Chapter 1 - The Fire Service Flashcards
From the communications center, the dispatcher takes the call from the public, sends appropriate units to the scene, assists callers with treatment instructions until the EMS unit arrives, and assists the incident commander with needed resources.
911 Dispatcher/Telecommunicator
A member of EMS who can perform limited procedures that usually fall between those provided by an EMT and those provided by a Paramedic, including IV therapy, interpretation of cardiac rhythms, defibrillation, and airway intubation.
Advanced Emergency Medical Technician
An individual who takes firefighting actions to prevent, control, or extinguish fire involved or adjacent to an aircraft for the purpose of maintaining maximum escape routes for occupants using normal and emergency routes for egress (NFPA 414)
Aircraft/Crash Rescue Fire Fighter
A midlevel Chief who often has a functional area of responsibility, such as training and who answers directly to the fire chief
Assistant or division chief
An organization, office or individual responsible for enforcing the requirements of a code or standard or approving equipment, materials, an installation, or a procedure (NFPA 1072)
Authority having jurisdiction
Covering a fire to ensure low burning
Banked
The second rank of promotion in the fire service, between lieutenant and the district/battalion chief. They are responsible for managing a fire company and for coordinating the activities of that company among the other shifts.
Captain
A rank structure, spanning the fire fighter through the fire chief, for managing a fire department and fire-ground operations
Chain of Command
The top position in the fire department. This person has ultimate responsibility for the fire department and usually answers directly to the mayor or other designated public official.
Chief of the Department
An obsolete amplification device that enabled a chief officer to give orders to fire fighters during an emergency. Also called a bugle, it was a precursor to a bullhorn and portable radios.
Chief’s Trumpet
Programs, actions, services used by a community, which prevent or mitigate the loss of life, property and resources associated with life safety, fire and other disasters within a community (NFPA 1035)
Community Risk Reduction
The individual responsible for command of a company, a designation not specific to any particular fire department rank (can be a fire fighter, LT, CPT, chief officer, if responsible for command of a single company). (NFPA 1026)
Company Officer
A code document jointly developed by people representing various organizations and interests. NFPA codes and standards are consensus documents
Consensus documents
The guidelines that a department sets for fire fighters to work within
Discipline (But SOP’s seems correct?)
Usually the first level of fire chief. These are often in charge of running calls and supervising multiple stations or districts within a city. He or she is usually the officer in charge of a single alarm working fire
District/Battalion Chief
Breaking down an incident or task into a series of smaller, more manageable tasks and assigning personnel to complete those tasks
Division of labour
To take off an item of clothing or equipment
Doff
To put on an item of clothing
Don
The first trained professional, such as a police officer, firefighter, lifeguard, or other rescuer, to arrive at the scene of an emergency to provide initial medical assistance. They have basic training and often perform in an assistant role within the ambulance
Emergency medical responder.
A company that may be made up of medical units and first-response vehicles. Members of this company respond to and assist in the transport of medical and trauma victims to medical facilities. They often have medications, defibrillators and paramedics who can stabilize a critical patient
Emergency medical services company
Personnel who are responsible for administering prehospital care to people who are sick and injured. Prehospital calls make up the majority of responses in most fire departments, and in some organizations, they are cross-trained as fire-fighters
Emergency Medical Services Personnel
EMS personnel who account for most of the EMS providers in the US. This level has training in basic emergency care skills, including oxygen therapy, bleeding control, CPR, AED, use of basic airway devices and assisting patients with certain medications.
EMT’s
The individual who performs maintenance, diagnosis and repair on emergency vehicles
Emergency Vehicle Technician
A group of firefighters who work as a unit and are equipped with one or more pumping engines that have rated capacities of 2839L/min (750gpm) or more. (NFPA 1410)
Engine or Pump Company
The individual who was demonstrated the ability to coordinate, create, administer, prepare, deliver and evaluate educational programs and information
Fire and Life-Safety Educator
A fire dept member who is authorized by the authority having jurisdiction to drive, operate or both drive and operate fire dept vehicles
Fire Apparatus Driver
A person, at the first level of progression as defined in Ch. 4 of NFPA 1001, who was demonstrated the knowledge and skills to function as an integral member of a firefighting team under direct supervision in hazardous conditions (NFPA 1001)
Fire Fighter I
A person, at the second level of progression as defined in Ch. 5 of NFPA 1001, who was demonstrated the skills and depth of knowledge to function under general supervision (NFPA 1001)
Fire Fighter II
Tools used to pull down burning elements in structures; also called pike poles
Fire Hooks
An individual who conducts fire code inspections and applies codes and standards (NFPA 1037)
Fire Inspector
An individual who has demonstrated the skills and knowledge necessary to conduct, coordinate and complete an investigation (NFPA 1037)
Fire Investigator
Historically, an identifying symbol on a building informing firefighters that the building was insured by a company that would pay them for extinguishing the fire.
