The Model Incident Command System Series RESOURCE CAPABILITY

The Model Incident Command System Series RESOURCE CAPABILITY

DEPARTMENTS

STRATEGY AND TACTICS

This is the third in a series of articles on incident command. In this issue, the authors will focus on determining resource capability.

RESOURCE DETERMINATION:

Resource capability

In the last issue of FIRE ENGINEERING, we explained a system for determining water flow requirements for different size fire areas and how to adjust the basic fire flow to account for the variables of occupancy, fire loading, exposures, and percent involvement. We are now ready to determine the amount of manpower required at an incident both to deliver the needed fire flow and to accomplish the other functions necessary for effective fire suppression.

In order to determine the most effective deployment of firefighting forces, incident commanders must know the capability of those forces to deliver water on the fire. Think about the number of engines (pumpers) and ladder trucks that respond to fires in your community on the first alarm. What is the average number of people on the first-alarm assignment? Before you read on, write down the maximum gpm you believe your first alarm can deliver on a typical structural fire in an offensive fire situation (not a surround and drown). Now, let’s go on to a full explanation of how to determine resource capability.

Take a fire building requiring 1,000 gpm as determined by a fire flow calculation. With 20 personnel on the scene, what must the handline gpm per person delivery rate be? Sure, 50 gpm per person, on the average, would be necessary to extinguish the fire. Can 20 personnel from your department achieve a handline fire flow of 1,000 gpm and effectively carry out the other fireground functions?

In order to determine how many units are required to handle any given situation, an incident commander must know what a given number of personnel can do. Obviously, there are national standards that indicate what an engine company can perform at the scene of an incident in terms of fire flow. But, you are not the national average. You are an engine company with a certain number of responders running with other engines and ladder companies with additional numbers of responders.

The resource capability matrix, shown here, is a tool that can assist us in determining not only our own company’s capabilities, but the capabilities of the first-alarm assignment as well. By using this matrix, you can approximate the capability of your engine company and first-alarm assignment in terms of fire flow capability for an offensive fire situation. Accuracy of the data used on the matrix is critical if you’re to have confidence in the information that’s developed. There are several recommended preliminary steps to accomplish prior to completing the form:

Step 1. Analyze your own company’s responding personnel. How many people are typically on the unit when it leaves quarters on a response? How many personnel are on the incident scene, operating with your company, within three to five minutes of the arrival of your engine company?

Do not overestimate response, otherwise you’ll get an erroneously high capability that you cannot achieve in the real world. It is often better to use a pessimistic approach to human capability. This will help to account for those who are under-skilled, undertrained, or otherwise inefficient at an incident.

Step 2. Analyze the rest of the personnel responding on the first-alarm assignment. For those communities that are divided into geographical sections with different responding companies for the different areas, each response area should be analyzed separately. A different resource capability matrix should be used for each different first-alarm assignment.

Step 3. Analyze the numbers of personnel responding from each geographic area on the second-alarm assignment. A matrix should be completed for each different second-alarm assignment.

Again, if the data that you provide for the matrix is not representative of an actual fireground situation, the resulting information that the matrix provides will be worthless to you as an incident commander.

The resource capability matrix

The matrix is not difficult to complete, but a thorough understanding of the variables is necessary for accuracy. The matrix provided is a combination of six horizontal rows and seven vertical columns.

  • Top row (company). The cells in the top row are divided into six categories. There are four cells for engines, one cell for a truck (ladder) company, and one cell for an assigned chief officer. These cell headings should be changed to appropriately coincide with the types of units on your firstand greater-alarm assignments. Remember, this system is a model that must be massaged to fit your community and your operations.
  • In these top row cells, place the unit or company number under the column titles.

  • Row 2 (personnel assigned). For each unit responding, place the number of personnel that typically respond (see your analysis from above). Once you have determined the number of personnel on each unit, add the numbers and place the total first-alarm manpower in the cell labeled “total personnel on scene.”
  • Row 3 (line size and gpm/number of personnel). Before we go on with the explanation for row 3, it is necessary to set some parameters. This matrix is used for offensive fire situations, where firefighting forces must go inside to do an effective job.
  • In order to extinguish interior fires with reasonable maneuverability and effective stream placement, normally a minimim number of personnel are required for the given line sizes. The following table should be used to determine the minimum required manning on hoselines for interior firefighting (these numbers do not include the pump operator):

    There is no doubt that some of you are saying that you can operate several of these lines with fewer personnel. We will agree with you up to a point. It is possible to have one person operate a 1 1/2 or l 3/4-inch hoseline in a window or a door from the exterior. However, that is not considered effective, interior offensive firefighting. Sure, one person can get the hoseline to the interior and operate it, provided there is a straight shot at the fire area. But, should furniture, door openings, or staircases cause bends in the hose, someone must be there to assist with maneuvering the line. In fact, as the hoseline gets larger in diameter, or interior stretches get longer, the numbers we have in the table will probably be insufficient. Operating any interior line with only one person is not a safe practice and should be strongly discouraged.

