Fire Department Structure and Procedure

Unit 4

By: Emory Arnold

Organization of the Fire Service

Governments all over, whether state, municipal, or national have a responsibility to protect the general welfare of the public against any threat.

Fire is one such peril

Organization of the Fire Service

Citizens accept certain restrictions on their behavior and pay taxes to protect themselves and others.

Organization of the Fire Service

The fire service gets its authority from the governing entity responsible for protecting the public.

Organization of the Fire Service

The people charged with protecting the public may be given special privileges to enable them to perform there duties.

Do Not Park

Maybe I should not have parked here.

Organization of the Fire Service

Firefighter Legally breaking and entering

Organization of the Fire Service

The head of the fire department known as the Fire Chief is accountable to the leader of the governing body such as the Mayor, Commissioner, City or County Manager, or City Council.

Organization of the Fire Service

The fire department uses a paramilitary style of leadership.

Firefighters operate under a rank system, which establishes a chain of command.

Organization of the Fire Service

Most fire departments use four basic management principles

Unity of Command Span of Control Division of Labor Discipline

Unity of Command

A theory that each firefighter answers to only one supervisor. Each supervisory answers to only one boss.

This ensures that everyone is answerable to the Fire Chief and establishes a direct route of responsibility from the Chief to the Firefighter.

Span Of Control

The number of people that one person can supervise effectively.

Some experts believe that span of control should extend to no more than five people in a complex environment.

Division of Labor

A way of organizing an incident by breaking down the overall strategy into smaller task.

Some departments are divided into units based upon functions.

Discipline

A set of guidelines that a department establishes for firefighters.

SOP’s Standard Operating ProceduresPolicies and procedure

SOG’s Suggested Operating GuidelinesSuggested procedures

Organization of the Fire Service

The organizational structure of a fire department consist of a chain of command.

The chain of command creates a structure for managing the department and commanding fire ground operations.

Ranking System

Firefighters usually report to a Lieutenant.

The Lieutenant is responsible for a single company (such as an engine company) on a single shift.

Captain

Captains are not only responsible for a fire company but they are responsible for coordinating the company’s activities with other shifts.

Lieutenants report to the shift Captain.

Battalion Chief

Captains report to Battalion Chiefs.

Battalion Chiefs are responsible to the whole shift. They coordinate and command fire ground operations. They also ensure that all companies are properly staffed for each shift.

Assistant Chief

Battalion Chief’s report directly to the assistant chief.

The assistant chief is in charge of functioning areas within the fire department (such as training, logistics, operations, etc)

The Assistant chief reports to the Fire Chief.

Company Types

Engine company

Truck company

Engine Company

An engine company is responsible for securing a water source, deploying handlines, conducting search and rescue operations, putting water on the fire.

Engine company

The fire engines have a pump, carry hoses, and a booster tank of water (500-1000 gal.) Engines also carry a limited quantity of ladders and hand tools.

We will identify the equipment in a later unit.

Truck Company

A Truck company specializes in forcible entry, ventilation, roof operations, search and rescue operations above the fire, and deployment of ground ladders, ranging from 8’ to 50’ in length.

The Trucks are also equipped with aerial devices, such as an aerial ladder, tower ladder, or platform ladder.

Truck Company

Rescue Company

Rescue Company is responsible for rescuing victims from fires, confined spaces, trenches, and high angle situations.

Wildland Company

Wildland fire companies use four wheel vehicles and carry special equipment such as portable pumps, rakes, shovels, etc. to combat wildland fires.

Hazardous Material Company

These companies responds to and controls scenes involving spilled and leaking hazardous materials.

Emergency Medical Services

EMS companies include ambulances and first responders. They respond to assist and transport medical and trauma patients to medical facilities.

Positions within the Fire Department

Firefighter’s may be assigned any number of task from deploying hose lines to extinguishing fires.

Firefighters are not responsible for any command functions and does not supervise other personnel.

Roles

Driver/Operator- (engineer) the driver is responsible for getting the fire apparatus and personnel to the fire scene safely.

Operator also sets up the apparatus to pump water to the fire scene. The operate also operates the pump or the aerial ladder.

Roles

Company Officer- (Lieutenant) Is in charge of the crew and apparatus, while at the station and fire scene.

Company Officer is responsible for the initial firefighting strategy, personnel safety and tactics used on the fire scene by all personnel.

Roles

Safety Officer- watches the overall operation for unsafe practices. He or she has the authority to stop any firefighting activity until it can be done in a safe manner.

Roles

Training Officer- responsible for updating the training of current firefighters and for training new firefighters.

Roles

Incident Commander- The incident commander is responsible for the management of all incident operations.

Roles

Fire Marshal/Fire Inspector/Fire Investigator

Inspect businesses and enforce public safety laws and codes. They may respond to the fire scenes to determine the cause of the fire.

Investigators generally have full police powers.

Organizational Charts For Fire DepartmentsLarge and Small

Resource’s

Essentials of Fire Fighting 4th edition, edited by Richard Hall and Barbara Adams. (ISBN 087939149-9)

Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills, Jones and Bartlett Publishing. (ISBN 0-7637-3454-3)

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