Incident Anatomy and Physiology

Anatomy and Physiology of an Incident

• Incidents possess a common anatomy and physiology regardless of size, type, or nature.
• Standardization helps organize, manage, and mitigate any type of incident.
• Common characteristics can be anticipated to apply a standard decision-making model.
• Incident-specific variables are integrated to minimize chaos and maximize anticipation.
• This chapter provides an overview of incident anatomy, terminology, and physiology.

Incident Types

• There are five incident types, ranging from Type 1 (federal-level) to Type 5 (single alarm).
• Type 1 incidents involve significant federal-level events, such as 9/11, large wildfires, and massive hurricanes.
• Type 2 incidents are state-level events, including smaller fires and floods impacting resources within the state.
• Type 1 and 2 incident management teams (IMTs) consist of overhead personnel who manage larger incidents as they escalate.
• Type 3 incidents are county or operational area incidents lasting over a day and involving multiple agencies.
• Operational areas typically align with county jurisdiction, and Type 3 IMTs have become commonplace since 9/11.
• Type 4 incidents are multi-alarm/multi-agency events like multi-alarm structure fires, lasting up to 24 hours.
• Larger fire departments typically handle these without assistance, while smaller agencies may require automatic/mutual aid.
• Type 5 incidents are single-alarm events, such as medical aids and house fires, resolved in a few hours or less.

Pre-Incident Considerations

• Modern incident management requires a global perspective for success.
• Pre- and post-incident considerations are important for fire departments, and should factor into overall incident anatomy and physiology.
• Pre-incident preparation includes pre-planning for target hazards, high life-threat occupancies, and multi-family dwellings.
• Training and team capabilities are critical, including staffing considerations for each shift.
• Factoring the deployment model is integral to command philosophy and readiness.
• Cities have unique deployment models, staffing, resource levels, mutual aid, departments, and dispatch centers.
• Daily staffing shortages, company closures, out-of-service units, training, maintenance, and special events should be expected/considered.
• Traffic patterns, weather, and run volume should be considered.
• Knowing which companies are out of service or position is critical and staying aware and prepared makes you ready for anything.

Incident Anatomy and Physiology Components

• Actual incidents have 12 components, each with specific characteristics:
  • Dispatch/Response
  • Arrival/Size-Up
  • Priority/Strategy
  • Tactics
  • Tasks
  • Resources
  • ICS/Organization
  • Communications
  • Re-evaluation
  • Support
  • Transfer/Close
  • On-Scene After-Action Review (AAR)

Dispatch and Response

• First priority is safe arrival to the incident while taking into account its type, size, and nature.
• Incident technicians or companies should be able to map themselves into the incident before code 3 response.
• Company officers might have the luxury of a driver/engineer/apparatus operator, but many first-due companies miss a turn because leadership does not properly route them.
• Normal first-due company status should be taken into account, and if they are delayed, alternative resources should be deployed.
• Multiple calls, smoke, visible flames, and fires across from specific address should be quickly determined.
• Pre-plans should be considered and location, occupancy and information shared.
• Maintaining quiet radio communications and knowing standard operating guidelines (SOGs) is important.
• Clear communication with dispatch, and adherence to considerations for response, is essential.

Arrival and Size-Up

• This is a critical step in incident management; institutionalized systematic size-up is a must.
• Size-up is an ongoing mental process from pre-planning to after-action review and revision.
• Size-up is rapidly gathering information, assessing risk and gain, and evaluating available resources and strategic and tactical options which is a continuous process.
• Size-up precedes the verbal process of giving an arrival report.
• An arrival report is one to incoming units that communicates arrival, conditions, actions, and needs, including assumption of command.

Priority/Strategy

• The incident commander (IC) determines incident priority as well as strategy by developing an incident action plan to mitigate problems.
• The IC should operate at what is referred to as the strategic level, furthest away from incident to think ahead.
• The IC must think downstream regarding resource needs, transitioning into salvage and overhaul and potential risks.

Incident Action Plan

• The incident action plan is the amalgamation of priority, strategy, tactical objectives, communications, resource allocation, and organization.
• Type 1-3 incidents have a planning section that produces a written plan for an operational period.
• Type 4 and 5 incidents do not have discretionary time or resources to develop a full plan.
• The starting point utilizes existing SOPs, policy, response levels, pre-plans, protocols, and training.
• This allows rapid response, organization, and mitigation.

Incident Command Post

• The incident command post (ICP) is where the IC and other overhead personnel reside.
• Positions can be at the front or corner of a building for visibility.
• There are two philosophies, locating it inside a vehicle or outside.
• Inside vehicles offer a quieter environment to communicate over loud situations.
• Outside locations allow for easier staff access and better hearing of conditions.

