effectively handle The emphasis is on

effectively During nonemergency operations, one officer can handle several subordinates and effectively manage their operations In emergency operations under IMS, the span

of control drops to 1:3–7 subordinates

The figure I usually agree to is a 1:5 officer-to-subordinate ratio When using IMS, this 1:5 figure should not be violated unless absolutely necessary Common sense must prevail here At large defensive fires, there are times when one officer can manage

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more than five units standing outside lobbing water into a destroyed or almost destroyed structure However, an officer crawling down the hallway conducting a search may not be able to control five subordinates at one time

In these instances, the span of control may need to be narrowed

One rule cannot and should not

be created that dictates the number of subordinates that one person can manage

So much of it depends on the situation, the task being performed, the experience level

of the crew, and the experience level of the officer Incident commanders need to be keenly aware of the crews that they respond with The span of communications is another factor that needs to be considered The span

of communications is defined as the number

of subordinates one person can communicate with effectively Again, this is situational It

is dependent on the incident and its severity, what is being discussed, and who it is being discussed with Again, a chief officer might

be able to communicate with 5, 6, or 10 other officers at a command post However, an officer crawling down the hall conducting a search may have a hard time communicating with two or more searchers effectively

Questions

1) Fill in the blanks to the definition of ICS:

“ICS is a method of operating at _ incident that a fire department responds to.”

2) Another name for preincident assignments

8) _is used when

an incident becomes multijurisdictional

9) Can you operate under unified area command? Yes or No

10) What is the normal span of control used under IMS during emergency operations?

_

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The Essence of Command 2

As I said earlier, the incident management system (IMS) is as much an attitude as it is

a management tool When I was a young man, my father tried to teach me the game

of golf At that age, a young man learns many lessons from his father In those days, cutoff blue jeans were the fashion trend for young adults My father wouldn’t even let me practice in cutoff blue jeans His quote was, “You have to look important to feel important!” He would go on to say, “You never see Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer in a pair of shorts, playing golf.” Just as golf is a game of attitude as much as it is a skill, I believe running an incident is

as much an attitude as it is a skill

The incident management system is built on focus It is the incident commander’s (IC’s) responsibility to focus on the entire incident Division and group officers then need to focus

on their specific assignments If everybody focuses on individual tasks, then all the tasks get done and the bigger picture is accomplished As an IC, my job is to stand out front or wherever

I can get the best view of the incident and get an overview of the entire scene It’s best if you develop your own pose while running an incident What I mean by pose is to develop a way

of standing or slightly pacing in front of the fire scene that allows you to maintain a focus on what is in front of you In my case, I tend to stand in front of a fire with my hands crossed across my fire coat, and one arm somewhere near my chin or mouth My task at every fire is

to try to stay in that pose throughout the majority of the incident If I can do this, then there’s

a much better chance that I am in control of the fire as opposed to the fire being in control of

me I also believe that it instills confidence in the troops Who would you rather have run your fire, a chief who is running all over the place or a chief who calmly focuses on the fire?

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· > | Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer Second Edition ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– The Essence of Command | < ·

Command Presence

I’ve heard a lot of speakers and read

several articles that discuss command

presence Command presence is pretty much an attitude (fig 2–1) This attitude

is directly related to the situation, one’s knowledge and experience, as well as specific personality traits

The key to command presence is an attitude that allows you to run the fire and not let the fire run you This is not to say that you can’t get excited, anxious, frustrated, mad, or a wide range of other emotions while running a fire The key is being able

to control these emotions I believe that this

is as much a learned trait as a perfect golf swing or riding a bike

Fig 2–1 Command presence is how you portray

yourself at incidents

Here are a few tips on creating and maintaining a command presence throughout routine and stressful fires:

· > Assume your pose When I stand at

a fire with my arms crossed and one hand somewhere around my mouth

and I am a viewed by firefighters on the scene, I believe that they feel confident that I am in control of the situation The converse is also true

