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### Keeping Hoselines Moving Keeping the hoselines moving forward is one of the operations officer's primary duties. The heat conditions at these fires can limit the time that a member can remain on the fire floor to only a few minutes. Arranging for the orderly rotation of fresh personnel to act a...

### Keeping Hoselines Moving Keeping the hoselines moving forward is one of the operations officer's primary duties. The heat conditions at these fires can limit the time that a member can remain on the fire floor to only a few minutes. Arranging for the orderly rotation of fresh personnel to act as relief on the lines will greatly improve the ability of the lines to advance. The operations officer must then have a readily available pool of personnel from which to draw. The RIT should be staged at or near the operations post for high-rise fires, but the operations officers must recall the critical nature of the RIT and resist using this team as an attack unit. If an attack is being made from more than one location or stairway, a separate attack director may have to be designated at each location, each reporting back and responsible to the operations officer (fig. 18-46). In large buildings, additional RITs may have to be staged at each stairway where hoselines are advancing. ### Operations Officer Functions For example, if heavy fire is present on the south end of the building, the strategy may be to prevent it from spreading northward. The operations officer will decide whether bringing lines all the way from the north stairwell or additional lines operating from the south stairwell can do the job. Obviously, the operations post must keep the CP constantly informed of the tactics being used and the results of them. One of the major functions of the operations officer may be to push the advance of the attack teams. For this reason, and to actually observe conditions, the operations officer will have to operate at least part of the time on the fire floor. The operations post must then be assigned at least two members, usually a chief and an aide, to handle communications. This arrangement allows the aide to monitor the command channel on his or her radio, while the operations officer uses the fireground frequency to control the units.