Fire Attack: Offensive vs. Defensive

A direct attack method is designed to extinguish the fire by applying water in a straight or solid stream to the base of the fire. This allows the

Whereas law enforcement initially functions as individuals, fire dispatching normally involves one or more units of personnel. The types of fire calls are as unpredictable as law enforcement. There are many different types of fire calls, something as simple as smelling smoke, to a fully involved structure with occupants inside. It is the dispatchers responsibility to glean detains that will allow fire fighters to respond with the appropriate personnel and apparatus. When seconds count, it is critical that dispatchers obtain complete and accurate information. On occasion there is a nexus between firefighting and law enforcement such as an arson fire. Again it is critical that the dispatcher obtain complete and accurate information. It may be necessary to coordinate a law enforcement response simultaneously with a fire response. An example would be the arson fire of the Muslim mosque in Joplin in 2012. This was a total loss structure fire that was deliberately set. Ultimately information obtained by dispatchers and conveyed to line police officers resulted in a conviction of an arsonist and the ability of the mosque to get financial recovery and

My current position as an Area Commander for the Federal Protective Service (FPS) is not without its challenges. I am responsible for supervising eleven federal law enforcement officers to include two K9 units and approximately forty-five contracted protective security officers. As a team we address security related issues on a daily basis. Our position description encompasses two major disciplines; the first is federal law enforcement and the second physical security. Both occupations can be viewed as one, yet separate in their ever changing complexity of development. The greatest challenges are staying up with the constant progression of technical advances in the way each vital role is implemented. Combining two occupations into one job description can at times be overwhelming.

One could say the Fire Service possess one unique quality about how it operates daily and that is the culture and the community that lies within every department. Culture is defined as defined by Miriam-Webster “the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations (Definition of Culture, 2017, para. 5).” The many diverse aspects of each department in still’s a variety of cultural differences separating one department from the next. At the heart of all departments, fire service culture is the men and women who work and train hard to serve their communities as prescribed by the Fire Chief. The Fire Chief, however,

In order to apply the understandings of Industrial and Organization Psychology within the workplace, I interviewed retired police officer Jasmine Bird and her position in the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) as an officer of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). She was chosen for the interview because she is a 15 year veteran with massive experience within the department. The NYPD is the biggest department in the country with over 35 thousand officers. Officers are trained paramilitary, meaning they adhere to the rules and regulations as that of the military. They are trained in all aspects such as combat, shooting, verbal judo, sensitivity training and operating weapons of mass destruction. Within the first years on the job, you start

NIOSH found the following (2009) Ensure that fire fighters receive essential training consistent with national consensus standards on structural firefighting before being allowed to operate at a fire incident, develop, implement, and enforce written standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fireground operations, ensure that fire fighters are trained to follow the two-in/two-out rule and maintain crew integrity at all times, ensure that adequate numbers of apparatus and fire fighters are on scene before initiating an offensive fire attack in a

NFPA and National Fire Protection Association are registered trademarks of the National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts 02169. Copyright © 2008 National Fire Protection Association®. All Rights Reserved. This edition of NFPA 1006, Standard for Technical Rescuer Professional Qualifications, was prepared by the Technical Committee on Rescue Technician Professional Qualifications and released by the Technical Correlating Committee on Professional Qualifications. It was issued by the Standards Council on December 11, 2007, with an effective date of December 31, 2007, and supersedes all previous editions. This edition of NFPA 1006 was

For years if not decades, firefighters have responded to a reported structure fire that turned out to be a fully involved single room. This fire scenario requires a core set of fire tactics and skills to control and extinguished the fire, but is it this simple? Perhaps twenty years it may have been, but new dangers are lurking in every scenario and may have detrimental outcomes for unsuspecting and unaware firefighters and victims. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) agency along with the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) have been conducting research to understand fire behavior and fire dynamics. This research is providing firefighters with new information about how and why

The One Meridian Plaza fire that took place on February 23, 1991 was an utter disaster in which everything went wrong. Starting with the initial fire detection and continuing to the eventual suppression of the fire, events unfolded in manner that heavily stacked the chips against fire fighters of Philadelphia. Even though this was a tragedy of immense proportions, there are lessons to be learned and behaviors to be rectified through a thorough study. With an examination of multiple factors, including the building’s construction, occupancy, fire protection systems, the nature of the fire fighters’ response, and the fire growth and control to name a few, a clearer picture of what happened February 23, 1991 can be realized. Furthermore, lessons

Within the United States there are five different types of construction. Firefighters need to know and understand each of them. Every construction type have fire resistant weaknesses, these weaknesses will result in fire spreading in the building. If firefighters understand how the fire will spread, then understand how to extinguish the fire faster and more importantly firefighters are better protected from injuries or worse. In America all buildings are associated with one of the types of construction, identified by Roman number. The building codes are, fire resistant (type I), combustible (type II), ordinary construction (type III), heavy-timber construction (type IV) and wood-frame construction (type V). It is important to remember that all buildings are not the same. Each different building construction type will burn much differently than the others do. In order to be able to size-up a building 's fire hazard, firefighters need to be able to understand a buildings contents and construction. Materials that are stored inside of the building and also materials used to construct the building will both fuel the fire. Also know that if a structure is vacant or if the contents in the building are not combustible, the main fire hazard is the building. The scale of the construction types are scaled according to the fire load of combustible material that was used for its construction. A fire resistant building is constructed with least amount of combustible materials, and a

Today, the Incident Command System (ICS) is a major component of NIMS and is widely used in emergency management response. However, this was not always the case. According to David A. McEntire and Gregg Dawson, authors of the article, “The intergovernmental Context,” ICS was originally developed by the fire service in 1970. Its purpose was to assist in the command of wildfire events. It was unique because it standardized operations, yet offered flexibility so that it could be used on any number of events, regardless of size or type (McEntire & Dawson, 2007, p. 63).

Thousands of fires occur on a yearly basis throughout the United States. Whether it is forest fires, house fires, or any other event that involves uncontrollable flames, the outcome will always be the same; high amounts of destruction and physical damage. When fire emergencies occur, responding to the incident may not be much of a complication as apposed to determining the source from where the fire started or what triggered its behavior, which is truly the challenge. In order to do so, a fire investigator has to be present at the scene of the fire after it has been eliminated. The investigator, after reviewing any possible marks or behavior trails, will conclude if the incident was indeed an accident or intentional, thus making it an act

In the article “Know the Smells and Warning Bells of WMD”, the author, John Linstrom’s principal point is that the fire departments should better prepare to respond to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Historically, explosive or WMD incidents were handled by law enforcement, while fire assumed a support role, but with increased terroristic occurrences, firefighters have been finding themselves in situations where they have been first on scene. Mr. Linstrom stresses that firefighters need to be mindful of the threat of explosives and WMD’s when responding to incidents (Linstrom, 2004). Firefighters need to familiarize themselves with terrorist tactics and beware of potential high-risk

c. In case of fire, the MSG USO/NCO will work closely with the civilian fire personnel. Additionally, he/she will—

Interdepartmental dependency and physical security objectives working together in the event of arson, shootings, or bombings in a church environment could prove to be very effective in protecting their fellowman. The physical aspect alone