Managing The Large Scale Incident

By Frank C. Schaper

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Photographs: (select thumbnail to view detail image)

 

Whippany (NY) Firefighters work a handline in the rear of a pharmacy in East Hanover. The general alarm blaze destroyed five businesses last December. Adam Alberti

Newark (NJ) Fire Deputy Chief communicates during a 4th alarm fire at a mulch-making plant. Adam Alberti

This article can be found on
page 44 of the Mar/Apr 1998
issue of 9-1-1 Magazine.

A four story wood and brick warehouse was fully involved and extending towards exposure buildings on Sides 2, 3, and 4. As I came into the fire scene, my Battalion Chiefs were feverishly setting up for a defensive operation. I did a quick reconnaissance, set up my command post on a vacant lot on Side 1, and asked for a fourth alarm. Moments later, the occupied building on Side 4 started to light up prompting me to order a fifth alarm.

Fire brands the size of softballs fell around my command vehicle. A southerly wind carried the brands through the air threatening the neighborhood to the north. It was quite a sight to behold, but I hardly had the time to take it all in. The fire eventually went to six alarms.

Managing a large scale incident like this, where the action is fast and furious, stretches the capabilities of the Incident Commander to the maximum. In less than fifteen minutes, I had over one hundred firefighters assaulting the scene with 24 pieces of fire apparatus. At situations like this, the IC better have his or her act together.

Meanwhile, back at the communications center, things were just as hectic. The dispatchers were hardly having a picnic. Dispatching the extra alarms, paging back fire department staff, answering telephones, relocating available apparatus, watching the accountability clock and covering other emergencies kept the dispatchers on their toes. It's nights like this when the dispatchers have to have their acts together, too. Fortunately for me, they did.

Managing any large scale incident, whether at the scene as the IC or at the communications center as a dispatching supervisor, is not an easy thing to do. It takes planning, coordinating, and training ahead of time. During the heat of battle is hardly the time to figure out how to handle the situation. Unfortunately for many fire departments, that is exactly what they do.

Many fire departments today neither use the Incident Command System (ICS) nor Standard Operating Procedures, preferring to run the emergency by the seat of their pants. Their fireground operations usually reflect this mismanagement. But it need not be that way. Fire fighting is not rocket science. ICS and Standard Operating Procedures are tools we can all use to help make our job easier and safer to accomplished.

Standardizing the dispatch assignments is the first step. For example, St. Louis dispatches four quint engines, one 110' quint aerial ladder, one heavy duty rescue squad, and two battalion chiefs on all first alarms. It does not make any difference if it is a one story house, a 42 story office building, or the Gateway Arch. The assignment is always the same. The deputy chief is also dispatched on certain target alarms such as the warehouse fire discussed earlier. This places 26 firefighters and two or three chief officers on the scene staffing six apparatus and staff cars. Per standard operating procedures, these first-in companies and officers know what their assignments are going to be at the fire before they leave quarters. How we do this is the subject of another article, but the system works.

Cities such as New York and Chicago also send in large initial assignments using standard operating procedures. Experience proves these systems to be very beneficial to incident commanders and dispatchers. Why doesn't your department and dispatching agency do the same?

It should be noted that many dispatching agencies also have the authority to send in a full first alarm assignment depending on the information they receive over the telephone. This policy has been a valuable asset for those agencies using such a system and I would recommend it to all communication centers.

Dispatching offices also should have the authority to call back off duty dispatchers to help out during extremely busy times. A third or fourth dispatcher on duty is not a luxury especially when the action is hot and heavy.

When an Incident Commander strikes a greater alarm, a number of things should happen automatically to help the IC and the dispatchers (whether this occurs at a 2nd or 3rd alarm level is determined by agency protocol). The extra alarm companies should be dispatched to a staging area along with a Command Post vehicle. Fire department staff personnel should be paged back to work or an overhead team should be deployed. Some of the personnel should report directly to the Command Post and assist the Incident Commander. Others should be sent to the communications center to activate an operations center (O.C.). Personnel working the O.C can coordinate fire fighter recalls, the placing of reserve equipment into service, and the utilization of mutual aid companies.

Once the command vehicle is operational, a large portion of incident-specific communications should be moved from the dispatching office to the command post. This will relieve the dispatchers of a number of responsibilities. One of which is the relaying of numerous fire ground transmissions. This will allow the dispatchers time to concentrate on moving up companies, filling out extra alarms, and handling other emergencies. Since representatives from various agencies, such as the police, emergency medical service, and utilities, report to the Command Post, request for their assistance can be made face to face rather than going through the dispatch center. This saves the dispatchers time and actually speeds up the request for more police or medic units.

The Operations Center should have the authority to call in mutual aid fire companies to cover unprotected areas and recall off duty firefighters and chief officers or overhead teams. To expedite the operation, the mutual aid companies should be moved into preassigned firehouses. This gives the unprotected area coverage quickly while the off duty personnel report in to man reserve equipment. Off duty personnel should wear pagers for quick notification of an emergency.

The beauty of this system is that the dispatchers and Incident Commander do not have to get directly involved with this operation. The Operations Center handles the bulk of it but coordinates their actions with the IC and dispatch supervisor. The system should almost run on automatic pilot. The key to it all is the Incident Command System and the use of s.o.p.'s.

The use of Standard Operating Procedures is a must. I don't care if you call them s.o.p.'s or s.o.g.'s or p. g. i.'s (pretty good ideas). Write them down, train on them, and use them. Once again, this includes the firefighters, chief officers, and the dispatchers.

Use a command vehicle at all large operations and staff it. Three talented personnel works nicely. This vehicle should be equipped with mobile radios and appropriate frequencies, battery charger, cell phones, FAX machine, command board or worksheets, and a computer. Doing as much as possible out of the command vehicle relieving the dispatchers of phone calling and fireground transmissions.

Implement an Operations Center with staff having the authority to call needed resources. A well run Ops Center should take the heat off the dispatch center, bring resources into town quickly, and give the Fire Chief peace of mind that his town is being protected.

All of this is possible to do. For more information, contact me at St. Louis Fire Department Headquarters, 1421 N. Jefferson, St. Louis, Missouri 63106 or call at 314-289-1971.