    The cells in this third row are divided diagonally. The top half of the diagonal is used to record the size of the line and the gpm that can be flowed. The bottom half of the cell is used to record the number of personnel required on the hoseline during operations. Based on your operations, your manning, and using the hoseline/personnel chart above, determine the maximum capability of each engine company in terms of handlines.

    You can combine the personnel from several engine companies to put larger lines in service if this is a typical operation for your department. You cannot, however, use the personnel from the truck companies as staff for hoseline work. For an effective and efficient operation, truck work must be accomplished, even if it is done by engine company personnel. If you do not have ladder companies in your community, an analysis of your recent working fires will show that truck work still got done by on-scene personnel.

    If this matrix is to be for the real world, it is important for you to allocate some personnel to truck work and not put all of your responding personnel on handlines. You must also remember not to use your pump operators or all of your officers as handline personnel.

  • Row 4. Self explanatory.
  • Row 5 (total company gpm). Between the plus signs, write the gpm that each company can deliver on the incident scene. Add the values in each cell and put the sum in the cell labeled “total gpm delivery capability.”
  • Row 6 (deployment time in minutes). This set of cells may be significant to your operations. You may wish to use your company’s arrival time as the base. Each additional unit would then have a length of time to be in operation from the arrival of your unit.
  • The last cell (in the bottom right corner of the matrix) requires a simple bit of mathematics. Divide the “total gpm delivery capability” by the “total personnel on scene.” This number represents your capability in terms of gpm per person on the scene.

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How to use the information on the matrix

In the beginning of this article, we asked you to write down what you believed your first-alarm water flow capability was. How close did your estimation match your matrix calculation? Most fire service personnel tend to overestimate capability by two to three times. Experience has shown that 85% of the departments in this country spend 30-50 gpm per person on scene.

How can you use this information about your company and the rest of the firstand greater-alarm assignments? As we said before, an incident commander must know the capability of the responding fire forces in order to effectively deploy the companies for efficient fire attack. By comparing the fire flow required for a given fire area with what the resources are capable of delivering, the incident commander can readily determine whether the offensive or defensive mode is appropriate. There is a considerable difference in the tactical assignments given by the officer to operating units if the mode is defensive rather than offensive.

In 100% paid departments, basic manning on engine and truck companies tends to remain at a constant level. The officers in these departments know how much manpower each unit is bringing to the incident scene.

However, in combination and volunteer departments, manning levels vary with each response. The officers in these departments are somewhat handicapped when it comes time to weigh their resources against the requirements for fire control. Some combination departments have met this challenge by including in their radio transmissions the level of manning (Engine 33 responding with three personnel). The fire alarm operators record the manning level given for each unit, add the number of first-alarm responders, and re-transmit the sum to the responding chief and first-due company. Using the information developed earlier, an average fire flow per person can be developed for any given department. It is then a very simple calculation to determine the fire flow capability of the first alarm; e.g., with an average fire flow rate of 40 gpm per person and 14 personnel responding on the alarm, the first-alarm capability would be 40 X 14, or 560 gpm. With this information, the incident commander can readily determine whether or not there are sufficient personnel on-scene to handle the situation. This calculation is adjusted by each additional unit dispatched to the incident, whether individually or by alarms.

Can you improve gpm/person delivery?

There may be a number of options available to you to improve your gpm delivery rate. You might opt for 1¾or 2-inch handlines with automatic nozzles in order to effectively increase the fire flow 80% to 100% over that obtained with 1 1/2-inch hoselines and adjustable nozzles.

Another option might be to develop operational procedures that park the second engine and use all personnel, including the pump operator, for handline operation. The addition of one person to a hoseline can increase fire flow by as much as 150% if you go from a 1 1/2-inch line with two personnel to a 1 3/4-inch or greater handline with three personnel.

