Size-up: Another Consideration
DEPARTMENTS
Volunteers Corner
In my last column, we followed one person through his size-up. We started with him responding from his home to an alarm for a structural fire and ended with him performing a job “well done.” He was very successful because he was able to draw from his experience, his training, a working knowledge of his response district, and just how his fire department was known to operate and react in a given emergency.
We could have followed any number of personnel assigned responsibilities to perform specific tactics and come up with similar results. We could have been looking at the vent team, a water supply team, or a forcible entry team and pointed out that they were successful because of a timely and correct size-up.
The main point of the article was to reinforce the statement that all members must perform size-up. For years, this fireground function was looked on as solely the chief’s responsibility. True, the incident commander must have a complete overview of the scene, but each responding firefighter must assess his own conditions.
If this is accomplished, and everyone is capable of performing so well on his own, then why do we need a chief?
The answer is simple. He is responsible for the big picture. If his size-up started with the receipt of the alarm, his “film” and yours will be underexposed.
Let’s look at the chief’s size-up. When does it actually start? When does it end? Most chiefs that I have had the pleasure to talk with say that it’s from the minute you are sworn in until the minute you hang up the uniform.
Each will tell of the frustrations of the chief’s job. Some may cite the fires and emergencies, some the training, and still some the management of manpower. The list goes on and on. I never view these statements as complaints, but rather as size-ups because the first and most important piece of the size-up puzzle is to recognize the problem. Once that is defined, it’s easy to move on. A strategy is formulated and a tactic is instituted to correct the problem. Easier said than done? You bet!
The first and most important puzzle piece that any chief must address is his manpower. I’ll never forget two statements that I’ve heard in my 23 years as a volunteer.
- “You can’t put out fires with chrome bumpers!”
- “I don’t care how many new trucks you have, you need the people to man them.”
The chief must size-up his personnel. How many members are here because they like chrome bumpers? How many because they like new trucks? How many for the social beer and sandwich? How many are here out of sheer dedication? And how many because they believe in and support the present administration? After your list is complete, reverse the questions and ask why new people haven’t joined. Remember to include those who have become inactive.
The volunteer fire chief can have personnel problems that can boggle the mind of a managerial expert. He mixes white and blue collar workers together to achieve a common goal and attempts to get the job done through the efforts of others. An easy task? Give me a break! The old-timer won’t listen to the new lieutenant. Your best friend, Mike, hates the captain. Two firefighters had a fistfight over the Super Bowl, and one of the assistant chiefs is trying to undermine everything the chief does.
In the size-up process, one item that the chief cannot overlook is the training curriculum—either the one that he established or the one that was set up by the delegated subordinate. This training process is going to be the key to any successful operation.
Many fire departments can go months, sometimes a year, without a “working” structural fire. Although this is great for the community, it can leave the fire service sitting on its haunches. “Why train? We never have any fires!” The chief must convince the firefighters that when fire duty is down, training must be up. Without it we lose our edge. Our knowledge slips into the back of our minds because it hasn’t been used. You know the information, but you just can’t get it out. It’s like saying, “It’s right on the tip of my tongue!”
Also, it’s during these training sessions that standard operating procedures (SOPs) are formulated or evaluated for your particular response district. These SOPs can give a responding chief a feeling of either confidence or panic. It’s impossible for the chief to call every shot on the fireground. He must depend on his company officers and his firefighters to know the SOPs and carry them out without constant direct orders.
The well-trained department will handle most fires or emergencies by rote. Responding units should be able to operate with little or no direct supervision from the chief. This allows him to direct his attention toward the big picture and not get too involved with truck positions, water supply, laddering, or other basic firefighting operations.
Although fireground management is a very important function of a chief, his size-up cannot start at the receipt of the alarm. If it does, he will be lost.
He must look at his manpower and himself, his training procedures and the deficiencies, and try to correct them. This way, all the energies of his team will be going in the same direction, with as few splinter groups as possible. When personnel are able to work together, the chief will be able to focus on the fire and not on his back.
