Part 3 ( Lessons and Best Practices) Chapter 19: Fireground Command Best Practices

Question 1

Chapter 19 is the

Answer 1

most important chapter in the book

Question 2

Best Practice #1) Prioritize your incoming information

Answer 2

when subjects are under stress, the number of unrelated information a person can remember drops to 5 from 7.

Question 3

The 4 critical data for residential dwelling fire decision making are

Answer 3

1) smoke and fire conditions
2) construction and decomposition of the structure
3) The speed the incident is moving
4) A realistic assessment of savable lives

Question 4

Information about critical data in regard to smoke and fire conditions

Answer 4

Dave Dodson notes, the color, volume, velocity, and density of the smoke can tell you what is burning, where its burning, how much pressure its putting on the building and most importantly, where the fire is heading.

Smoke, not fire, is the predictor of the future

The 4 attributes of smoke serve as the primer for Level 3 SA

Smoke and fire follow the laws of physics which are predictable

Question 5

To understand how a building behaves when it is on fire, you must first understand how the building is _____

Answer 5

built

Question 6

Francis Brannigan said “Every building had a common enemy and that enemy is ______”

Answer 6

gravity

Question 7

In regards to construction and decomposition of a structure

Answer 7

LODD reports show a trend of FF being killed in LW structures. This will continue until we change or tactics or until homes are outfitted with residential sprinklers

Question 8

The speed the incident is movig

Answer 8

Every incident has a speed. The speed is usually assess in the terms of how fast conditions are degrading and how quickly the incident is slipping out of control for the responders.

Part of the responders mental model is to assess the speed of the incident and then determine whether responders can outmaneuver ( be quicker than) the pace of the incidents progression

It is also vital for the decision maker to look at the incident over a period of time (several minutes) to conclude how fast the situation is moving

RPD requires the rapid assessment because how fast conditions can change, the decision maker must lock onto some point of reference in order to make rapid decisions

RPD size-up is the equivalent of a snapshot in time. The longer assessment used to determine the speed of an incident is the equivalent of watching a movie

Question 9

In regards to Realistic Assessment of Savable Lives

Answer 9

In fast-paced environments where rapidly changing conditions impact victim survivability, there is often a narrow window of time in which a responder can actually influence the outcome in a positive way

Question 10

The author refers to these continuums of time as “windows of opportunity” which he states there are 3. They are

Answer 10

1) victim survivability
2) responder survivability
3) structural survivability

Question 11

Skin begins to melt around _____

Answer 11

160 degrees

Question 12

Most victims self-extricate but some are unable to are those who are not alerted to fire or

Answer 12

small children
elderly
and disabled

Question 13

The victims are savable as long as the conditions inside the structure remain

Answer 13

compatible with life

Question 14

2nd and 3rd degree burns over ___ to ____ of a persons body are not injuries compatible with life

Answer 14

70 to 80%

Question 15

Best Practice #2) Set the strategy and tactics based on the quantity and quality of your resources

Answer 15

Nearly every personnel intensive incident is going to start from a position of being understaffed/under resourced

Initial staffing varies widely but will likely range from 2 to 5 personnel on the 1st arriving apparatus

Many responders are , by their nature, problem solvers with Type-A, aggressive, competitive personalities

Question 16

An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force describes

Answer 16

Newtons first law of motion

Question 17

Best Practice # 3) Never miss radio communications form your most at-risk personnel.

Answer 17

having and Aide to monitor radio traffic or take noted helps to ensure that commander does not miss critical information

your brain cant presort which radio traffic is important and which is not

Radio procedures and disciplines ensure that only the most important information is shared

An example of needless overload on a commander occurs when dispatch is contacted with a request for additional resources via single call system

MABAS was founded in IL

Question 18

Missed Radio traffic from at-risk personnel qualifies as a _______. Yet it is often overlooked or dismissed because there was no consequence

Answer 18

near-miss event

Question 19

Responders think that for an event to qualify as a near-miss, someone had to either get hurt or come so close to getting hurt that its characterized as merely luck that saved them

Answer 19

true

Question 20

Best Practice #4) Be Strategic when choosing the location for command

Answer 20

For reasons founded in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, the author recommends commanding from a vehicle

A commander should think strategically about selecting a command location. Being out of the action and maintaining the big picture view of the incident are TWO essential requirements when picking the command location

Commanding an incident requires a total commitment of your physical and mental resources to be oriented to the big picture

Question 21

______ is the essence, or the high-level, broad concept of something

Answer 21

gist

Question 22

Best Practice #5) Call a personal time-out

Answer 22

A personal time out is a way for you to pause, if only for a few moments, to ask yourself (on a conscious level) How is my SA? This is a critical task because its not something you’re likely to think about during the heat of high-risk engagement

Time outs allow a commander to walk away from the stress and action and gather his thoughts and conduct a personal SA check up

