First Pass Flashcards
A company officer must be a ____ and ____ ____ with supervisory skills that many new officers will have to develop
Chp 1
Competent and ethical leader
The company officer’s most important task is
Chp 1
To ensure personnel safety
The new officer should take every opportunity to
Chp 1
Verbalize personal expectations, establish priorities, and listen to crew member expectations
One of the people/groups that a company officer is responsible for:
Chp 1
Themselves- live by the same ethical values and standards, based on the accepted more values of the community, that you expect your subordinates to follow
Scalar Structure
Chp 2
Scalar structure is commonly used in fire and emergency services, defined as having an uninterrupted series of steps or Chain of Command
Under the unity of command principal, a subordinate only has _____ supervisor
Chp 2
One
When a subordinate sidesteps the immediate supervisor and takes the problem to a higher officer …
Chp 2
The unity of command is broken
Sidestepping can be …
Chp 2
Destructive to organizational unity and cohesiveness
Volunteer firefighter staff approximately ____ of fire and emergency services organizations
Chp 2
70%
The first step in developing leadership skills is to …
Chp 3
Study successful leaders and develop your own list of leadership qualities. This list becomes a benchmark standard for each leader and a self-evaluation tool.
Ethics: Three Step Check
Chp 3
One - is it legal”?
Two- is it fair?
THREE- HOW WILL IT MAKE ME FEEL ABOUT MYSELF? Proud? Good if it’s in the newspaper? Good if my family finds out?
When the individual has internally rationalized one unethical action…
Chp 3
It becomes easier to do it again
An essential part of the ethics program is …
Chp 3
The written code of ethics that is specific to the organization that creates it
Supervision includes …
Chp 3
The process of directing, overseeing, and controlling the activities of the individuals
A supervisor should recognize …
Chp 3
Problematic situations and attempt to resolve them
Performing- the supervisor works to maintain …
Chp 3
Team spirit as the group accomplishes its objectives. At this stage, the group is a true team with all members sharing leadership.
To empower employees, supervisors must …
Chp 3
Relinquish some authority and have confidence in the skills, judgment, and abilities of others.
Both mentors and mentees should …
Chp 3
Participate voluntarily and enthusiastically in the mentoring program
Even though NFPA 1021 defines the Lvl 1 officer as a supervisor and the Lvl 2 officer as a manager …
Chp 3
It is essential for both Lvls to fully understand the theories and methods in management
Over a century ago, French engineer ____ ____ introduced ____ universal functions of management that are still relevant today. ____ of them - ____, ____, ____, and ____ - are essential to the management of fire and emergency services organizations.
Chp 3
Hanri Fayol
Five
Four
Planning, organizing, directing, and controlling
Management functions
Planning -
Chp 3
Create a mission statement and set goals and objectives. Develop tactical plans for accomplishing a specific objective.
Management Functions
Organizing-
Chp 3
Coordinate tasks and resources to accomplish the unit’s goals and objectives by:
-Establish the units, internal structure, system, or organization
-Creating labor divisions
-Coordinating resource allocation
-Taking responsibility for tasks and information flow within the department
-Filling positions with qualified people
Management functions
Directing -
Chp 3
Guide, Influence, inspire, and motivate employees to achieve the goals and objectives within a group. Directing is a proactive approach to managing, as the company officer applies leadership and supervision concepts.
Management functions
*Controlling -
Chp 3
- Establish and implement mechanisms to ensure that the objectives are attained. Set performance standards; measure, and report the actual performance; compare the performance standard with the actual performance; and take preventative or corrective action to close the gap between the two performance levels.
Management skills
Company Officers must develop certain management and interpersonal skills in order to properly apply management functions. Most company, officers or officer candidates have the knowledge to perform technical tasks. However, to be an effective manager, they must also possess the following:
Chp 3
-Administrative Skills
-Human and communication skills
-Conceptual and decision making skills
Planning function
Plans Are generally classified by the frequency with which they are used and divided into two broad categories:
Chp 3
Standing and Single Use plans
Strategic , Operational/administrative, and *Contingency
Planning function
*Contingency
Chp 3
Create alternative plan that can be implemented in the event of unforeseen events that make original plans and suitable
The Planning Process
Five Steps officers can use to solve problems or make decisions
Chp 4
-Identify
-Select
-Design
-*Implement - Perform the selected activity or supervise crew members in the activity that will mitigate the problem
-Evaluate
New personnel expectations must be explained to new members in …
Chp 4
Clear, concise, and understandable terms. They should also be provided with a list for summary of these expectations in written form.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Chp 4
These programs are a benefit that employers often provide to help employees deal with stress in their personal and/or professional lives.