Incident Priority

• The most overarching urgency helps determine incident strategy.
• These priorities are life saving, incident stabilization, and property/environment.
• Civilian life at risk results in a life saving priority.
• An incident stabilization priority takes place when all civilian life at risk has been mitigated for safe and stable containment.
• A property/environment priority takes place after safety when the response focus is on preventing further damage.

Incident Strategy

• Incident strategy are three positions that resources will engage with: offensive, defensive, or combination.
• The offensive strategy indicates that personnel will have a forward moving posture to engage for the incident.
• The defensive strategy indicates personnel will have a backward-moving posture to engage in less aggressive operations to accomplish incident objectives.
• The combination strategy has an offensive and defensive strategy being employed simultaneously (e.g, strip mall fire with collapse of the center unit (defensive space)).
• Priorities and strategies can be changed throughout.

Tactical

• The tactical level is between the IC and task-level crews.
• Tactical officers make operational decisions, assign tasks and evaluate safety issues to accomplish incident objectives.
• Decisions are made in the field by tactical officers closer to the work and hot zones (6-50 feet away) compared to ICs.
• Tactical officers must order resources to anticipate incidents objective needs.
• Face-to-face communications with crews reduces radio noise but can improve communication quality and accountability.
• The need to consolidate multiple companies under the umbrella of one group or division supervisor has resulted in safe, effective, and efficient emergency scene operations.

Tactical officer actions include for:

• Structure fire: Ordering hoselines, searches complete, coordinating fire attack and ventilation, checking for extensions, recognizing collapse potential, preventing access, and prioritizing areas for salvage.
• Vegetation fire: Ordering additional resources, sending companies to get water, coordinating with other divisions ,prioritizing structures to be defended, and downed power lines, watch out situations, and changing wind direction.
• Hazardous materials incidents: Defining the exclusion zone, ordering resources, track of entry and egress, setting up decontaminations.
• MCI: Setting up treatment and transport areas, traffic pattern for people and vehicles.

Tactics

• Tactics are employed under priorities and strategy and the overall operational and functional goals.
• Control objectives rely on operation and geographic boundaries for incidents.
• The gap in tactics is to assign higher level supervisors which reduces risks with communications and accountability.

Task

• The level is where the work gets done, as company officers can provide direction and account for all personnel.
• Decisions are made in the hot zone of situational awareness.
• The mindset is in the "now" level of thinking, from actions such as forcing doors to donning SCBA, throwing ladder and cutting the line.
• ICs need to evaluate and remember that the task levels have time going much slower.
• Time helps see real progress being made and determine needs for crews.

Resources

• Resources should be called early and the right type of number of resources are dispatched,.
• This is completed from dispatch and other details such as smoke or power outages.
• Having updates on information such as victims also must be shared immediately.
• Level 1 staging occurs within the block,while level 2 staging is made away from the scene.
• Finally forward happens when personnel are geared up and in place.

ICS/Organization

• The incident has to be organized to follow the accountability of personnel and resources,.
• Not organizing can cause the IC to be overwhelmed.
• ICS prevents a span of control, and utilizes divisions or groups to bridge the gaps.
• ICS should be swift and simple while easily adaptable.
• Utilizing an OSC passes from the IC and only benefits them.

Multi-Level Hierarchy

• The hierarchy of bosses is first a single company unit, then a strike force leader, and then a director.
• Don't let this confuse you, as incidents will likely use divisions and groups.

Support

• Additional units/alarms
• Overhead personnel (safety and public information officers)
• Specialty units
• Lighting and air
• Food/water and rehab
• Utility companies
• Red Cross (for displaced occupants)
• Law enforcement
• EMS
• Building management
• Board up crews
• Investigator
• Be sure to go the extra mile and ask yourself, "What if this was my home and my family?"

Transfer/Close

• Transfer and specific commands are needed to relay newICS with IAPs.
• This includes current priority, strategy, tactical/control objectives, benchmarks accomplished, ICS (resource assignments), communications plan, and resource needs.

After-Action Review

• A brief after action review from companies before clearing the scene is required, alongside keeping an eye and ear on flareups.
• This can maximize for the future.

Summary

• The 12 components review a breakdown of events.
• Prioritzing and strategy is important, identifiying tactical objectives.
• This ensures proper support from proper incident operations to switch directions.

Chapter Review

• 1. Describe the five incident types.
• 2. Explain the difference between size-up and an arrival report.
• 3. Explain a combination strategy.
• 4. Describe tactical objectives and control objectives.
• 5. Explain the tactical gap.
• 6. What are the three levels of staging?