Chapter 22 Establishing and Transferring Command Flashcards
A supervisory level established in either the operations or logistics function to provide a span of control.
Branch
A person in a supervisory level position in either the operations or logistics function to provide a span of control.
Branch director
A rank structure, spanning the fire fighter through the fire chief, for managing a fire department and fire-ground operations.
Chain of command
The act of directing and/or controlling resources by virtue of explicit legal, agency, or delegated authority.
Command
The _______ _____ consists of the public information officer, safety officer, and liaison officer, all of whom report directly to the incident commander and are responsible for functions in the incident management system that are not a part of the function of the line organization.
Command staff
The individual responsible for command of a company, a designation not specific to any particular fire department rank (can be a fire fighter, lieutenant, captain, or chief officer, if responsible for command of a single company.
Company officer
A team of two or more fire fighters.
Crew
A program focused on improved situational awareness, sound critical decision making, effective communication, proper task allocation, and successful teamwork and leadership.
Crew resource management (CRM)
That organizational level having responsibility for operations within a defined geographic location.
Division
A person in a supervisory level position responsible for a specific geographic area of operations at an incident.
Division supervisor
Section responsible for all costs and financial actions of the incident or planned event, including the time unit, procurement unit, compensation/claims unit, and the cost unit.
Finance/administration section chief
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.
Fire fighter I
A person, at the second level of progression as defined in Chapter 5 on NFPA 1001, who has demonstrated the skills and depth of knowledge to function under general supervision.
Fire fighter II
An incident management system developed in the 1970’s for day-to-day fire department incidents (generally handled with fewer than 25 units or companies).
Fire-ground command (FGC)
Fire Resources of California Organized for Potential Emergencies; an organization of agencies established in the early 1970s to develop a standardized system for managing fire resources at large-scale incidents such as wildland fires.
FIRESCOPE
Individuals or crews operating independently of the established ICS structure.
Freelancing
A group of incident management personnel organized according to function and reporting to the incident commander, normally consisting of the operations section chief, planning section chief, logistics section chief, and finance/administration section chief.
General staff
Established to divide the incident management structure into functional assignments of operation.
Group
A person in a supervisory level position responsible for a functional area of operation.
Group supervisor
A verbal or written plan containing incident objectives reflecting the overall strategy and specific control actions where appropriate for managing an incident or planned event.
Incident action plan (IAP)
The individual responsible for all incident activities, including the development of strategies and tactics and the ordering and release of resources.
Incident commander (IC)
The field location at which the primary tactical-level, on-scene incident command functions are performed.
Incident command post (ICP)
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.
Incident command system (ICS)
A document prepared by fire department personnel on a particular incident.
Incident report
A member of the command staff responsible for monitoring and assessing safety hazards and unsafe situations and for developing measures for ensuring personnel safety.
Incident safety officer
The individual responsible for command of a task force, strike team, or functional unit.
Leader
A member of the command staff responsible for coordinating with representatives from cooperating and assisting agencies.
Liaison officer
Section responsible for providing facilities, services, and materials for the incident or planned event, including the communications unit, medical unit, and food unit within the service branch and the supply unit, and ground support unit within the support branch.
Logistics section
The general staff position responsible for directing the logistics function. It is generally assigned on complex, resource-intensive, or long-duration incidents.
Logistics section chief
The standard, national reporting system used by U.S. fire departments to report fires and other incidents to departments to report fires and other incidents to which they respond and to maintain records of these incidents in a uniform manner.
National Fire Incident Reporting Systems (NFIRS)
A system mandated by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5) that provides a systematic, proactive approach guiding government agencies at all levels, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations to work seamlessly to prepare for, prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, so as to reduce the loss of life or property and harm to the environment.
National Incident Management System (NIMS)
Section responsible for all tactical operations at the incident or planned event, including up to 5 branches, 25 divisions/groups, and 125 single resources, tasks forces, or strike teams.
Operations section
The general staff position responsible for managing all operations activities. It is usually assigned when complex incidents involve more than 20 single resources or when command staff cannot be involved in all details of the tactical operation.
Operations section chief
Section responsible for the collection, evaluation, dissemination, and use of information related to the incident situations, resource status, and incident forecast.
Planning section
The general staff position responsible for planning functions and for tracking and logging resources. It is assigned when command staff members need assistance in managing information.
Planning section chief
A document developed by gathering general and detailed data that is used by responding personnel in effectively managing emergencies for the protection of occupants, responding personnel, property, and the environment.
Preincident plan
A member of the command staff responsible for interfacing with the public and media or with other agencies with incident-related information requirements.
Public information officer (PIO)
An acronym developed for use by the incident commander for accomplishing tactical priorities on the fire ground, stands for rescue, exposure protection, confinement, extinguishment, overhaul, ventilation, and salvage.
RECEO-VS
Under the NIMS, includes mutual-aid agreements; the use of special federal, state, local, and tribal teams; and resource mobilization protocols.
Resource management
An assessment of the risk to rescuers versus the benefits that can be derived from their intended actions.
Risk/benefit analysis
A command structure in which a single individual is responsible for all of the strategic objectives of the incident. It is typically used when an incident is within a single jurisdiction and is managed by a single discipline.
Single command
An individual, a piece of equipment and its personnel, or a crew or team of individuals with an identified supervisor that can be used on an incident or planned event.
Single resource
The process of gathering and analyzing information to help fire officers make decisions regarding the deployment of resources and the implementation of tactics.
Size-up
An acronym intended to be used by the first arriving company officer to accomplish important strategic goals on the fire ground.
S.L.I.C.E.-R.S.
The maximum number of personnel or activities that can be effectively controlled by one individual (usually three to seven).
Span of control
Location established where resource can be placed while they await a tactical assignment.
Staging area
Specified combination of the same kind and type of resources, with common communications and a leader.
Strike team
An assessment that weighs the risks likely to be taken versus the benefits of those risks, of the viability and survivability of potential fire victims under the current conditions in the structure.
Survivability profiling
A group of resources with common communications and a leader that can be pre-established and sent to an incident or planned event or formed at an incident of planned event.
Task force
The formal procedure for transferring the duties of an incident commander at an incident scene.
Transfer of command
A team effort that allows all agencies jurisdictional responsibility for an incident or planned event, either geographic or functional, to manage the incident or planned event by establishing a common set of incident objectives and strategies.
Unified command
The organizational element having functional responsibility for a specific incident operations, planning, logistics, or finance/administration activity.
Unit
The concept by which each person within an organization reports to one, and only one, designated person.
Unity of command