The gpm fire curve

The gpm fire curve emphasizes how fire flow capability determines the strategy employed by the incident commander. The curve has two vertical lines that intersect the curve at the 500 gpm level. Let’s assume that is the capability of your first-alarm assignment. If you arrive at the incident and the required fire flow is equal to or less than what you are able to deliver, then you are in the offensive mode. With proper deployment and tactical assignments, the officer should be able to contain and extinguish the fire with the first-alarm crews.

However, if the required fire flow is greater than your ability to deliver, then you must assume a defensive mode until your on-scene forces are able to meet the required flow. Too often this occurs on the downside of the curve after most of the fuel is consumed.

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Having determined what our firstalarm assignment can do in terms of water flow, it is now time to look at the other functions that must be carried out for effective fire control.

The gpm-personnel ratio matrix

To effectively utilize this matrix, a specific structure and occupancy should be brought to mind in order to get a general perspective of needs versus capability.

  • Row 1 (total personnel assigned per alarm). From the resource capability matrix, enter the number of personnel that would be responding on the first alarm and greater alarms for any given geographic area.
  • Row 2 (total gpm delivery per alarm /total personnel for delivery). The cells in this row are divided diagonally. In the top half of the cell enter the total gpm that can be delivered by the companies as shown on the resource capability matrix. In the bottom half of the cell, enter the number of personnel required to be on the hoselines.
  • Row 3 (search and rescue). How many personnel are typically needed to accomplish search and rescue in the occupancy under consideration? Place this number in the cell.
  • Row 4 (pump operators and chief officers). If the pump operator is required and used at the pump panel, place the number of those who are performing in that mode. It is also necessary to have a given number of personnel with responsibility to command the operation: an overall incident commander, and selected sector officers to handle the rear, interior, roof, exposures, staging, and floors. All of these positions may not be necessary at any given incident, nor can they all be accomplished on the first alarm. It is your responsibility, when analyzing the data, to determine what is needed at each alarm condition.
  • Row 5 (truck work). What number of personnel are required to do forcible entry, ventilation, salvage, laddering, etc.? Enter this number in the cell provided.
  • Row 6 (reserve personnel). After adding the personnel numbers in rows two through five, a comparison with row 1 will determine whether or not there are any reserve personnel available. Another method is to build in some additional manpower resource for safety considerations, relief, and “Murphy’s Law.”

After completing the matrix, you should readily see whether or not there are sufficient personnel to handle the jobs that must be accomplished by a first-alarm response. What can be done when your “required personnel” is greater than the “personnel assigned”?

Analyzing the gpm-personnel ratio matrix

Adding more companies may place you into an over-response situation. Many departments are not in a position to add units to the first-alarm assignment and must re-evaluate their overall capability. Increasing the gpm per person fire flow by using larger hoselines and automatic nozzles will free personnel for other assignments. It may also be possible to alter the number of engine and truck companies to provide a better mix of the required functional personnel.

All incident commanders should be cognizant that there are many variables at an incident scene. From the two matrices, we have developed some significant knowledge about our company’s capabilities. However, there are many factors that can prevent us from meeting our projected fire flow. Rescue, ventilation, or forcible entry assignments may quickly deplete fire flow capability. In high-rise fire situations, it is not uncommon to require the personnel from three companies to keep one 2V2-inch hoseline in service. Use this information as a base, but be flexible enough to adjust rapidly with changing conditions and situations.

Summary

We have now covered the basics of combustion, provided a method of determining a required fire flow for a fire area with a number of modifying factors, and detailed a method for determining your company’s capabilities on firstor greater-alarm assignments.

We must emphasize that these methods are primarily for offensive fire situations and are designed to primarily assist the first-in company officers and battalion officers to make quick, effective decisions in the early stages of a fire. In order to place companies and assign tactical objectives, the incident commander must have some reasonable knowledge of required fire flows and what the capabilities of the responding resources are. It is only then that the incident commander, with reasonable assurance, can make the decisions that will minimize life and property loss at a fire. If we are to make significant strides against these losses, then we must be better prepared to make the best decisions we can, as soon as we can, at any given incident. This can only be accomplished if we understand our capabilities and the demands the fire will make on those capabilities.

Next month, we’ll cover planning for the effective use of resources.

Lincoln (NE) Fire Crews Battle Fire That Engulfed Three Homes

Lincoln Fire and Rescue crews battled a large fire in a residential neighborhood Tuesday morning amid brutally cold conditions.