![]() Finally, all this information should be congruent with the declared operational mode. ![]() However, we recommend that the fire officer who completed the size-up (box two) and drafted the initial action plan (box three) retains command responsibility until the higher-ranking officer knows what is going on, including: what and where the problems are, what the plan is to solve those problems, who’s there, what they are doing and where they are working. Here’s an important clarification: Should a chief officer arrive at some point during the box one through box three progression, the chief may choose to establish the command post. If initially you will share command responsibility with company officer/team leader responsibility, you will retain your company designator: Engine 1, Truck 1, Rescue 1, Squad 1…you get the idea. In short, if you are going to call yourself “command,” you will command from a command post, not from a hoseline. No more wandering around the incident scene or assisting with task-level firefighter activities. When box four is opened, the fire officer will establish a command post, anchor both feet at that command post and address the three responsibilities of command: managing strategy, resources and risks. This means the first-due officer was too busy to be anchored to a command post the officer was free to do a size-up and perhaps assist with non-hazard area firefighter tasks such as preparing the fireground for an offensive transition. What does “initiating” mean? In the spirit that words should mean something, with boxes one, two and three the first-due fire officer had one foot in command responsibility and the other foot in team leader (company officer) responsibility. (You are committed, right?) This article formalizes what has been up to now the initiation of command responsibility. Most discussions on size-up center on a 13-point list of factors summarized by acronyms that are useful for the purpose they serve, but have limited application in actually conducting a size-up on the fire-ground.Welcome back and thank you for your commitment to the development of a proud history and tradition of aggressive strategy. (Photo provided)įırefıghters apply critical sıze-up techniques when they arrive at the site of a fire. Chief Rick Ennis of the Cape Girardeau, Mo., department has added a new dimension to this protocol by developing what he calls the “4×4 Size-Up Method” with others in the field.Īccording to Ennis, size-up has been described as the mental evaluation made by the command officer that enables him to determine a course of action. An evaluation of a complicated incident is necessary before intelligent assignments of resources may be made, and that mental process involved includes all factors of the incident, weighed against available resources. In other words, what is the problem and what needs to be done to address it? Several aspects of that process are crucial, including:ġ. Conducting an accurate initial size-up upon arrival at a fire. This step is critical to safe and successful fireground outcomes.Ģ. Size-up must not only be based on the current conditions as they appear at the moment, but must also take into account what the potential situation is predicted to be five, 10, or even more minutes out.ģ.
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