Chapter 1 Flashcards
What does NFPA 1021 deal with?
NFPA 1021 defines four levels of fire officer
fire officer 1- single company officer
fire officer 2- multi-company officer in charge of division
fire officer 3- chief level officer
fire officer 4- fire chief
What is the term for a department who pays it members for for individual calls that are made?
Paid on Call
How do paid on call and combination departments operate?
The paid staff make most of the routine calls and volunteer or Paid on call members are dispatched as a backup force when an incident exceeds the capabilities of the full time personnel.
Although four forms of staffing (volunteer, combination, paid on call , and career) fire fighting department exist the most discussions divide firefighters in two categories …
career and volunteer
What percentage of firefighters are career, volunteers
69% volunteers
31% career
Who created the first fire department and what was it called?
Augustus Caesar in 24 BC
Familia Publica composed of 600 slaves.
Who were the first firefighters who adopted formal rank structure?
The Corps of Vigiles established by Emperor Nero, they were composed of 7000 free men and adopted formal rank structure of the Roman military
Where were the first fire regulations imposed in North America?
In Boston with the banning of wooden chimneys and Thatched roofs
Back in colonial times what were hooks used for?
When firefighting efforts failed and the house needed to be pulled down to prevent spread to nearby structures. Where the hook and ladder truck evolved from. Ladders were used to get to roofs for extinguishment.
what did George Washington do for the fire service?
He was a volunteer firefighter and imported a fire engine from England and donated it to the Alexandria Fire Department in 1765
Name two fires that had a significant affected the development of fire codes and fire departments?
The Great Chicago Fire- 17000 homes destroyed, 300 dead
Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire - 1000ft high/5mile wide tornado of fire killed 2200 in the deadliest fire US history.
Both lead to stricter building codes and the development of water pumping systems
Who developed the first pumper in London?
Richard Newsham
Who developed the first municipal water system?
the first fire hydrant?
The romans
George Smith a NYC firefighter who realized a value would allow FFers to access the water system.
In colonial time how were fire communications preformed?
How did Public Call Boxes work?
fire wardens would patrol or sit in towers and ring church bells to alert the town
Public Call boxes started in DC in the 1850s and a box was associated with a code of bells so FFers would know what box to respond to and citizens would guide them from there.
Where were the first building codes?
ancient Egypt
What made building code important for firefighting ?
They were effective means to prevent, limit, and contain fires. Building codes not only governed construction materials but also frequently required built in fire protection and safety measures.
Who were early building codes written by?
Insurance industry
Consensus Document
code written by volunteer committees of citizens and representatives of business, insurance companies, and government agencies explore and develop proposals that are debated and reviewed by various groups. The final result of which is a consensus document.
What is a fire mark
mark of a home with insurance, insurance moneys would be out less money if the house didn’t burn down so they would pay fire companies to extinguish the fire , if you had no mark your house was not protected.
What is the most important resource of the fire scene?
knowledgeable well trained physically capable firefighters.
Where does the fire service draw its authority from?
The governing entity responsible for protecting the public from fire.
Federal and state governments also grant authority to the fire departments
Fire protection district
a special political subdivision that can be established by a state or a county with the single purpose of providing fire protection within a defined geographic area
In large organizations the name for administrative fire officers that are responsible for several for companies within a geographic area, usually the officer in charge at a single alarm working fire.
Battalion Chiefs or District Chiefs
Officers who are in charge of major functional areas such as training, emergency operations, support services, and fire prevention. These officers report directly to the Fire Chief
Division Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs
What are the four management principles most fire departments are structured on?
Unity of Command
Span of Control
Division of Labor
Discipline
Unity of Command
The management concept that each firefighter answers to only one supervisor, and each supervisor answers to only one boss. In this way there is accountable form every firefighter directly to the Fire Chief
Span of control
refers to the maximum number of personnel or activities that can be effectively controlled by one individual (usually 3-7). Most experts believe that Span of Control should extend to no more than Five people (depending on the assignment or task)
Division of Labor
Way of organizing an incident by breaking down the overall strategy into smaller task.
