BY ALAN BRUNACINI
WE HAVE DISCUSSED IN the Past few issues the subject of managing fireground intelligence. A big part of how we gather and use this intelligence is to act out our basic traditional community conservation-based role. That role was established by our founding fathers (early 1700s) to rescue people and protect their possessions when threatened by a fire. We are still guided by that original mission that directs us to quickly interrupt a damaging problem with a conserving response. The basic deal we make with the customer is short and sweet without a lot of fine print or maybes: Simply, when we become a firefighter, we promise Mrs. Smith that we will physically put our body in between her and the incident problem when she calls us for help. This is the most fundamental way we act out our basic conservation mission. To keep the promise, we must always be ready to take on a full variety of problems that range from very “quiet” situations where we sit with and reassure someone who is scared, upset, confused, or just plain deranged to our directly and very actively engaging an extremely violent fire situation that requires that we quickly create a counteracting amount of violent, tactical firefighting force to control and overpower the fire. These situations that range from supportive presence to battlefield action requires us to be extremely versatile (personally) and highly agile (organizationally) so that we can quickly and effectively connect the appropriate conserving response to whatever is consuming Mrs. Smith’s safety and security.
In the very beginning, our founding fathers (Ben Franklin, et al.) recruited tall, hyperactive young lads who typically had a slight attention deficit and episodic personalities (so they would voluntarily and enthusiastically “run” into burning buildings). The recruiters instructed these young firefighters to respond as quickly as they could, establish a water source, get as physically close to the fire as possible, and immediately apply water directly on whatever was burning-the genesis of “wet stuff on red stuff.” This beginning routine became (and still is) the “Ben Franklin Dance.” There is a straight, powerful, uninterrupted traditional line from that beginning to this very second. In spite of all the modern, space-age technical improvements, we are still dancing the very same attack-oriented dance step that Ben originally taught us in 1739. Those brave souls who get up in the morning and think they are going to change the “fire service culture” are going to be tired (and probably disappointed) buckaroos by quitting time, because they have attempted in one day to redirect 263 years of the most potent, peer-driven, action-oriented occupational socialization that has ever occurred.
Based on our original conservation-oriented mission, the foundation of our business is harm management: We must prevent harm before it occurs, stop harm that is underway, and assist in recovering from harm that has already occurred (proact/react/rehab). Protecting humans and conserving their physical resources are the reasons we exist as a service. Everything we do must be directed to always being ready and able to physically assist/save the people, places, and things being threatened by some harm-producing hazard, problem, or situation (cops do social threats). How willing and able we are to physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially serve our customers (i.e., fit for duty) becomes the basis for how we then add value to our core service. Core service is what gets us in the door; added value is the “nice” part of our contact with the customers and is what they remember the most (Nice = respect, patience, consideration, kindness/people, pets, pictures, pills). We must always remember that the only thing we produce is service; we don’t manufacture widgets or have a factory full of machines. There is no fire department warehouse full of service. All of our business is retail, so we must deliver help to our customers one call at a time. These timeless fire service conservation efforts create the focus of the where, what, when, how, and why of our tactical operations. Our consistent response and effective performance create the conservation of community confidence that when you have a problem, you know someone from the “government” (us) will respond and actually help you-no forms, applications, or mindless bureaucrats, just one quick, easy, three-number call. We ask you two basic questions: “Where are you?” and “What’s the matter?” and Bingo! we are out the door on Big Red, haulin’ down Main Street to do whatever is required to make your bad day go away. The first rule of life is showing up, and we always show up.
We typically respond, arrive, and find (i.e., inherit) fire conditions that range on a standard scale (see May column) from minor to severe. We describe these conditions tactically in terms of standard critical fireground factors. Each situation has its own special mixture of critical factors, and this combination creates the basic profile for that incident. Although each incident is made up of its own special (different) combination of factors, the factors themselves are recurrent and standard. The way we learn to evaluate incident conditions and decide how to operate tactically on each situation with its own factors emerges from our basic understanding of the details and dynamics of the critical factors and the conditions they create and, most importantly, how we can effectively respond to those standard conditions. Our basic objective is to convert out-of-control conditions (hot) to under control (cold). A critical fireground factor involves an understanding of the various areas of involvement and how conservation efforts are tactically applied to those areas to rescue people and save their stuff.
ALAN BRUNACINI recently retired as chief of the Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department. He and his sons own the fire service Web site bshifter.com.
