The History and Orientation of the Fire Service

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• The History and Orientation of the Fire Service

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Fire Department Governance (1 of 3)

• Regulations
• Detailed rules that implement a law passed by a
  governmental body
• Policies
• Outline what is expected in stated conditions
• Issued by a department to provide guidelines for
  its actions

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Fire Department Governance (2 of 3)

• SOPs
• Provide specific information on actions that
  should be taken to accomplish a task
• Ensure that all members perform a task in the
  same manner
• Provide a uniform way to deal with situations
• May also be called standard operating guidelines
  (SOGs)

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Fire Department Governance (3 of 3)
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Organization of the Fire Service

• Source of authority
• Local governments
• Sometimes from state and federal governments
• Fire chief accountable to the governing body

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Company Types (1 of 3)

• Engine

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Company Types (2 of 3)

• Truck
• Specializes in forcible entry, ventilation, roof
  operations, search and rescue, and deployment of
  ground ladders
• Rescue
• Rescue victims from confined spaces, trenches,
  and high angles

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Company Types (3 of 3)

• Wildland/brush
• Four-wheel drive vehicles
• Hazardous materials
• Scenes involving spilled or leaking hazardous
  materials
• EMS
• Assists in transporting to medical facilities

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Other Views of Organization

• Staffing
• Department must have sufficient trained personnel
  available
• Function
• Bureau or office
• Apparatus type
• Geography

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Chain of Command (1 of 4)

• Structure for managing the department and the
  fire-ground operations
• Ranks may vary by department, but the concept is
  the same

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Chain of Command (2 of 4)

• Lieutenant
• Single company on a single shift
• Captain
• Company on shift and for coordinating companys
  activities with other shifts
• Battalion chief
• Coordinates activities of several companies in a
  defined geographic area

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Chain of Command (3 of 4)

• Assistant or division chief
• In charge of a functional area within the
  department
• Chief of the department
• Overall responsibility for administration and
  operations of the department

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Chain of Command (4 of 4)

• Used to implement department policies
• Ensures that a given task is carried out in a
  uniform manner

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Basic Principles of Organization (1 of 3)

• Discipline
• Division of labor
• Organizing an incident by breaking down overall
  strategy
• Makes individual responsible for completing the
  assigned task
• Prevents duplicate job assignments

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Basic Principles of Organization (2 of 3)

• The organization of a typical fire department

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Basic Principles of Organization (3 of 3)

• Unity of command
• Each fire fighter answers to only one supervisor.
• Establishes a direct route of responsibility
• Span of control
• Number of people one person can supervise
  effectively