The Importance of: STRATEGY AND TACTICS TRAINING
FEATURES
TRAINING
How often do we run our personnel through training evolutions? For most of us, the answer probably depends on our department’s activity level. How often do we train our personnel in strategy and tactics? The majority of us would no doubt say that we train our officers only occasionally and that we probably never train our firefighters.
It’s a shame that this lack of training has become so commonplace throughout the fire service. A good, working knowledge of tactics, especially when taught to the members as a unit, promotes teamwork, increases confidence, reduces losses, and is critical to the effectiveness of a volunteer department that may not have an officer on-scene immediately.
Some departments never even drill together. Have you ever observed the way these departments operate? Each member has his own method of laying lines, setting ladders, etc. No one is assured what the other person will do or is going to do next. It’s a sorry sight to say the least.
We practice evolutions so we can work as a team. It’s time to go one step further. Have your firefighters attend a few tactics training classes. This will help them to better anticipate the next objecfive and be better prepared for it.
FIGURE 1
Problem:
At 3 a m. on a summer morning, Engine 1 receives a call that an odor of smoke is emanating from 107 Third Street. Upon the department’s arrival, the officer of Engine 1 sees a glow in the picture window of 105 Third Street. It is a typical split-level residence constructed of wood frame with brick veneer. Your first-alarm assignment consists of two engines, one truck, one ambulance, and one officer. Hydrants are cross-grided on an 8-inch main. The wind is blowing in a westerly direction at 5 mph. Skies are clear.
The incident commander’s strategy will be more apparent, the tactics needed to support it will be understood, and the plan of attack will run smoother. Operations will move more quickly and in a more orderly fashion.
Training classes will increase the firefighters’ knowledge and familiarity with an operation before the actual incident occurs. This will add to their confidence because they will feel more prepared. People fear ignorance, especially their own. Confidence and success go hand-in-hand. As their confidence increases, so will the success of the operation.
The first bit of self-confidence is what’s needed for the first success. Once the foundation is there, the building can begin. Tactics training is that foundation.
A department that builds teamwork and confidence can expect to do a safer, more efficient job on the fireground. This means they will experience fewer civilian and department losses.
Training classes are also valuable because they teach a firefighter how to handle an incident until an officer arrives on the scene. Anyone who has been in a small volunteer department has experienced a call where there were no officers. Obviously, the firefighters cannot stand by and do nothing until an officer arrives. They must be knowledgeable enough to take a correct action.
Notice, I use the term a correct action, not the correct action. There may be many, not just one course to take. Any action that tends to reverse the most severe exposure (life or, in its absence, property) is correct. Some choices are better than others, but there can be many correct actions.
My selection for the best method of tactics training is the one that is used by Chief Grant Wilson in his “Tactics and Command” classes at the Westmoreland County Community College in Youngwood, PA. It is inexpensive, interesting, relatively fast and simple, and can be carried out anywhere.
This is how it works: The trainer or student devises a problem (see Figure 1 on page 37). He gives the necessary data and perhaps provides a sketch. This is an excellent opportunity to get out the preplans, or to make them up. Each student uses a worksheet to help him solve the problem in the way he thinks is best, such as listing facts, time, location, nature of call, life hazard, personnel and equipment, etc. Solutions are then compared and discussed.
FIGURE 2
Problem: At 3 p.m. on a summer weekday afternoon, a fire department receives a call reporting a fire in the rear showroom of the drapery shop. The weather is warm and there is no wind. The buildings are on Beverly Street. They are threeand four-story ordinary construction with flat, tar, and gravel roof. First-floor occupancy is commercial with a frame and dry-wall divider. Upper floors are apartments. No automatic detection or suppression systems in place. Due to the nature of occupancy, an automatic second alarm is preplanned. The first-alarm assignment consists of two engines, one truck, one ambulance, and one officer. Second alarm and all additional alarms are duplicates of the first alarm.