If they are used to seeing me in my normal pose, but for whatever reason

I am pacing pensively or, worse yet, running at a fire, then they’ll know that something’s wrong It’s at that time that their confidence in me, the situation, and perhaps themselves will

be in doubt That’s not a good thing

· > Listen more than you talk Anyone

who knows me knows that I’m not shy about talking over the radio If something has to be said, I’m certainly not afraid to say it My job as an

IC is to gain as much information concerning the incident as I can

in the shortest possible time I can

do that in several ways One is by listening to the radio and knowing

my people If Captain Jaksetic starts yelling in his face piece at the fire, I know something’s wrong

Listen to communications between officers and crew members as well

as you listen to conversations from your dispatch center

· > Bunker up I’m not going to start the

debate concerning the location of command posts I don’t care if you sit

in your car I don’t care if you stand outside, with slightly less favorable lighting and communication in the frigid cold It’s your job! If you do choose, however, to stand outside and run your fire, then bunker

up Every leader needs to lead by example (fig 2–2) I understand the temptation of sticking your head in, walking in between buildings, and

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going in other areas in the warm and hot zones Be prepared, bunker up, and lead by example

Fig 2–2 Bunker up! Do as you say! If you require them to use

it—you use it and lead by example.

· > Communicate I don’t care if you yell

over the radio, but yell all the time

The converse is also true I don’t care

if you’re a “low talker”; just be a low talker all the time Be consistent!

Firefighters crawling down the hall of

a fire don’t want to hear a chief who normally talks quietly start yelling at

a fire Nor do they want to hear a chief who usually yells start to whisper and mumble at a fire Consistency is the key! It’s OK to raise your voice, but get back to your own normal speaking level as soon as possible

· > Make your own decisions I know

chief officers that let company officers run their fire for them Some solicit advice from group or division officers, and then act on that advice without weighing any other factors These company officers are so familiar with the way these chiefs work that they now provide advice unsolicited

Please don’t get me wrong here I ask

a lot of questions at fires “What’s

it looking like in there? Are you working your way toward the fire?

Did you find it yet?” In the end, though, you need to make your own decisions When you’re ready to make your own decisions, you can

be influenced by group and division officers, feedback, and comments and conversations You must always remember, however, that you will be responsible for your decisions, so make them your decisions

Choosing Staff

I realize that this text is directed at mostly single-family residential structure fires The huge command staff is not normally needed

or advisable at these incidents I have come to the realization that even at the most mundane fires, two chiefs work better than one There

is an interesting trait happening across the United States Some of the larger, busier departments in the country are sending two

or more chiefs to working fires The more

I think about this, the more I believe it is essential Two chiefs create a think tank It doesn’t matter if one takes command and the other is assigned to side C, or if both operate

at the command post Four eyes, four ears, and two brains are better than two eyes, two ears, and one brain

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Things almost always run more smoothly with two chiefs running the fire, even if one chief is very experienced and a great chief, and the other is a poor strategic or tactical chief with very little experience One can help, prod, and mentor the other As a side note,

we need to stop complaining about people

we consider poor strategic or tactical chiefs and start to work with them to build their abilities and confidence It’s our own fault,

as administrators, if we have chiefs that are poor on the fireground

As relates to this text, I still advocate the use of two chiefs running a single-family house fire whenever possible Things almost always go more smoothly when two chiefs are on-scene working together As the initial IC runs the fire, the second chief, once on-scene, can do a 360° evaluation of the building, talk to witnesses and owners, make specific (non-fire-related) requests to dispatch on different fire frequency, and a host of other tasks, which allows the initial incident commander to do one thing—focus

on the fire!

There are departments where one chief goes in and does origin and cause while the other chief concentrates on overall and demobilization They then switch places and compare notes to see if they identify the same origin and cause If they both come up with the same origin and cause, they can rest assured that they probably have it pinpointed

Routine house fires normally do not require an incident commander and an operations chief (fig 2–3) Under most conditions, in a room and contents fire, one chief can handle command and the operations sections simultaneously I have been to many single-family residential structure fires in my career where an operations chief

is a godsend These fires are normally in large buildings with fire on several floors

in several areas and heavy heat and smoke conditions throughout the structure, with

life-safety issues a concern for civilians and firefighters Most of us can picture this type of fire It is truly a blessing at these fires to pass off to the operations chief the responsibilities of supervising divisions and groups and ensuring that the objectives of the incident are being met, while you as the

IC take care of other aspects of the incident, including addressing the victims’ needs, ensuring that the utilities to the structure are secure, providing canteen service for the crews on-scene, addressing the media, and

so on While the IC tends to all of this, the operations chief can, in essence, run the fire

How much easier can it get?

