BCFD Fire Incident Report Writing Manual

Purpose

• The Bernalillo County Fire Department (BCFD) Fire Incident Report Writing Manual outlines procedures for documenting fire incidents.

Records Management System

• Battalion Commanders are responsible for reports for which they were in command.
• Battalion Commanders can delete erroneous, duplicate, or transferred reports from the Electronic Reporting System (ERS), but not other report types without EMS Division coordination.
• Each Sunday, Battalion Commanders are responsible for collecting incident reports from fire stations under their command and transporting these reports to the EMS Division Office.
• Company Officers have supervisory authority over the records management system.
• Lieutenants are not authorized to delete reports from ERS.
• Captains can delete duplicate calls, test calls, and reports that have been transferred to other agencies.
• Company Officers are responsible for reviewing incident reports generated by their crews for completeness and correctness.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Battalion Commanders can coordinate and delegate portions of reports to initial arriving personnel or incident commanders.
• Battalion Commanders are exempt from the 24-hour rule for large-scale or complex incidents.
• Company Officers are responsible for assigning reports to appropriate personnel, but ultimately bear responsibility for their contents.
• Company Officers are responsible for collecting all paperwork associated with every incident during their shift.

Records and Forms

• Company Officers must scan and upload all paperwork into ERS, including tactical worksheets, NM State Forestry reports, Rehab logs, Notice of Hazard forms, Witness Statement Forms, Property Release Forms, Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention Worksheets, and Fire/Crime Scene Sign-In Log Sheets.
• Hardcopies of paperwork are assembled and sent via document wallet in a specific order.
• Additional forms, such as the Risk Management Paperwork, are available online or through shared drives.
• If an incident has resulted in a fire or civilian casualty, reporting guidelines in the EMS Report Writing Manual must be followed.

Procedures

• An incident commander or company officer should generate a Fire Incident Report within 24 hours of the incident's completion.
• ERS reports are legal documents and are subject to subpoena.
• Narratives should be limited to facts and avoid superfluous or editorial comments.

Minimum Report Criteria

• Fire reports must meet a score of 100 for validation.
• The Incident Narrative section requires detailed information, including:
  • Dispatched Information
    • Initial units dispatched.
    • Location and incident type.
    • Tactical channel, code response (Code 1 or 3), and mutual or automatic aid status.
    • Additional information received enroute.
    • Requests from units enroute.
    • Occupancy type, scene size-up, operational strategy, and command structure.
  • Tactics
    • Strategic objectives used.
    • Assigned units by group or division.
    • Benchmarks achieved, including time frames for fire control, primary and secondary searches, and loss stoppage.
    • Actions taken in case of firefighter injury or Mayday.
    • Transfer or referral of the scene to another authority.
    • Damaged or lost equipment.
  • Additional Information
    • Victim or citizen support.
    • Securing the residence.
    • Property owner or authority release.
    • Incident command termination.
  • Conclusion of Report
    • Document and summarize attachments, such as Patient, Firefighter Injury, RISK Management, Tactical Worksheet, Command Sheet, NM State Forestry, Confined Space, Wildland, SLR, SAR, Rehab Sheet, SCBA forms, and Pictures as applicable.

Appendix A

• Property Loss Estimation
  • Go to the property loss estimation website.
  • Input street number, street name, direction, year.
  • Select Display Notice of Values and click Parcel ID.
  • If a total loss, input the Total Full Value into ERS.
  • If a partial loss, multiply the Total Full Value by the percentage of damage and input the result into ERS.
  • Estimate the contents.
  • If the structure does not show up in the system, estimate the loss at $130 per square foot x damage percentage.

Review/Revised

• The manual was last reviewed and revised on February 22, 2020.

Changes

• Emergency Reporting was changed to Electronic Reporting.
• Day specific requirements for submitting documentation were changed to cycle-specific days.
• The requirement to review high life hazard reports was removed.
• Lieutenant and Captain authorizations were clarified.
• The report writing timeline in ERS was removed.
• Late call exception was removed.
• Minimum report criteria were replaced with Image Trend validation score.
• Procedure for assigning reports and completion requirements were updated to align with Image Trend and Blue Card requirements.
• The point of contact for ERS outages changed from Division Chief of EMS to Division Chief of Support Services.

This quiz covers the procedures outlined in the Bernalillo County Fire Department's Fire Incident Report Writing Manual. Participants will learn about the responsibilities of Battalion Commanders, Company Officers, and other personnel involved in records management. It's essential for understanding effective documentation and report management in fire incidents.