The Model Incident Command System Series Pre-fire Planning

The Model Incident Command System Series Pre-fire Planning

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STRATEGY AND TACTICS

This is the fourth in a series of articles on the National Fire Academy’s model incident command system. In this issue, the authors will focus on pre-fire planning for effective use of resources.

In a way, the incident commander is similar to a surgeon; at times, both will deal in life and death situations. Just as the surgeon must be familiar with the human anatomy and the patient’s problems, so too must the incident commander be familiar with the anatomy of a fire building and its particular problems. While the surgeon must be familiar with the medical history of his patient, the incident commander must be aware of the critical information concerning the building he may be called on to save from destruction by fire.

Why do we need to pre-plan?

Consider the following: A small fire department received an alarm for a fire at a metal-working plant. The fire had started in a paint-spray area, and although intense and smoky, it was being contained and controlled by the automatic sprinkler system.

On arrival, the first pumper was connected to a yard hydrant on the north side of the fire building, and the second pumper connected to a yard hydrant on the south side. Both companies placed their lines into operation with the smooth, precise stretching of hoselines that is the result of many well-conducted company drills. A short time later a mutual-aid pumper arrived and was connected to a third yard hydrant and additional lines were stretched and put into operation.

All these operations showed the polish of many drills on the stretching of hoselines—but there was a serious flaw that had taken place. Three pumpers supplying seven handlines were now drawing water from the same limited source of water that was also supplying the automatic sprinkler system.

The department had overlooked this fact and the value of the fire department connection to augment the supply to the sprinkler system. Because of the depletion of water, additional sprinkler heads operated. Handlines eventually contained and then extinguished the fire, but a large loss to the property had taken place.

A costly lack of pre-planning and training was the cause of the increased property loss. The firefighters weren’t aware of the fire department connection or the importance of its use nor did they realize the problem they created by having all the pumpers connected to the same limited source of water.

Unless everyone operating at an incident is familiar with the operation of fixed fire protection and detection equipment, their combined efforts will be at a disadvantage in making the most of the first crucial minutes. Lack of knowledge about an occupancy causes apprehension and unnecessary delays in positioning of companies, excessive communications, questioning, and repositioning of companies and apparatus at the incident.

Purpose of a pre-plan

The purpose of a pre-plan is to allow your department to conduct operations in a more effective and efficient manner. It provides critical and useful information to responding companies which will result in reduced property loss and fewer injuries to firefighters. Knowledge of the particular occupancy allows the incident commander to deploy his companies more quickly and effectively. This knowledge will also improve fireground communications.

A wise general stated, “The battleground is a very poor place to start to develop plans.” This is true too of the fireground. The probability of gath-‘ ering needed critical information at a fire incident is going to be wrought with error due to the time and pressure of the situation. If the information we gather at the scene is insufficient, then how accurate will the decisions we make be? Will we be able to call the right shots?

Pre-planning is one of the first steps* in improving the fireground scenario. The nature of the hazards and problems will be known ahead of time and can be planned for before an incident takes place. Companies operating at the incident will have been drilled in the pre-plan. Nobody knows the value of this better than an incident commander or officer who has suddenly faced unexpected hazards such as truss roofs, converted buildings, toxic gases being given off as a result of reactive chemicals. Advanced knowledge can make the difference in controlling the fire and also the difference between life and death.

Does this mean that pre-planning is the answer to all our problems? Not totally, but through pre-planning we will reduce the chance for error and also improve our fireground operations. We will have gathered needed information and data in a non-pressure situation. We will have had time to analyze this information and formulate plans. There will be a greater chance of accuracy in the decisions we will be required to make at an incident.

At the command level of assistant chief and above, you will usually be involved in strategic pre-planning. This involves solutions that can be applied to types of situations rather than to an individual building or just the firefighting phase of operations. It may involve planning for large scale natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. You will be involved in inter-agency pre-planning and cooperation at these incidents.