Facts:
Time: 3 p.m., weekday, summer
Nature: fire
Weather: warm, no wind
Fire: rear showroom of drapery shop
Location: cross streets of Overlook and Beverly, rear of shop
Exposures: vertical-apartments; horizontal-businesses
Life hazard: customers and tenants
Building involved: three-story, ordinary construction, flat tar and gravel roof, apartments and commercial
Probabilities:
Life hazards: light in apartments, normal in businesses
Explosions: household products (aerosol) in pharmacy and market
Extension: vertical-bum through and openings; horizontal-front of shop, pharmacy
Weather changes: not likely
Collapse: not imminent
Preventable damage: should be able to contain to area of origin
Own situation:
Personnel and equipment: two alarms (preplanned)-two engines, one truck, one ambulance, 10 officers, four men/vehicle per alarm
Assistance available: unlimited alarms, all duplicate first alarm
Water supply: two hydrants on 16-inch main, one at 25 feet, one at 200 feet
Private protection: none
Action already taken: none
Decision:
- Engine 1 to take hydrant at corner and attack w/21/2-inch line.
- Command post will be at Engine 1.
- Engine 2 to lay in, Engine 3 to pump supply, Engine 4 lay out to alley.
- Handlines from Engines 1 and 2 to secure escape routes and protect exposures.
- Open door at rear to vent, all available personnel for search and rescue.
- Transmit third alarm, supply lines to Trucks 1 and 2.
- Trucks 1 and 2 ladder building and prepare for vertical ventilation and/or exposure protection.
- Extinguish with heavy attack.
- Begin salvage as soon as personnel become available.
- Overhaul, investigate cause, and return custody to owners.
Plan of operations:
- Engine 1-attack, hydrant, Engine 2-lay in with Engine 3 to pump supply. (3)*
- Radio command post position, begin attack w/21/2-inch. (3)
- Engine 4-lay out to alley, open rear door of fire building. (2)
- 1 3/4-inch lines from Engines 1, 2, and 4 secure stairways and stop horizontal extension. (5)
- Personnel from Engines 2 and 3, Truck 1 for search and rescue of apartments, check extension and ventilate. (6)
- Transmit third alarm, supply Trucks 1 and 2. (2 men + 1 from situation C above.)
- Trucks 1 and 2 ladder and prepare to ventilate or provide exposure protection. (2 men from situation F above.)
- Engine is 5 and 6, Truck 3, one officer to staging. (4)
- Personel from Engines 5 and 6, Truck 3 assist search and rescue and relieve attack crews as needed. (9)
- Begin salvage as personnel complete other assignments,
- Overhaul and investigate cause.
- Return custody to owners.
*Numbers in parentheses are the number of personnel used. Do not exceed the amount alloted by each alarm.
When solving the problem, the students must follow these three rules:
- They must not ridicule any answers given by their fellow students.
- They must stay within the guidelines of the defined problem. They may add as much as they like in terms of personnel and equipment, unless they are restricted by the given data.
- They can use any tactics that would help reduce losses as long as they follow the tactical guide
- RECEO (Rescue, Exposures, Containment, Extinguishment, Overhaul).
The idea is for the students and the instructor to arrive at a concensus on the best way to solve the problem. Sharing conclusions is an excellent way to quickly reach an easy and feasible approach to the situation. Don’t be surprised if the instructor learns too. Some great ideas have come from rookies at these sessions.
You should make up several problems of different magnitudes. Start with a simple one (i.e., a car or grass fire) and progress to more complex situations (see Figures 2 and 3). Naturally, if you are going to do hazardous materials or high rise, you must give the students some background information on these subjects.
After awhile, you can add variations to this exercise. One is to write down mitigating or extenuating circumstances on a piece of paper (i.e., change of wind speed and direction, apparatus breakdown, presence of an unknown automatic suppression system, etc.). Let the students draw from these and reconsider the problem.
This is an excellent method for showing the different tactics that are necessary for what may seem like slight changes in a situation. Time frames may be assigned to more closely simulate the real time processes during an actual alarm.
The next rainy day, when a few personnel are sitting around the station, turn the boredom into an interesting training session. It will help to pass the time and improve the way your department functions. This method may not be as effective as a simulator, but it works, and it is far less expensive.