Discipline has been defined as:
Chp 4
Training that corrects
Discipline in the fire and emergency services is designed to …
Chp 4
- Change behavior
- Ensure compliance with rules, regs, and SOPs.
- Provide direction
Interpersonal Communication Basics
Interference
Chp 5
Anything that prevents the receiver from understanding the message. This can include information overload, such as when a student tries to absorb too much information at a times.
Practicing the following guidelines will help the company officer hone their verbal communication skills:
Chp 5
-Dual Perspective
-Take responsibility for personal thoughts/feelings
-Respect thoughts/feelings of others
-Gain clarity/accuracy when speaking
-Be aware of receiver special needs
-*Avoid speaking or addressing the problem while angry/experiencing strong emotion
Avoid speaking or addressing the problem while angry/experiencing strong emotion…
Chp 5
Pause and place the conversation on hold until emotions are under control. While attending to any emotions, stay aware of all safety concerns, especially in a training environment.
Listening skills
Chp 5
-Attending/focusing
-Understanding
-Remembering
-Evaluating
-Responding
Listening Skills
*Remembering
Chp 5
-Taking notes
-Repeating information back to the sender
-*Mnemonic devices
-Asking questions about unclear info.
Instructional Speeches are used to…
Chp 5
Teach the audience how to do something. Visual aid/demo
The first step in writing any document is…
Chp 5
Determine audience, scope, and purpose
Company officers should remember that memos may be considered
Chp 5
Public record documents
Like memos, emails may become part of the
Chp 5
Public record
Communications Interoperability
Chp 5
Agencies being able to talk to each other through compatible communication devices. This is a vital part of implementing NIMS during emergency response.
Five Cs of Radio Communication
Chp 5
-Conciseness
-Clarity
-*Confidence- command presence. Calm, natural, control tone/voice
-Control
-Capability
The ____ ____ concept is valuable, because customer satisfaction indicates how well an organization meets or exceeds the expectations of the community it serves.
Chp 6
Customer Service
If A concern or complaint is voiced during an emergency operation, it should not be …
Chp 6
Allowed to interfere with emergency procedures. This situation requires tact because the company officer must explain, without insulting us citizen, that the emergency is more important at the moment than the complaint. The Company officer will need to wait until the emergency incident is terminated to resolve the concern or complaint.
A capital budget includes…
Chp 6
Projected major purchases - items that cost more than a specified amount of money, and are expected to last more than one year. Typically three or more years.
The Largest single item in the operating budgets of most career organizations
Chp 6
Personnel costs i.e. salaries and benefits
Six Major steps in the budget process
Chp 6
Planning, Preparing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating, and revising
Usually performed according to a predetermined schedule to prevent damage, reduce wear, and extend the useful life of an item, vehicle, or facility
Chp 6
Preventative maintenance
The Most common cause of incident fatalities
Chp 7
Cardiac Arrest
If an unsafe act occurs during on scene operations…
Chp 7
The Company officer should address the situation immediately
Three Es of safety model
Chp 7
Engineering– eliminates or reduces the hazard to design or modification of an item or process
Education – Fire and emergency responders learn how to apply proper safety procedures when working in hazardous environments
Enforcement – Management, supervisors, and employees are responsible for advocating, safety, policies, and procedures
In The case of mental illness and suicide prevention, if someone seems at risk or shows warning signs…
Chp 7
Be Direct. Are you thinking of suicide? Do you have a plan? Recognizing a potential suicide is critical to preventing it.
Absorption rates increase ____ for every ____ Rise in temperature
Chp 7
400% for every 5°
The Act of showing, how to do something or how something operates and is a basic means for teaching, psycho, motor skills, physical principles, safety, techniques, and mechanical functions.
Chp 8
Demonstration
Safety Infractions, must always be
Chp 8
Corrected immediately
Water Supply quantities must be calculated based on…
Chp 8
NFPA 1142, standard on water supplies for suburban and rural fire fighting requirements
In regards to safety in training, maintain a suitable…
Chp 8
Instructor To participant ratio. The exact ratio varies with the type of evolution.
Type One construction
Chp 9
Also known as fire resistive construction. Provides the highest level of protection from fire spread, as well as structural collapse.