The battalion, district, and company level officers will pre-plan a particular building or occupancy or a specific situation. Traditionally, these plans have been very lengthy and detailed. What is required of a good pre-plan is that it be useful to personnel using it. It is obvious that in the initial stage of operations a lengthy, complicated preplan will be of limited value to the initial officer in command.

With this consideration, we are presenting a model quick access pre-plan which will summarize the detailed plan. We are not saying that the detailed complex plan is not needed. Complex situations require detailed pre-plans, which will be consulted as time permits. We are offering a tool that can quickly be consulted and supply the necessary information to the first arriving company officers and incident commanders.

What buildings should be pre-planned

Do we have to pre-plan every building in our district? Is that practical? The buildings we should consider are those that present unusual problems or hazards. This could be a building with the potential for a large loss of life such as an institutional occupancy, school, hospital, or a place of public assembly. Shopping malls, large outdoor and enclosed lumberyards, refineries, and other buildings with the potential for large property or monetary loss should be included. Many large losses of life and property have resulted from buildings that have been extensively modernized or renovated; these should be pre-planned. All of the above buildings fit the definition of a Target Hazard, and these are the buildings we should devote our primary attention to.

What particular information do you need?

As an incident commander you need specific pertinent information that will assist you in making the right decisions in the first crucial minutes. It is not necessary to have all sorts of miscellaneous information on the pre-plan. Remember we said earlier that the traditional pre-plan has been lengthy and could be of limited value to the initial incident commander. Keep it simple and useful.

Approach the situation through the design of a bull’s-eye. The center contains what is really essential or the must-know information. The next or middle ring would contain the should-know information, and the last or outer ring holds the nice-to-know information.

The quick access pre-plan is concerned with the must-know information, what the incident commander would want to know initially. The remaining information can be incorporated into a longer pre-plan. The quick access pre-plan is an adjunct to the longer pre-plan. The following are some suggestions of the must-know information:

• address
• brief description of the building
• resources responding
• available fire flow
• needed fire flow
• fire’s predicted behavior (in respect to travel and time)
• strategy (in objective form)
• problems affecting firefighting
• hazards to personnel (unusual)
• plot plan
• floor plan (for each floor, include below grade)

This is the needed information that will assist the first arriving officers in making decisions and developing their strategy. An intelligent analysis of the information gathered and the problems that may impact your operations is needed to develop an effective preplan. To assist you in analyzing the information, an incident profile should be used (see figure 1).

The incident profile

The incident profile is a much more thorough analysis of the situation than a traditional pre-plan. Each building that we pre-plan should first have an incident profile completed. The factors listed in the incident profile will allow you to make a prediction of the anticipated fire behavior based on analysis of these factors. It will then show you the relationship of your available resources to your needed resources. You will then be able to formulate your strategy probabilities based on analysis results.

The shaded area of the incident profile lists the factors A through J that have to be considered in making a fire behavior prediction.

Construction and configuration. How will the type of construction used affect our fire behavior? Will it retard the spread (fire resistive construction) or will the built-in problems (ordinary brick and joist construction) allow rapid spread of fire? Is the building constructed with modern lightweight construction methods such as 2 X 4-inch truss floors or roofs, panelized roofs, or tilt-up construction? These types will probably fail early in a fire. The bottom line is, will the construction help us or cause problems for us?

Will the configuration hinder positioning of units or aid in the spread of fire. Does it have an unusual shape such as a “U,” a “T,” or an “H” which may cause problems in coordination and communications?

Size of the building. The size of the building will affect our needed fire flow. A very deep or wide building will have an impact on handline operations. Will we be able to reach all floors with our ground based equipment? Will the height of the building cause logistical problems such as the use of elevators in high-rises?

Occupancy. The occupancy (contents) is usually the starting point of the fire. Is there a heavy fire load present? How is the housekeeping? Will we be able to stretch our lines easily? Are there quantities of hazardous materials used in the process or stored on the premises? What is the proper extinguishing agent?

Life hazard. There is a life hazard in every occupied building. Here we are looking for unusual life hazards that will increase needed resources such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes, or high-rise buildings. Does the time of day, week, season affect the life hazard?

