Fire Department Structure and Procedure

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Fire Department Structure and Procedure

• Unit 4
• By Emory Arnold

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Organization of the Fire Service

• Governments all over, whether state, municipal,
  or national have a responsibility to protect the
  general welfare of the public against any threat.
  
• Fire is one such peril

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Organization of the Fire Service

• Citizens accept certain restrictions on their
  behavior and pay taxes to protect themselves and
  others.

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Organization of the Fire Service

• The fire service gets its authority from the
  governing entity responsible for protecting the
  public.

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Organization of the Fire Service

• The people charged with protecting the public
  may be given special privileges to enable them to
  perform there duties.

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Do Not Park

• Maybe I should not have parked here.

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Organization of the Fire Service

• Firefighter Legally breaking and entering

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Organization of the Fire Service

• The head of the fire department known as the
  Fire Chief is accountable to the leader of the
  governing body such as the Mayor, Commissioner,
  City or County Manager, or City Council.

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Organization of the Fire Service

• The fire department uses a paramilitary style of
  leadership.
• Firefighters operate under a rank system, which
  establishes a chain of command.

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Organization of the Fire Service

• Most fire departments use four basic management
  principles
• Unity of Command
• Span of Control
• Division of Labor
• Discipline

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Unity of Command

• A theory that each firefighter answers to only
  one supervisor. Each supervisory answers to only
  one boss.
• This ensures that everyone is answerable to the
  Fire Chief and establishes a direct route of
  responsibility from the Chief to the Firefighter.

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Span Of Control

• The number of people that one person can
  supervise effectively.
• Some experts believe that span of control should
  extend to no more than five people in a complex
  environment.

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Division of Labor

• A way of organizing an incident by breaking down
  the overall strategy into smaller task.
• Some departments are divided into units based
  upon functions.

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Discipline

• A set of guidelines that a department establishes
  for firefighters.
• SOPs Standard Operating Procedures
• Policies and procedure
• SOGs Suggested Operating Guidelines
• Suggested procedures

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Organization of the Fire Service

• The organizational structure of a fire
  department consist of a chain of command.
• The chain of command creates a structure for
  managing the department and commanding fire
  ground operations.

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Ranking System

• Firefighters usually report to a Lieutenant.
• The Lieutenant is responsible for a single
  company (such as an engine company) on a single
  shift.

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Captain

• Captains are not only responsible for a fire
  company but they are responsible for coordinating
  the companys activities with other shifts.
• Lieutenants report to the shift Captain.

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Battalion Chief

• Captains report to Battalion Chiefs.
• Battalion Chiefs are responsible to the whole
  shift. They coordinate and command fire ground
  operations. They also ensure that all companies
  are properly staffed for each shift.

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Assistant Chief

• Battalion Chiefs report directly to the
  assistant chief.
• The assistant chief is in charge of functioning
  areas within the fire department (such as
  training, logistics, operations, etc)
• The Assistant chief reports to the Fire Chief.

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Company Types

• Engine company
• Truck company

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Engine Company

• An engine company is responsible for securing a
  water source, deploying handlines, conducting
  search and rescue operations, putting water on
  the fire.

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Engine company

• The fire engines have a pump, carry hoses, and a
  booster tank of water (500-1000 gal.) Engines
  also carry a limited quantity of ladders and hand
  tools.
• We will identify the equipment in a later unit.

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Truck Company

• A Truck company specializes in forcible entry,
  ventilation, roof operations, search and rescue
  operations above the fire, and deployment of
  ground ladders, ranging from 8 to 50 in length.
• The Trucks are also equipped with aerial
  devices, such as an aerial ladder, tower ladder,
  or platform ladder.

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Truck Company
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Rescue Company

• Rescue Company is responsible for rescuing
  victims from fires, confined spaces, trenches,
  and high angle situations.

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Wildland Company

• Wildland fire companies use four wheel vehicles
  and carry special equipment such as portable
  pumps, rakes, shovels, etc. to combat wildland
  fires.

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Hazardous Material Company

• These companies responds to and controls scenes
  involving spilled and leaking hazardous
  materials.

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Emergency Medical Services

• EMS companies include ambulances and first
  responders. They respond to assist and transport
  medical and trauma patients to medical facilities.

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Positions within the Fire Department

• Firefighters may be assigned any number of task
  from deploying hose lines to extinguishing fires.
• Firefighters are not responsible for any command
  functions and does not supervise other personnel.

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Roles

• Driver/Operator- (engineer) the driver is
  responsible for getting the fire apparatus and
  personnel to the fire scene safely.
• Operator also sets up the apparatus to pump water
  to the fire scene. The operate also operates the
  pump or the aerial ladder.

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Roles

• Company Officer- (Lieutenant) Is in charge of the
  crew and apparatus, while at the station and fire
  scene.
• Company Officer is responsible for the initial
  firefighting strategy, personnel safety and
  tactics used on the fire scene by all personnel.

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Roles

• Safety Officer- watches the overall operation for
  unsafe practices. He or she has the authority to
  stop any firefighting activity until it can be
  done in a safe manner.

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Roles

• Training Officer- responsible for updating the
  training of current firefighters and for training
  new firefighters.

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Roles

• Incident Commander- The incident commander is
  responsible for the management of all incident
  operations.

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Roles

• Fire Marshal/Fire Inspector/Fire Investigator
• Inspect businesses and enforce public safety
  laws and codes. They may respond to the fire
  scenes to determine the cause of the fire.
• Investigators generally have full police powers.

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Organizational Charts For Fire Departments

• Large and Small

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Resources

• Essentials of Fire Fighting 4th edition, edited
  by Richard Hall and Barbara Adams. (ISBN
  087939149-9)
• Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills, Jones and
  Bartlett Publishing. (ISBN 0-7637-3454-3)
• Websites
• http//www.google.com/imgres?qfiredepartmentorg
  anizationalchart