An NFPA analysis of fires in residential occupancies indicates…
Chp 9
A steady decline in fires in manufactured homes since 1980
Mercantile
Chp 9
Each of the model codes defines a mercantile occupancy as any building that is used to display or sell merchandise
In regards to water supply systems, class three systems…
Chp 9
Combine the features of class one and class two systems. Class three systems provide 1 1/2 inch hose stations to supply water for use by trained building occupants, and 2 1/2 inch hose connections to supply a larger volume of water for use by fire departments, and those trained in handling heavy fire streams.
In regards to smoke management systems, exhaust methods…
Chp 9
Use mechanical ventilation, along with the properties of smoke to collect it at the highest point in a large space
Unconfined fires draw air from all sides and the ____ ,Or drawing in of air, cools the plume of hot gases, reducing flame length and vertical extension
Chp 9
Entrainment
Neutral Plane
Chp 9
Exists at openings where hot gases exit and cooler air enters the compartment. At these openings, hot gases at higher than ambient pressures exit through the top of the opening above the neutral plane.
Very Low level neutral plane
Chp 9
May Indicate that the fire is reaching Backdraft conditions. This occurrence could also mean that the fire is below you i.e. basement fire, or lower story.
Non-structural, outdoor fires are always considered…
Chp 9
Fuel Limited because they have an unimpeded, limitless supply of oxygen
Class C type fuels
Chp 9
Energized electrical wiring, equipment, and appliances
In reference to inspections, the means of egress from the building is the…
Chp 10
Single most important life safety item to be inspected
There are nine hazard classes to categorize hazardous materials. What type of material is class two?
Chp 10
Gases
Pre-Action, automatic sprinkler system
Chp 10
Consists of closed sprinkler heads attached to a piping system that contains air under pressure and a secondary detection system
Halon and halogenated extinguishing agents contain atoms from one of the halogens series of chemical elements; fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine. Halogenated agents are principally effective on which classes of fires?
Chp 10
Class B & C fires
Curtain boards
Chp 10
Also known as draft curtains, these are fire resistive, half walls that extend from the underside of a roof to limit the horizontal spread of heat and smoke
Concerns Have been raised that underfloor air distribution systems pose a life safety risk. First, if smoke develops under a floor, it will be distributed into the compartment at floor level. Second water may enter the underfloor area and result in a short circuit that could cause a fire in the UFAD’s electrical system. What is a deterrent to address these concerns?
Chp 10
Model building codes require smoke detectors in each compartment as well as the mechanical rooms
NIMS-ICS
Chp 11
Essential to all emergency incident, scene management is management of emergency response resources: apparatus, personnel, equipment, and materials.NIMS- ICS establishes an organizational structure for all types of emergency incidents.
In A unified command structure…
Chp 11
Representatives of all affected agencies or jurisdictions, share the command responsibilities and decisions. They jointly establish the strategic goals for the incident, and agree on the tactical objectives that must be achieved.
Incident Action plan IAP
Chp 11
Establishes The overall strategic decisions and assigned tactical objectives for an incident
The SLICE-RS method, incorporates, recent research about ventilation control, flow paths, and modern fire behavior into tactical priorities
Chp 11
Size Up
Locate the fire
Identify and control the flow path
Cool the space from the safest distance
Extinguish The fire
(Two actions of opportunity)
Rescue
Salvage
CRM
Chp 11
CRM is a system that optimize the utilization of all available resources, personnel, procedures, and equipment in order to promote safety and improve operational efficiency. Originated by the air transportation industry, crew resource management has been adopted by other career fields to include the fire and emergency services.
Incident Priorities
Chp 11
Life Safety, incident stabilization, property/environmental conservation
Victim Survivability profiling, also known as occupant survivability profiling
Chp 11
A type of size up that should be employed to evaluate the potential of a victim being alive within an IDLH environment
In reference to securing an incident scene, company officers may need to…
Chp 11
Assigned Crew members to secure the incident scene so that only those responsible for emergency cause, determination or allowed into the area. For a fire, this can be the same perimeter used to define the hot zone during the suppression or control phase of the operation.