Special hazards. Are there any unusual hazards that will affect operations? Have renovations been made to the original construction? A review of large losses of property coupled with firefighter fatalities will bring home the importance of this item. Renovations can create firefighting problems by the introduction of new voids, rain roofs over existing roofs, additional ceilings being installed under existing ceilings, ventilation points being reduced by wrapping the building with metal or sealing windows or roof openings. The use of razor wire in attics to prevent theft via the roof is a new problem (see the November 1984 issue of FIRE ENGINEERING).

Has the volume of the building been increased by the interconnection with other buildings, or have extensions been added? Have new weight bearing considerations been created by additional flooring on top of the existing flooring? Have load bearing structural members been removed or weakened?

Exposures. In older congested areas, exposures are a particular problem. Closely spaced buildings, especially of wood construction, will require additional resources. Wood shingle roofs create problems in some areas of the country. Can we use an exposure to our advantage by hooking up to its standpipe or operating from one of its windows?

Access to the fire scene. Is access restricted by fencing, hilly terrain, road conditions, bodies of water or limited access highways? Will parking in the area cause delays? Do we require special keys to high security or value areas? Are there blank walls, or heavy bars on doors or windows? Will we need keys to operate elevators?

Available fire flow. What is the available fire flow? Is it sufficient? Is there a nearby stream or lake to get water if you are in a rural area? If the building is on the perimeter of the community, a fire flow test should be conducted to insure that adequate water is available.

Required fire flow. The required fire flow is determined by use of the cubic foot formula and adjusted for occupancy and exposures. The flow required for 100% involvement should be computed.

Fire protection systems. Is the building sprinklered? Does it contain a standpipe? Is it a supervised system? Is it a wet or dry system? Are fire pumps manually or automatically started? To what extent can we operate handlines without depriving sprinkler systems of water?

An analysis of all the above will permit us to make a fire behavior prediction and an estimate of the needed resources. We will then know the adequacy or inadequacy of our resources. If they are on either extreme the decision is clear. If they are in the middle, you’ll have to choose between defensive/offensive or offensive/defensive. The profile is assisting you in determining if you have adequate resources to apply the needed fire flow and perform other lifesaving functions. The results will then be used to complete the quick access pre-plan.

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continued from page 18

The quick access pre-plan. The quick access pre-plan is an adjunct to the detailed pre-plan. It is a simple quick reference pre-plan that will summarize the longer pre-plan. These pre-plans must be readily available at the scene. This will be accomplished by carrying them on the apparatus. This is a model, and therefore you should be innovative and change or modify it to your own needs. There are several options for its use:

• A copy filed in the station.
• Use it when conducting inspections to pick up any changes and to up-date the plan.
• Use it for drills.

The pre-plan is a bench mark, a starting point. Don’t get bogged down in detail. The plan can and should be modified after some action has been taken and the results have been analyzed. You must adjust to the changing conditions. Don’t get hung up on being off a few hundred gpm in the fire flow or ordering one too many engines.

Completing the form

We have provided a set of concise instructions for completing the quick access pre-fire planning form (see figure 2). However, items #5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 need additional explanation for clarity.

Item #5. Calculate the needed fire flow (NFF) using the fire flow calculation method discussed in the August 1984 issue of FIRE ENGINEERING. Enter the 100% figure in the appropriate box on the form. Calculate the values for the other percentage involvement boxes and enter the numbers.

Item #6. Work the 25% column all the way through item #8 before moving on to the 50% column. Determine the number of personnel actually needed on the hoselines to deliver (and set-up in the case of master streams) the required fire flow. Use the information from the resource capability matrix that you calculated for your first-alarn assignment. In the case of large flow requirements, master streams may be used to reduce manpower requirements. But, make these numbers fit your department’s operations as real istically as possible.