Fig 2–3 An operations chief is normally not required

for a house fire

Our ability to grab another chief officer or company officer to fill the role of operations chief depends on the size of the fire and the number of crews and firefighters on the

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scene Unless it is proceduralized, it may not be prudent in most circumstances to grab the first-in officer for your operations chief once you arrive at the fire Having an operations chief is a luxury to most incident commanders unless it is proceduralized that two chiefs respond on every fire If your procedures do not dictate the response

of the second chief officer, then consider special-calling for an additional chief when the need arises I suggest, however, that you think very carefully about pulling a company officer from the crew initially at a fire to give you an operations section chief The one you gain may not be worth the loss to the crew

Directing Without Interfering

An incident commander’s job is to direct and lead crews in emergency situations The job is not to micromanage company officers

Once assignments are given by the IC (or

by procedure), then the IC should let the company officer do his or her task That is not to say that if I assign a crew attack and

I envision them pulling 21⁄2-inch line, but I see them grabbing the 13⁄4-inch preconnect, that I shouldn’t stop them and tell them to grab a bigger line Much in the same way, if you tell the ladder crew to vent the building, and positive pressure ventilation (PPV) is all that is required, yet you see them approach a house with a 28-foot ladder and a chainsaw

in their hands, you should tell him to drop the ladder and get the fan

All officers should be trained to about the same level in the department There should

be no doubt in any chief officer’s mind as to the tactical evolutions that will be conducted once an assignment is made If you assign a crew to attack, once they enter that building and disappear in the smoke, you should have a good understanding of exactly which

evolutions will be conducted inside the structure The only way to know what is being done by crews is to drill together and conduct tailboard critiques immediately after the fire is darkened down The IC should ask questions as to what, how, and when specific tasks were done If the answers weren’t in the IC’s game plan, corrective action should be taken immediately (not in the form of discipline) to ensure that there is

no misunderstanding as to what you expect

at your next fire How else are they going to know? And how else are you going to know what they’re doing inside once they disappear into the smoke? A structure fire is no place to make assumptions concerning the actions of your crews That’s how people get killed The only way to know exactly what they’re doing

in there is to train them before the fire and then ask them after the fire, so you can make sure that training matched actions

So, getting back to the heading

of this section, how do you direct without interfering?

· > Train, train often, train all on the

same items, update all on new changes, and then train some more

· > Conduct tailboard critiques Ask them

what they did, how, and when If it doesn’t match what you would have done or what procedure dictates, then correct it now!

Repeat items one and two

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Establishing Command 3

Most of us have struggled with the incident management system (IMS) for some

15 years I would hope by now that for most of us, the IMS is established at the arrival of the first-in officer at every incident we respond to Some departments still operate by utilizing command modes Command modes give the first arriving officer options with regard to initial actions at incidents, depending on conditions The National Fire Incident Management System Consortium is an organization of fire service professionals whose goal was to merge the two most popular incident command systems used by the American fire service into a single common system In July 1990, the Phoenix Fire Department hosted the first of a series of AdHoc Committee meetings with Phoenix and FIRESCOPE representatives, with staff assistance from the National Fire Academy The consortium, established to resolve differences between several forms of IMS in use, also recognizes command modes It refers to command modes as “command options.” Command modes are selected according

to the conditions of the situation I refer to command modes as the playbook of the fire service When the quarterback (command) calls the play (the command mode or option) according to what he or she sees (the situation), then the team (the other units responding) know what to do

Command modes are similar to that When the first arriving officer reports nothing showing, all responding units now know what to do Command modes should be part of the command’s on-scene announcement

Remember, command modes are situational—they depend on what the officer first sees on arrival Also, command modes can be used for most, if not all, types of incidents, not just fires

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