Operations Guidelines Tactical Priorities PDF

Operations Guidelines Tactical Priorities Effective Date: 01/01/2012 Procedure Number 04-03E Revised Date: 10/30/2018 Number of Pages 01 1. Overview...

Operations Guidelines Tactical Priorities Effective Date: 01/01/2012 Procedure Number 04-03E Revised Date: 10/30/2018 Number of Pages 01 1. Overview This guideline identifies the SLCFD’s standard tactical priorities for situations involving threats to human life and/or property, as well as, the radio terminology used to benchmark completion of each. All efforts/assignments made during such an incident should be directed toward completing functions that support these defined priorities. The SLCFD’s tactical priorities are: Life Safety Incident Stabilization Property Conservation 2. Definitions Life Safety: Activities undertaken to protect, remove, shelter and/or treat those persons threatened, including fire service personnel, by the incident. Incident Stabilization: Activities undertaken to isolate and/or mitigate the problems presented by the incident. (i.e. fire control, hazardous product containment, etc.) Property Conservation: Activities undertaken to reduce and/or prevent damage to involved and potentially involved property. 3. Procedure In order to ensure completion of these tactical objectives, the following actions shall be taken: Life Safety: Search and/or rescue efforts shall be extended to every involved and/or exposed occupancy that can be safely entered. These efforts shall be divided into two categories: Primary Search – The rapid, systematic search for savable lives in areas of high probability. Secondary Search – The slower, more methodical search for persons, alive or deceased after the fire has been brought under control and the risk to fire personnel has been minimized. Upon completion of each of these searches, the results shall be conveyed to the Incident Commander by the member charged with completing the task either face to face or via the radio. The Incident Command shall then relay those results to dispatch, to be recorded as part of the official incident record. The terminology used to benchmark completion of the Life Safety incident priority shall be: Primary All Clear – All areas of the incident have been searched and have yielded no savable victims. Secondary All Clear – All areas of the incident have been searched and have yielded no victims, savable or deceased.  Either of these benchmarks can be declared as “Conditional” if there are areas that will not/cannot support life or are unable to be searched due to incident conditions. (I.e. collapse, hazardous atmospheres, etc.) When using “Conditional” to further define the results of either search, the conditions of the search results should be conveyed to Command and to Dispatch. Example: “Command from Search Group” “Go ahead Search Group” (Command) “Conditional All Clear of the entire structure” (Search Group) “Command copies, Conditional All Clear. What are the conditions?” (Command) “Command, we are unable to search the room of origin due to active fire in that area” (Search Group) “Command copies. Fire from Command” “Go ahead Command” (Fire) “I’m reporting a Conditional All Clear due to untenable conditions in the immediate fire area” (Command) “Fire copies, Conditional All Clear” In those rare instances where the threat posed by the incident is so severe that entry and search activities pose an undue risk to fire personnel, Command shall broadcast a message indicating that he/she will “Not be reporting a (Primary/Secondary) All Clear” due to conditions encountered/presented by the scene. Incident Stabilization: The Incident Commander should evaluate the exact nature of the incident and work with the resources available to him/her to formulate an Incident Action Plan that will isolate or mitigate the hazards presented. This plan will vary greatly based upon the conditions presented, and should be constantly reevaluated throughout the incident to ensure that it is still effective. Incident Commanders should utilize the conditions observed on scene along with the information provided by assigned personnel to determine whether or not the incident is being brought under control. The terminology used to benchmark completion of the Incident Stabilization priority shall be: Under Control – All hazards actively threatening people, animals, structures and other property have been rendered benign. This is not to say that the threats no longer exist but rather that control measures have been enacted that prevents the hazards from impacting all persons, animals and property in, on or near the incident scene. Once control is achieved, the phrase, “Under Control” shall be broadcast by Command and recorded by Dispatch. Note: The phrase “Knockdown”, is not considered a tactical benchmark. While useful in describing progress toward extinguishment and an “Under Control”, it does not carry the same weight or have the same meaning. Property Conservation: Once the situation has been stabilized, the focus of the Incident Commander must shift toward stopping the loss and conserving property. Resources and personnel must be assigned to evaluate the damage created by the incident and to identify additional property that is in danger of being damaged if conservation actions are not taken. They must then take action. At certain incident types, assistance from outside resources, such as utility companies, the water department and/or disaster clean-up companies may be required to effectively stop the loss of additional property. The terminology used to benchmark completion of the Property Conservation priority shall be: Loss Stopped – All actions to conserve property have been completed and no additional property is at risk of being damaged or lost due to the incident or the environment (i.e. weather, vandals, smoke, toxic vapors, etc.). This includes damage that may occur as a result of fire department operations on the scene. (I.e. flowing of hose streams, removal of sheetrock or plaster, etc.) While the completion of these benchmarks is singular to the tactical priority they represent, the actual application of personnel and resources to the scene will often create overlaps wherein the actions of a single crew can positively impact multiple priorities. Crews should be assigned in such a manner as to achieve the highest tactical priority in the shortest amount of time possible. This may require assigning personnel to incident stabilization efforts in order to facilitate a rescue or to achieve an “All Clear”.