Item #7. The number in this box will reflect all the additional personnel needed to support the hoseline crew This includes personnel to conduct needed search and rescue, pump operators, company commanders, chief officers, ladder company personnel, and any specialized personnel. The sum of items #6 and #7 are the total required personnel to handle the incident at that percentage involvement. We would suggest that you adjust the percentage of the 25% column to give a gpm value that is within the first-alarm assignment fire flow capability as determined by the resource capability matrix (see FIRE ENGINEERING, September 1984). This will give you an offensive tool for fires you can handle with the first alarm and also provide a visual demarcation for additional alarms.

Photo by Burton Phelps

Photo by Burton Phelps

STUDENT ACTIVITY

Using the forms In the article and the overview (map) of the Color Tile building, do a pre-plan of the Color Tile building Use the information below as well as the plot plan and floor plan diagrams to assist you in completing the forms.

Color Tile, 7401 Ritchie Highway at Georgia Ave.

The Color Tile building is of modern, ordinary construction (masonry sidewalls with a metal deck over light steel truss roof). The building was constructed about 1960. The store features various types of synthetic tile for both floors and walls. There is a quantity of various adhesive materials. The tile is contained in cardboard boxes.

In addition, there is an area dedicated to the sale of wallpaper and other such coverings.

The adjoining occupancy is a retail mattress and bedding outlet. There is a significant quantity of mattresses in the building, many are still covered in heavy protective paper or cardboard boxes.

Storage, stock, and preparation areas are at the rear of both occupancies. The electrical breaker boxes and gas regulators are in the storage areas.

The building’s dimensions are: frontal width, 100 feet; side depth, 90 feet. The building is one-story. The wall between the occupancies is a partition that only reaches to the underside of the suspended ceiling.

The building is not sprinklered. The available fire flow in the area is 1,000 gpm.

The only exposures are to the rear and consist of a number of row (town) houses. The front street is a two-lane, divided highway.

The author’s answer and explanation to this exercise, based on this and three prior articles, can be found on page 54.

Item #8. Start at the bottom of this column at “Other.” Put in this box the quantity of specialized apparatus that may be needed based on the “specialized personnel” that you may need.

In the “Chief” box, place the number of chief officers that would be required. In the “Truck” box, place the number of trucks (ladder company) or squads that would be required to have the sufficient personnel to do search, rescue, and the ladder company work you said you needed in item #7 above.

Now add up all the personnel that are brought by the “Other”, “Chief”, and “Truck” companies, subtract that from the sum of items #6 and #7. This will give you the number of personnel that would have to be delivered to the incident scene on the engine (pumper) companies.

In the “Engine” box, place the number of engine companies that would be required.

Item # 10. This section relies on the assumption that individuals understand the difference between strategy and tactics. By definition, strategy is the overall game plan, the big picture, a plan for achieving some end. Tactics on the other hand are the assignments given to companies or personnel that when completed have helped to achieve our strategy (overall game plan). Fire service strategies, in order of highest to lowest priority are:

The incident commander must be aware of the critical information concerning the building he may be called on to save.

1. Rescue
2. Exposures Ventilation
3. Confinement
4. Extinguishment Salvage
5. Overhaul

Ventilation and salvage are strategies that must be applied where and when needed depending on the needs at an incident. For item # 10, it is only necessary to determine which of the above strategies are specifically applicable to the building and occupancy being pre-fire planned. These will act as mind-joggers and set you on the correct course when you assign companies to various tactical assignments. A more in-depth discussion of the terms strategy and tactics will be presented in a future article.

In summary, no individual or department can confidently foretell how a totally unexpected incident of fire will be handled. However, pre-planning does reduce the chances of one thing or another going wrong. In addition, pre-planning helps to get you in front of the fire mentally, which is necessary before you can deploy forces to get in front of it physically. Pre-planning will greatly assist us in achieving the goals set in AMERICA BURNING, reduction of fire and life loss by 5% per year for a five-year period. If we are going to achieve that goal, business as usual in the fire service must change. Nearly all fire service scholars have professed the need for pre-fire planning in numerous textbooks, seminars, and training manuals. Unfortunately, the majority of fire departments have no pre-planning program, or a haphazard one at best. Pre-fire planning is one of those changes that will be used to determine just how professional any department, paid or volunteer, is.