The Prospect of change may cause people to go through the four change process stages
Chp 12
Denial, resistance, exploration, commitment
For Emergency responders, a more familiar problem-solving model may be APIE
Chp 12
Analyze, Plan, *implement, evaluate
In regards to implementing change, during the planning process, trying to determine the arguments against the change and develop strategies to answer these arguments logically and factually
Chp 12
Take A proactive approach and never allow the arguments to become barriers to change
In The US, the bureau of Indian affairs or department of the interior, is the…
Chp 12
Primary Agency responsible for interfacing with the native nations governments
Inter-agency resources
Chp 12
Street department, law-enforcement, emergency, medical services, *public works
Public Works provide heavy equipment for infrastructure maintenance and repairs, including the ability to shut down certain utilities
National response plan NRP
Chp 12
The NRP and NIMS Provide the framework and processed integrate all the capabilities and resources of the jurisdictions, disciplines, and levels of government and the private sector into a cohesive, unified, and coordinated approach to domestic incident management
Based on the risk assessment, community risk reduction strategies can be implemented. Community risk reduction strategies are sometimes referred to as the “five Es”
Chp 12
Education, Engineering, enforcement, economic incentives, emergency response
Six Forms of power in the workplace
Chp 13
Reward, Legitimate, referent, expert, informational power, *coercive
Coercive Power relies on fear of punishment to ensure compliance with orders. In most organizations, this translates into threatening someone with transfer, firing, demotions or other undesirable outcomes.
In reference to group dynamics, Informal sub groups may have…
Chp 13
Greater influence on the productivity and success of the formal group than any other factor
Behavior management begins with…
Chp 13
The prevention of disruptive behavior
Negative Discipline (opposite of positive/constructive)
Chp 13
Involves Corrective action when an employee violates the established rules were performance requirements
Most Company officers will only be responsible for the first step of progressive discipline, but they must be familiar with the remaining steps
Chp 13
Preventative action, corrective action, punitive actions
Benefits That can be derived from a well organized personnel. Evaluation program include:
Chp 13
Motivation– Motivating personnel to improve, and or creating an atmosphere of personnel to self motivate
Regardless of their jurisdiction size all company officers should understand and follow…
Chp 13
Approved purchasing procedures in accordance with the applicable laws and AHJ SOP’s. Responsible officers, must ensure the organization receives the exact materials that were budgeted for and ordered, and keep purchasing expenses within the approved budget
If loss of life is high, Content loss has occurred, or if there is an indication that the incident was intentional or malicious…
Chp 14
The Company officer must secure the scene and request a certified fire investigator to evaluate the scene and conduct the fire investigation
The investigation of a structure fire should start with…
Chp 14
An examination of the entire incident scene in order to determine its size and scope. Beginning this preliminary scene assessment with the exterior of the structure and continue, if possible, around the entire incident scene, including the roof.
Full Room involvement
Chp 14
Fire Pattern that occurs after flashover, or after a fire has burned for long periods of time, and which almost all vertical and horizontal surfaces in the compartment, will show signs of damage
Company Officers should follow a specific methodology when conducting a vehicle fire investigation. This methodology should include the following:
Chp 14
Obtaining Information about the vehicles, history and documentation, conducting a scene, examination, documenting the scene, conducting fire pattern analysis, EXAMINING THE EXTERIOR THE VEHICLE, Examining the engine, cargo, and passenger compartment, examining the high-voltage battery compartment, i.e. hybrid vehicles
In regards to arson and fire investigation, profit or fraud, is the…
Chp 14
Primary motivator for this type of incendiary fire and total destruction of property is the ultimate goal. Fire said he’s motivated by fraud attempt to cause the most possible damage in the least possible in our time.
The IC is responsible for the strategic level of the command structure. Responsibilities at the strategic level include:
Chp 15
Determining The appropriate strategy, establishing overall incident objectives, setting priorities, DEVELOPING AN INCIDENT ACTION PLAN, attaining, assigning resources, planning, predicting outcomes, assigning specific objectives to tactical level management units
In reference to span of control in a fast-moving complex operation…
Chp 15
Three to seven divisions and or groups is recommended with five being optimal
In reference to the post incident analysis, the incident commander or designated incident staff member should…
Chp 15
Compile The PIA
In reference to health and safety investigations, company officers are responsible for…
Chp 16
Reviewing and analyzing injury, accident, and health exposure reports. They are also responsible for identifying, unsafe, work environment or behaviors, and taking approved action to prevent reoccurrence.
Human Factors that often contribute to accidents have been classified into three broad categories:
Chp 16
IMPROPER ATTITUDE, Lack of knowledge or skill, physically unsuited
In regards to safety, the company officer should immediately…
Chp 8
Stop the exercise if an injury occurs or seems imminent. In the case of below standard performance that does not present an imminent risk, the company officer should evaluate the impact of interrupting the exercise prior to completion.