Dr Mica Endlsey suggests the progression of SA be called levels, not steps

The faster the incident is moving, the shorter your view into the future

Question 23

Generally, the focus of this text has been to look at the short-term events that cause immediate and catastrophic outcomes based on rapidly eroding SA in dynamically changing conditions

Answer 23

true

Question 24

you make a prediction of events at an incident scene and now you’re at that point in time and things don’t look good (progress you thought would be made has not happened) At this point you have to make a decision and there are 3 decisions you could make which are:

The obvious answer of which decision you choose is that it depends on the situation. The less obvious and more accurate answer is it depends on the ego and self-esteem of the commander

Answer 24

DECISION 1) extend the deadline by giving the crews additional time to accomplish the task ( you may also make modifications to the plan)

DECISION 2) Assign additional personnel to the task, and extend the deadline ( this too can also come with modifications to the plan)

DECISION 3) Withdrawal the resources from the situation and take up a defensive posture

Question 25

Best Practice #6) Use a command team

Answer 25

The importance of sharing the mental workload at an emergency scene cannot be overstated.

The chauffer can be a valuable asset for a commander, as it relieves the commander from the cognitive workload needed to safely drive the vehicle to an emergency scene. It also improves the commanders abilities to process radio traffic and look up preplan information while en route to the emergency.

subconsciously stored cognitive tasks ( What am I supposed to be doin)

Muscle Memory tasks ( How am I supposed to be doing this)

Question 26

The leading cause of 1st responder casualty events, second only to heart-attacks and strokes are _____

Answer 26

vehicle accidents

Question 27

In aviation PF stands for

Answer 27

person flying the plane

Question 28

In aviation, PNF stands for

Answer 28

person not flying the plane

Question 29

Best practice #7 Control your distractions and interruptions

Answer 29

This best practice is tied closely to many of the others and perhaps is a direct by-product of the other best practices

Question 30

Best Practice #8) Develop and maintain a strong command presence

Answer 30

Command presence is the ability of the person in charge to be in charge. This requires a person who is well trained, competent, confident, disciplined, and able to lear and make decisions

When a commander gives a tactical assignment to a crew, the commander should form two expectations about the performance of that task. 1) how the incident benefits from the completion of the task. 2) how long it should take for the task to be completed

At the very minimum, it is the commanders role to ensure a strategy is communicated, tactics are coordinated, accountability is maintained, and radio traffic of all at-risk personnel is monitored

Question 31

This simply means that time gets away from you

Answer 31

temporal distortion

Question 32

One of the best ways to keep track of the passage of time is to have the dispatcher announce ETNs which stands for ________. Ideally, ETNs are announced over the radio channels hear by all personnel operating at the incident scene

Answer 32

Elapsed Time Notifications ETN’s

Question 33

The authors preference is every 10 minutes for ETNs and then a PAR every _____ minutes

Answer 33

par

Question 34

Best Practice #9) Develop and train to scripted procedures but build resiliency into training programs

Answer 34

Generally public safety agencies perform better, are more coordinated, and have better results when they develop and use SOP/SOG. These documents ensure personnel are trained to a common set of expectations and will perform all tasks the same way.

It would be better if trainers taught personnel to perform based on the SOP/SOG and then gave the responders novel situations with little or no guidance on how to solve the problem

unless the personnel are in danger of getting hurt, failure is an important component of learning. Through the lessons of failure, personnel build ip a repertoire of experience of actions that don’t work. These lessons are just as important as the ones that do work

Question 35

When personnel can fail in training without fear of retribution, and trainers can develop a tolerance for failure, the organization is well on its way to improving operational safety

Answer 35

true

Question 36

Best Practice #10) Accelerate your command knowledge and expertise

Answer 36

This is done by using high-fidelity simulators and practicing decision making in high-stress environments

It can also be accomplished by training and reading near-miss and LODD reports

The more emotion you can build into the training session, the deeper the lessons seat into your memory. Any emotion will work

Question 37

The incidents that you see less of are the ones that put your safety most in jeopardy. They are referred to as

Answer 37

high risk, low frequency events

Question 38

There are 2 forms of memorization. They are

Answer 38

cognitive and muscle

Question 39

__________ is memorizing information such as peoples names, phone numbers, emails and so on. When you memorize and practice something over and over again, it may store deep in your memory and be retrievable for life. Using memory aids can help you with this type of memory

Answer 39

Cognitive memorization

Question 40

If you physically perform a task over and over again, you can perform that task with no conscious thought whatsoever. The ability to perform the memorized physical task resides in your subconscious.

Answer 40

Muscle memory

Question 41

Simulators with high-fidelity, realistic graphics, and relevant audio are the most likely to air in learning

Answer 41

true

Question 42

The final advice to help accelerate the development of your expertise is to get a ____ or _____. This person can help you develop your command skills. This person can also point out your mistakes so they don’t become habit

Answer 42

mentor or coach

Question 43

The recipe for catastrophe is

Answer 43

Incompetent behavior… without a consequence (no casualty)… Leads to overconfidence…. and contributes to complacency and arrogance…. precursors to catastrophe