Operational Rhythm: How Command and SOPs Shape the Modern Fireground
I remember back to the early 1990’s and being a newly promoted lieutenant on a 3-person engine company. Like all young officers, I wanted to do a good job. As the reality of my new position sunk in, the responsibility to my firefighters and the public weighed somewhat heavy on my shoulders.
The organization I served with was a career fire department serving (at the time) a population of about 130,000 out of 9 fire stations. Engine company staffing was at 3 personnel and 1 light force (truck company) with 5 members. Our shared dispatch center and common radio system enabled extensive automatic aid with “closest unit” dispatch with our neighboring career agencies.
At that time, we received very little specific guidance from above about the best way to approach fires in the many apartments and commercial buildings in my first due area. We were expected to use common sense and good radio procedures. But “all fires are different” and so therefore you “wing it” and hope it works. We were taught broad concepts such as “RECEO” (Rescue, Exposure, Confinement, Extinguishment and Overhaul) and “Locate, Confine, and Extinguish”.
These struck me as nice, but rather vague and open ended. There was little guidance about specific operations in specific types of structures.
Over the years, we did receive training in Incident Command and communications models.
However, these are not tactics (the systematic deployment of engine and ladder personnel in a manner that achieves a strategic outcome). If this is the limitation of your training, you can very well end up with very organized incidents, with concise and proper radio communications – but may result in tactical failure.
On incidents, we operated in what I will call a Command Driven model. In this operational mode, all assignments are made by the Incident Commander. Initially this is most likely a company officer and will ultimately transfer to a later arriving chief officer. In this model, successful outcomes often depend on the experience, training, and competence of the first arriving company officer.
As the department evolved and matured, we were faced with a growing downtown high-rise core to protect. The result of this was the development of an extensive SOP related to responding to high rise incidents. This was our first exposure to SOP Driven operations. Simply put, these SOPs provide a guideline for initial operations that are driven by predetermined assignments of apparatus and personnel based on order of arrival at a given incident.
Our high-rise SOP described the actions of the full first alarm assignment. For example, the first arriving engine and truck shall check the panel for alarm location and ascend to the fire floor.
The second arriving engine was tasked to supply the standpipe system and then establish Lobby Control. The third arriving engine would assist with fire attack. The first arriving Medic Unit established Staging two floors below the fire floor. The first arriving Chief Officer established Command and requested additional resources as needed.
This SOP was a dramatic improvement in our approach to high-rise operations. Most importantly, I noticed a distinct improvement – units were now arriving on scene with purpose:
“Engine 5 on scene, 2nd in duties” or “Engine 6 on scene, enroute to staging”.
In my fevered brain, I saw the potential for expanding this. If we can have a SOP driven command system for a 30-story high rise, why not for a 2-story house? Or a 3-story apartment building?
My thinking was also influenced by more serious events. One evening we had an apartment fire on the 3rd (top) floor of a center-hallway apartment building. In our Command Driven environment, the very frustrated Truck officer could not get through to command and spent way too long in the street waiting for direction as engine crews were operating in zero visibility conditions. With an SOP driven incident management plan, the truck would arrive and go to work based on the initial short report, building type and fire location. This approach also should reduce radio traffic at a critical point in the incident.
Another reality with command driven incidents is the difficulty of changing a strategy once initiated. For example, a young Lieutenant arrives at a one room residential fire and calls it “defensive”. It requires significant initiative and causes considerable delays for a later arriving company officers or Battalion Chief to change the momentum of an incident once the strategic direction is set, regardless of how wrong it is.
Developing SOP Driven Operations
Tactical SOPs are best suited for “routine” structure fires where we anticipate operating in an offensive mode. Think of a single-family residential fire, multi-family building, or a strip mall. Tactical SOPs are less suitable for large, defensive operations which are more conducive to a Command Driven operation.
As a firm believer in practicality, I believe that any SOP should be developed in a manner that clearly spells out expectations and assists our people in implementing them. We should also clarify what Tactical SOPs are and are not:
- They do not take away the flexibility of the Incident Commander. Incident Commanders must retain the authority to deviate from a plan if conditions dictate it (i.e. an imminent rescue the first engine company must execute via ground ladder).
- They are a guideline for initial operations of the first alarm assignment. As the incident evolves, it will develop into a more command driven event.
- They rely on all personnel to ensure that their pre-determined assignment can be accomplished safely. If the assignment is to “stretch an attack/exposure line to the floor above the fire”, it is up to that Company Officer to ensure the crew is not put into undo jeopardy and inform Command if a task cannot be carried out.
In developing Tactical SOP’s, this is an opportunity for an organization to put some formal thought into what they would like to occur on the fireground when that young officer pulls up to a fire on the first floor of a two-story house. And what if the fire is on the 2nd floor? How do those scenarios impact the actions of the first and second arriving engine companies or the first arriving ladder company?
In building these SOP’s, some of the processes that helped were:
Identify Building Stock: What are the most common buildings we respond to and expect to operate offensively? We identified the following:
- Residential: One Story Ramblers, Two Story, Split Level and Homes with Daylight Basements
- Multi-Family: Garden Apartments, Town Homes and Center-Hallway buildings
- Commercial: Strip Malls, Big Box Stores and High Rise
Utilize Organizational Experience: This is an opportunity to sit down with your most experienced and capable engine, truck and chief officers and really put some thought into this.
What has worked on past fires? What problems have we experienced that we wish to avoid?
What is our operational reality as it relates to arrival times and staffing levels?
Developing these SOPs is a wonderful way to capture the institutional knowledge of senior staff. The captain that has been on the engine or ladder for the last 20 years of his 35-year career and is thinking of retiring next year. That knowledge can either walk out the door with them, or we can capture it by seeking his or her input on developing these SOP’s.
In future articles, we will discuss tactical approaches to several types of fire scenarios, and how those approaches can assist us in writing tactical SOPs and other topics such as:
- Defining Structure Types
- Front Door Tactics
- Multi-Story Building Tactics
- Below Grade Tactics
