Chapter 1 The Fire Service Flashcards
From the communications center, the dispatcher takes the calls 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 (AEMT)
An individual who takes firefighting actions to prevent, control, or extinguish fire involved or adjacent t an aircraft for the purpose for maintaining maximum escape routes for occupants using normal and emergency routes for egress (NFPA 414)
Aircraft/crash rescue fire fighter (ARFF)
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 for approving equipment, materials, and installation, or a procedure. (NFPA 1)
Authority having jurisdiction (AHJ)
Covering a fire to ensure low burning.
Banked
Usually the first level of fire chief. These chiefs are often in charge of running calls and supervising multiple stations or districts within a city. A battalion chief is usually the officer in charge of a single-alarm working fire.
Battalion Chief
The second rank of promotion in the fire service, between the lieutenant and the battalion chief. captains are responsible for managing a fire company and for coordinating the activities of that company among 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. The fire chief 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, and services used by a community, which prevent or mitigate the loss of life, property, and resources associated with life safety, fire, and other disasters with\in a community (NFPA 1035)
Community Risk Reduction (CRR)
The individual responsible for command of a company, a designation no specific to any particular fire department rank ( can be a fire fighter, lieutenant, station, or a chief officer, if responsible for command of a single company). (NFPA 1026)
Company officer
The guidelines that a departments sets for fire fighters to work within.
Discipline
Breaking down and incident or task into a series of smaller, more manageable tasks and assigning personnel to complete those tasks.
Division of labor
To take off an item of clothing or equipment.
Doff
To put on an item of clothing or equipment.
Don
The first trained professional, such as a police officer, fire fighter, lifeguard, or other rescuer, to arrive at the scene of an emergency to provide initial medical assistance. EMRs have basic training and often perform in an assistance. EMRs have basic training and often perform in an assistant role within the ambulance.
Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)
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 (EMS) 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, EMS personnel are crossed-trained as fire fighters.
Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel
EMS personnel who account for most of the EMS providers in the United States. An EMT has training in basic emergency care skills, including oxygen therapy, bleeding control, CPR, automated external defibrillation, use of basic airway devices, and assisting patients with certain medications.
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
The individual who preforms maintenance, diagnosis and repair on emergency vehicles.
Emergency vehicle technician (EVT)
A group of fire fighters who work as a unit and are equipped with one or more pumping engines that have rated capacities of 2839 L/min (750 gpm) or more. (NFPA 1410)
Engine company
The individual who had demonstrated the ability to coordinate, create, administer, prepare, deliver, and evaluate educational programs and information.
Fire and life safety educator (FLSE)
A fire department member who is authorized by the authority having jurisdiction to drive, operate, or both drive and operate fire department vehicles. (NFPA 1451)
Fire apparatus driver/operator
A person, at the first level of progression as defined in Chapter 4 of NFPA 1001, who has 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 Chapter 5 of NFPA 1001, who has demonstrated the skills and depth of knowledge to function under general supervision. (NFPA 1001)
Fire Fighter II
Tools used to pull down burning structures.
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 fire fighters 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, state, provincial, federal, tribal, or private sector jurisdictions as adopted or determined by that entity. (NFPA 1037)
Fire marshal
Historically speaking, a plug installed to control water accessed from wooden pipes. Today, this is a slang term used to describe a fire hydrant.
Fireplug
An individual officially deployed who provides scene security, direst traffic, and conducts other duties as determined by the authority having jurisdiction. (NFPA 1091)
Fire police officer
A member of the fire department who is responsible for reviewing plans and working with building owners to ensure that the design of and systems for fire detection and suppression will meet applicable codes and function as need. They also may be employed by an architectural firm to assure that building are constructed in a fire-safe manner.
Fire protection engineer
Individuals who were charged with enforcing fire regulations in colonial America.
Fire wardens
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.
Hazardous materials company
A person who responds to hazardous materials/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)
Hazardous materials technician
The individual responsible for all incident activities, including the development of strategies and tactics and the ordering and release of resources. (NFPA 1500)
Incident commander (IC)
The combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure that has responsibility for the management of assigned resources to effectively accomplish stated objectives pertaining to an incident or training exercise. (NFPA 1670)
Incident command system (ICS)
A member of the command staff responsible for monitoring and assessing safety hazards and unsafe situations and for developing measures for ensuring personnel 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 250 gpm (946 L/min) capacity, water tank, and hose body, whose primary purpose is to initiate a fire suppression attach on structural, vehicular, or vegetation fires and to support associated fire department operations. May also be referred to as quick attack apparatus.
Initial attach apparatus
The principle of using a small amount of radioactive material to ionize the air between two differentially charged electrodes to sense the presence of smoke particles. Smoke particles entering the ionization volume decrease the conductance of the air by reducing ion mobility. The reduced conductance signal is processed and used to convey an alarm condition when it meets preset criteria. (NFPA 72)
Ionization smoke detection
A company officer who is usually responsible for a single fire company on a single shift; the first in line among company officers.
Lieutenant
A vehicle designed primarily for transporting (pickup, transporting, and delivering) water to fire emergency scenes to be applied by pumping equipment or by other vehicles.
Mobile water supply apparatus
The association that develops and maintains nationally recognized minimum consensus standards on many areas of fire safety and specific standards on hazardous materials
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
EMS personnel with the highest level of training in EMS, including cardiac monitoring, administering drugs, inserting advanced airways, manual defibrillation, and other advanced assessment and treatment skills
Paramedic
A detector that uses a light beam and a photocell to detect larger visible particles of 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
Formal statements that provide guidelines for present and future actions. Policies often require personnel to make judgments.
Policies
An individual who has demonstrated the ability to conduct media interviews and prepare news releases and media advisories (NFPA 1035)
Public information officer (PIO)
Fire apparatus with a permanently mounted fire pump, a water tank, a hose storage area, and 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 U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Regulations
A group of fire fighters 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 stands for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
SCUBA dive rescue technician
An atmosphere-supply respirator that supplies a respirable air atmosphere to the user from a breathing air source that is independent of the user from a breathing air source that is independent of the ambient environment and designed to be carried by the user. (NFPA 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 wither 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 three to seven). (NFPA 1006)
Span of control
A written organizational directive that stablishes or prescribes specific operational or administrative methods to be followed routinely for the performance of designated operations or actions. (NFPA 1521)
Standard operating procedure (SOP)
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 adoption into law. Nonmandatory provisions shall be located in an appendix or annex, footnote, or fine-print note and are not to be considered a part of the requirements of a standard. (NFPA 1)
Standards
A person who is trained to perform or direct a technical rescue. (NFPA 1006)
Technical rescuer
A person designated by the fire chief with authority for overall management and control of the organization’s training program. (NFPA 1006)
Training officer
A group of fire fighters who work as a unit and are equipped with one or more pieces of aerial fire apparatus. (NFPA 1410)
Truck company
The concept by which each person within an organization report to one, and only one, designated person (NFPA 1026)
Unity of command
A fire company that is dispatched to vegetation fires where larger engines cannon gain access. Wildland/brush companies have four-wheel drive vehicles and special firefighting equipment.
Wildland/brush company