Fire Mark
A person designated to provide delivery, management, and/or administration of fire protection and life-safety-related codes and standards, investigations, education, and/or prevention services for local, county/provincial, federal, tribal or private sector jurisdictions as adopted or determined by that entity. (NFPA 1037)
Fire Marshal
An individual officially deployed who provides sene security, directs traffic and conducts other duties as determined by the authority having jursidiction (NFPA 1091)
Fire Police Officer
A member of the FD who is responsible for reviewing plans and working with building owners to ensure that the design of and systems for fire detection and suppresion will meet applicable codes and function as needed. They also may be employed by an architectural firm to assure that buildings are constructed in a fire-safe manner
Fire protection engineer
Individuals who were charged with enforcing fire regulations in the colonial period
Fire Wardens
Historically speaking, a plug installed to control water accessed from wooden pipes. Today this is a slang term to describe a fire hydrant
Fireplug
The process by which an organization exercises authority and performs the functions assigned to it
Governance
A fire company that responds to and controls scenes where hazardous materials have spilled or leaked. Responders wear special suits and are trained to deal with most chemicals
HazMat Company
A person who responds to hazmat/weapons of mass destruction incidents using a risk-based response process by which he or she analyzes the problem at hand, selects applicable decontamination procedures and controls a release while using specialized protective clothing and control equipment. (NFPA 472)
HazMat technician
A component of an incident management system (IMS) designed to enable effective and efficient on-scene incident management by intergrating organizational funcitions, tactical operations, incident planning, incident logistics and administrative tasks within a common administration structure (NFPA 1072/1670)
Incident Command System
The individual responsible for incident activities, including the development of strategies and tactics and the ordering and release of resources (NFPA 1026)
Incident Commander
A member of the command staff responsible for monitoring and assessing safety hazards and unsafe situations and for developing measures for ensuring personell safety (NFPA 1500)
Incident Safety Officer
Fire Fighters or Civilians who take care of the computer and networking systems that a fire department needs to operate
Information management
Fire Apparatus with a fire pump of at least 946 L/min (250gpm) capactiy, water tank and hose body, whose primary purpose is to initiate a fire suppresion attack on structural, vehicular or vegation fires and to support associated fire dept ops. May also be referred to as quick attack apparatus.
Initial Attack Apparatus
The principle of using a small amount of radioactive materiel to ionize the air between two differentially charged electrodes to sense the presence of smoke particles/ Smoke particles entering the ionization volume decrease the conducance of the air by reducing ion mobility. The reduced conductance signal is processed and used to ocnvey an alarm condition when it meets preset criteria (NFPA 72)
Ionization Smoke Detector
A company officer who is usually responsible for a single fire company on a single shift; in line amonge with the officers.
Lieutenant
A vehicle designed primarily for transporting transport (pickup, transporting, delivering) water to fire emergency services to be applied by other vehicles fine by us! Occuring for prolonged ‘tude (NFPA 1091)
Mobile Water Apparatus
The association of that develops and maintains nationally recognized minimum consensus standards on many areas of fire safety and specific standards on hazmat.
NFPA
EMS personnel with the highest level of training in EMS, including cardiac monitoring, administering drugs, inserting advanced airways, manual defib and other advanced assessment and treatment skills
Paramedic
A detector that uses a light beam and a photocell to detect larger visible particles of a smoke. When visible particles of smoke enter the inner chamber they reflect some of the light onto the photocell, thereby activating the alarm.
Photoelectric Smoke Alarm
Manages the on-duty shift. In most career departments there are four platoons working a 24-hr shift. He or she answers to either the assistant deputy chief or the deputy chief of operations.
Platoon Chief
Formal statements that provide guidelines for present and future actions. Policies often require personnel to make judgements.
Policies
A member of the command staff responsible for interfacing with the public and media or with other agencies with incident related information requirements (NFPA 1026 and 1035)
Public information officer
Fire apparatus with a permanently mounted fire pump, a water tank, a hose storage area, an aerial ladder or elevating platform with a permanently mounted waterway, and a complement of ground ladders
Quint Apparatus
Mandates issued and enforced by governmental bodies such as the federal, provincial and territorial occupational health and safety acts (OHSA’s) and Canadian Environmental Protection Agency (CEPA), and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
Regulations
A group of firefighters who work as a unit and are equipped with one or more rescue vehicles (NFPA 1410)
Rescue Company
A responder who is trained to handle water rescues and emergencies, including recovery and search procedures, in both water and under-ice situations.
SCUBA dive rescue technician
An atmosphere-supplying respirator that supplies a respirable air atmosphere to the user from a breathing air source that is independent of the ambient environment and designed to be carried by the user (NFPA 350 and 1981)
Self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA)
A detector comprising an assembly that incorporates a sensor, control components and an alarm notification appliance in one unit operated from a power source either located in the unit or obtained at the point of installation (NFPA 72)
Single Station Smoke Alarm
The maximum number of personnel or activities that can be effectively controlled by one individual (Usually 3-7) (NFPA 1006)
Span of control
A written organizational directive that establishes or prescribes specific operational or administrative methods to be followed routinely for the performance of designated operations or actions. (NFPA 1521)
Standard Operating Procedures
Documents, the main text of which contain only requirements and which are in a form generally suitable for mandatory reference by another standard or code or for the adoption into law. Non-mandatory provisions shall be located in an appendix or annex, footnote or fine-print note and are not considered a part of the requirements of a standard (NFPA 1)
Standards
A person who is trained to perform or direct a technical rescue.
Technical Rescuer.
The person designated by the fire chief with authority for overall management and control of the organizations training program (NFPA 1401)
Training Officer
A group of firefighters who work as a unit and are equipped with one or more pieces of aerial fire apparatus
Truck or ladder Company
The concept by which each person within an organization reports to one, and only one, designated person (NFPA 1026).
Unity of command
A fire company that is dispatched to vegetation fires where larger pumpers cannot gain access. It has 4x4 vehicles and special firefighting equipment.
Wildland company
