FIRE OFFICER I

Fire Officer I5 – Incident Leadership© 2006

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FIRE OFFICER IFIRE OFFICER I

Incident LeadershipIncident Leadership


Section 1Section 1

IntroductionIntroduction


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The duties of a fire officer in emergency incidents are quite different from those of a firefighter.

You’ll be directing other firefighters and units on the scene, as well as implementing assignments from superior officers.


Learning Objectives

1. Assuming new responsibilities. 2. Maintaining a level head.3. Making SOP-based decisions.4. Managing risk.5. Communicating at incidents.


Section 2Section 2

Assuming NewAssuming NewResponsibilitiesResponsibilities


As company officer, it will be your job to assign tasks or responsibilities to units involved in response to emergency incidents.


Knowing your responsibilities at emergencies is important so that team members and other arriving units clearly understand their assignments and to whom they should report.

Your new responsibilities include…


1: Providing an Arrival Report

• Conduct a scene size-up and provide an arrival report to dispatch.

–Your arrival report should briefly answer:• What type of situation do you have?• What actions are being taken?• Who is in charge of the incident?• What resources are needed?


1: Providing an Arrival Report (cont.)

• Follow departmental procedures for assuming command if you are the first-arriving officer on the scene.


2: Establishing Scene Safety

• Always avoid committing firefighters to a dangerous situation.

– Slow down.– Look around.– Identify hazards.– Take measures to protect your team and the

public.


3: Formulating an IAP

• Calmly assess the situation and formulate a Incident Action Plan, a tactical plan of action based on incident priorities.

– Incident priorities:1. Life safety.2. Stabilization of the incident.3. Property conservation.


3: Formulating an IAP (cont.)

• Your size-up, along with knowledge of pre-incident surveys and SOPs, will help you to determine the best IAP.

• Your IAP should address all phases of the incident in an organized manner and within set time frames.


4: Implementing Your IAP

1. Assign the resources available to you.

2. Ask for additional resources, if needed.

3. Work with outside agencies.

4. Use accountability system to track all resources under your command.


4: Implementing Your IAP (cont.)

5. Size-up and incident action planning will be an ongoing process throughout the incident as new information is passed to you.

6. As scene conditions and resources change, reassess, revise and communicate your new IAP as assignments.


At any incident, all personnel — regardless of agency affiliation — must check in to receive an assignment in accordance with procedures established by the incident commander.


5: Be Prepared to Turn Over Command

1. Give an arrival report to the next-arriving senior officer. The arrival report should include:

• Current size-up of conditions.• Your IAP.• Units assigned to each task.• Resources available.• Additional resources requested.


5: Be Prepared to Turn Over Command (cont.)

2. Pass command to the senior officer or continue in command, if requested to do so.


6: Train with ICS

1. As company officer in any emergency you must know how to direct a Task, Group, Division or Sector under the Incident Command System (ICS), described in NFPA 1561.

See www.NFPA.org for more info

http://www.nfpa.org/


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6. Train with ICS (cont.)

2. The National Incident Management System integrates ICS into a comprehensive national framework for management of emergencies of all sizes and scope, including natural disasters and terrorist incidents.

See www.NIMSonline.com for more info

http://www.nimsonline.com/


6. Train with ICS (cont.)

3. Train specifically with NIMS/ICS to ensure you and your team can integrate effectively in an expanded incident that requires mutual aid from local, regional, state and/or federal resources.


Use ICS in daily response to ensure you and your team will be better prepared to respond to any emergency, no matter what the scale.


Section 3Section 3

Maintaining a Maintaining a Level HeadLevel Head


Fire officers must often take control in chaos.


Your ability to remain calm in many difficult circumstances is vital to instilling team confidence in your decisions and to a safe and orderly response.


In this section, we’ll outline five keys to “keeping your head” in managing incidents.


Keys to Keeping Your Head

1. Know your standard operating procedures. 2. Rely on your training. 3. Mind your tone of voice. 4. Know that you can’t win them all.5. Don’t be afraid to withdraw and change the

IAP.


Section 4Section 4

Making SOP-BasedMaking SOP-BasedDecisionsDecisions


A fire officer should be able to size up any incident, no matter how chaotic, and determine which standard operating procedure to use as the basis for making decisions.


Reasons to Rely on SOPs

1. SOPs are designed to achieve predictable, standard outcomes to any emergency.

2. They provide a systematic approach to ensure all important factors are considered.

3. They provide the safest and most effective use of resources.


Reasons to Rely on SOPs (cont.)