Discipline
set of guidelines that a department establishes for fire fighters. Discipline encompasses behavioral requirements such as always following orders and preforming up to expectations.
Standard Operating procedures, suggested operating guidelines, policies and procedures are all ….
forms of discipline because they outline how things are done, and usually how far a person can go without requesting further guidance.
What are the two types of discipline?
Positive as when it defines appropriate actions
Corrective when it responds to inappropriate actions or behaviors
Who identified the four functions of management?
Henri Fayol published in Bulletin de la Societe de l’Industrie Minerale in 1916
What are the four functions of management?
Planning
Organizing
Leading
Controlling
Planning (functions of management)
means developing a scheme, program, or method that has worked out beforehand to accomplish an objective.
Planning includes establishing goals and objectives then devoting a way to meet those goals and objectives
What are the different ranges of planning that a fire
officer is responsible for
Short range planning - cover s developing a plan that extends up to a year
Medium range planning- covers planning that is 1-3 years in advance
Long range planning covers events longer than 3 years in advance.
Organizing (functions of management)
means putting resources together into an orderly functional structured whole.
ie Fire officer takes the available people, equipment, structure, and time and develops them into orderly, functional, and structural unit to implement the plan and deliver the expected service.
Leading (functions of management)
means guiding or directing in a course of action. The act of leadership is a complex process of influencing others to accomplish a task.
Leading is the human side of managing. It involves motivating, training, guiding and directing employees .
Controlling (functions of management)
means restraining, regulating, governing, counteracting, or overpowering.
Fire officers implement the controlling function when they consider the impact on the budget before making purchase. Also performance appraisals and ensuring compliance with policy.
Rules and regulations
developed by various governments or government-authorized organization to implement a law that has been passed.
Rules and regulation do not leave room for latitude or discretion.
Policies
developed to provide definite guidelines for present and future actions .
What is expected in a stated condition. Policies require personnel to make judgements and determine the best course of action within the stated policy.
Standard operating policy
written organizational directives that establish or prescribe specific operational or administrative methods to be followed routinely for the performance of designated operations or actions.
What is the key to improving ethical choices?
to have clear organizational values
how can an organization gain clear organizational values? (4)
- have a code of ethics, that is well known throughout the organization
- selecting employees who share the values of the organization
- ensuring that top management exhibits ethical behavior
- having clear job goals.
- having performance appraisals that reward ethical behavior
- implementing an ethics training program
What is a way to judge a decision (ethics)? pg16
Ask yourself :
- what would my parents and friends say if they knew
- would I mind if the paper ran it as a headline story?
- How does it make me feel about myself?
The duties of Fire Officer two can be subdivided into three categories…
- administrative
- nonemergency
- emergency actives
Incident Command System
ICS Defines the roles and responsibilities to be assumed by personnel, and the operating procedures to be used in the management and direction of emergency operations.
How does the IAFC identify the Fire Officers II?
As a Managing Fire Officer
What is one of the challenges of the managing fire officer?
they are engaged in working with other organizations and groups.
Where does the paramilitary structure of the fire department come from?
its origin was established in the 1860s when cities were replacing independent volunteers with municipal fire departments based on the Civil War military deployment model.
Rigid command and control process remain essential when operating at emergency scenes .
While a rigid command control process is used on scene, how are are departments away from the accident scene?
departments are using concepts of employee empowerment, decentralized decision making and delegation to fully engage firefighters in the required task to prepare and maintain readiness.
The NFAP notes that firefighting makes up only __ % of the total response workload based on NFIRS reporting. What are the three main responses for fire departments?
5%
- EMS calls make up 66% of fire department call and can be as much as 80% in some departments.
- Activated fire protection systems are the second most common reason for fire service response. Fires occur in about 1 out of 1000.
- Odor/hazardous condition is the third most common call type.
While the number of structure fires is in decline the rate at which firefighter are killed or seriously hurt is rising. What is the primary cause of death within burning structures?
Flashover and structural collapse are the primary causes of death within a burning structure
Cultural Diversity
Integration of women and minorities focused on Assimilation- making those who were different fit into the mold of the traditional fire service.