4. “Free-lancing” creates confusion, compromising everyone’s safety.

5. SOP-based decisions make post-incident reports easier, particularly if things go badly.


How to Apply SOPs to Decisions

1. Know your SOPs from cover to cover. If you are unclear about how to execute any SOP, ask a senior officer.

2. Identify the correct SOP. As you gather information about the incident on scene, what SOP best fits the nature of the emergency?

3. Gather more information about scene conditions. If the standard outcome isn’t being achieved, you may need to change to a different SOP.


How to Apply SOPs to Decisions (cont.)

4. If you experience anything in incident response or training that leads you to believe the SOPs need a change, report it immediately to your senior officer. Your field observations are important.


Section 5 Section 5

Managing RiskManaging Risk


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Fire fighting is one of the world’s most dangerous jobs.

In the past, risk was accepted as just part of the job. Today, however, the fire service recognizes that some risks are not worth taking.


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Managing risk enables response to all kinds of incidents with fewer injuries and fatalities and less property damage.

In this section, we’ll outline five steps to risk management.


1: Create a Risk/Benefit Analysis

Create a risk/benefit analysis, based on SOPs, before committing firefighters to any operation.


1: Create a Risk/Benefit Analysis (cont.)

1. It means weigh the risk of any course of action against the expected benefit, or outcome, of that course of action.

2. SOPs will help you to correctly assess many situations and identify which risks are acceptable and which are not.

3. The goal: to make a decision that balances risk and benefit.


In Other Words …

• Risk a little to save a little.

• Risk a lot to save a lot.


2: Prioritize Risks By Considering (in order)

1. Life safety of first responders.

2. Life safety of savable victims.

3. Incident stabilization.

4. Property conservation.


3: Determine the Best Strategy for IAP

• Rapid Rescue.

• Offensive attack.

• Defensive attack.


Considerations:

• Defensive strategies are best when the probability of survival and rescue is low, you have insufficient resources to extinguish the fire, and stability of the building is questionable.

• Firefighters should never be exposed to the highest levels of risk to save property only.

• Reduce the risk to firefighters to the absolute minimum when you have little reasonable hope of saving lives or valuable property.


4: Communicate Your Plan

• Communicate your plan to units operating on scene.

• Seek input from Group, Division or Sector officers about incident conditions. Convey the plan for managing risk to them as an assignment.


5: Monitor Your Results

• Monitor results and adjust strategy, as necessary.

• As you receive new information on scene conditions, update your risk/benefit analysis.


Keep in Mind:

• Effective risk management sometimes requires making painful decisions.

• You may have to pull back personnel for their safety.

• Realize that your decision is not the cause of the emergency.


• Fire fighting is inherently dangerous.

• All emergencies have some level of unavoidable risk.

• By managing risks, you strive to find the best strategy for each emergency with minimal losses under your watch.


Section 6Section 6

CommunicatingCommunicating at Incidents at Incidents


Clear communications from fire officers are the backbone of safe and ordered response at emergency incidents.


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Your on-scene communications will carry vital information to your team, other units operating at the scene, dispatch and other officers about scene conditions, assignments, command, and hazards.

Let’s look at some steps for communication clearly at emergencies…


Basics for On-Scene Communications

1. Station communications can be relaxed, but emergency communications require discipline and strict adherence to procedures.

2. Before transmitting, know what you’re going to say. (SOPs provide guidance.)

3. In general, keep it short and specific. 4. Prioritize your messages.


Basics for On-Scene Communications (cont.)

5. Be direct. Keep messages task- and company-oriented.

6. Use a normal tone of voice. 7. Speak slowly and enunciate clearly. 8. Keep the microphone about two inches

from your mouth.9. Use plain language instead of codes.


Basics for On-Scene Communications (cont.)

10.Avoid noisy environments, if you can.

11.Use the Order Model.


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The Order Model

• A standard method for radio communications for transmitting orders from officers to units or companies involved in emergency response.

• Designed to ensure the officer’s orders are clear, heard by the correct receiver and being implemented.

• The model has five steps.


The Five-Step Order Model

1. Identify yourself and the intended receiver by unit identification.

2. Receive confirmation from your intended receiver.3. Re-identify the receiver by unit ID and state the

message or assignment. 4. Wait for receiver to confirm his or her unit ID again

and to restate the message or order. 5. Confirm or correct the receiver’s restatement of

your message or order.


The EndThe End

FIRE OFFICER I

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