Bernalillo County Fire Incident Report Writing Manual PDF

Bernalillo County Fire Department Fire Incident Report Writing Manual Version 2 February 2020 Contents I. Purpose II. Records Management System III. Roles & Responsibilities A. Battalion Commanders B. Company Officers IV. Records and Forms A. Paperwork Relevant to Fire Reporting B....

Bernalillo County Fire Department Fire Incident Report Writing Manual Version 2 February 2020 Contents I. Purpose II. Records Management System III. Roles & Responsibilities A. Battalion Commanders B. Company Officers IV. Records and Forms A. Paperwork Relevant to Fire Reporting B. Contingency for Electronic Reporting System Failure C. Public Request of Reports V. Procedures VI. Minimum Report Criteria A. [Basic Info 1] B. [Basic Info 2] C. [Basic Info 3] D. [Basic Info 4] E. [Basic Info 5] F. [Fire 1] G. [Fire 2] H. [Structure Fire 1] I. [Structure Fire 2] J. [Incident Narrative] - **[D-Dispatched Information]** - **[T-Tactics]** - **[A-ADDITIONAL After incident mitigation actions]** - **[C-Conclusion of Report]** Appendix A Property Loss Estimation I. **PURPOSE** II. **RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM** III. **ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES** All Officers have supervisory authority in the records management system. A. Battalion Commanders 1. Are authorized to delete any reports in ERS that meet the following criteria: a. Erroneous reports b. Calls that have been turned over to (TOT) another agency c. Duplicate or test calls 2. Are not authorized to delete any other report type from ERS without first coordinating through the EMS Division. 3. Are responsible for all reports for which they were in command. Commanders may coordinate and assign portions of the report to the initial arriving personnel/incident commander. 4. Each Sunday, will be responsible for taking custody of the document wallet containing all incident reports from each fire station under their command. They will then replace it with an empty document wallet. On Monday morning (or Tuesday if Monday is Day 2 of the cycle) the documents will be transported by the BC to the EMS Division Office for review, follow up and filing by the EMS Division administrative assistant or the EMS Chief's designee. a. If extenuating circumstances arise and the document wallets cannot be dropped off on Monday to the EMS Division, the document wallets will be secured by the Battalion Commander and delivered on Tuesday. b. All other circumstances must be communicated to the Deputy Chief of Operations or designee. B. Company Officers 1. Lieutenants are not authorized to delete any incident from ERS. 2. Captains are authorized to delete the following: - duplicate calls - turned over to (TOT) - test calls 3. Have the authority to assign reports to whomever they deem is responsible for authoring the report; however, this does not diminish their responsibility for the accuracy therein. a. If the Company Officer delegates the report writing obligation to another crew member, he or she ultimately has the responsibility for its contents (as set forth below in Section IV. B. in this manual). 4. Are responsible for reviewing all reports generated in ERS by the personnel under their command for completeness and correctness by the end of their shift. b. All incident reports must be placed in the OFFICER REVIEWED status. c. NO incident reports from their station are to be left in the OPEN status. 5. Will collect all paperwork associated with every incident during their shift and review them to assure they are complete. d. All paperwork will be scanned and uploaded into the ERS report e. Hardcopies of the paperwork will be assembled in the following order and will be sent via document wallet: 1. Tactical Worksheet (when applicable) 2. NM State Forestry Report (when applicable) 3. Rehab Logs (when applicable) 4. Notice of Hazard forms (when applicable) 5. Witness Statement Form (when applicable) 6. Property Release Form (when applicable) 7. Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention Worksheet (when applicable) 8. Fire/Crime Scene Sign-In Log Sheet (when applicable) f. Paperwork will be separated and distributed as appropriate after it's received at headquarters. IV. **RECORDS AND FORMS** A. Additional Paperwork Other forms that you will use for fire reports may be found via internet/intranet or shared drives. These forms should be printed and located in the units to be used on scene. Form fillable versions may be located in ERS, SharePoint, or the Bernco "Insider" that can be filled out after the incident. This paperwork includes: - Tactical Worksheet - NM State Forestry report (Email to DC of FMO) - Rehab Log - Risk Management Paperwork (Commanders only) - Notice of Hazard (obtained from FMO) - Witness Statement Form - Property Release Form - Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention Worksheet - Fire/Crime Scene Sign-In Log Sheet B. Contingency for Electronic Reporting System Failure: 1. If the ERS becomes unavailable due to electronic failure: a. The Company Officer shall be notified. This information will then be sent up the Chain of Command to the Division Chief of Support Services who is the point of contact for the ERS. 1. The Deputy Chief of Operations is to be notified for any out outages longer than 8 hours. b. Once ERS becomes available, the report must be entered and completed within the responsible party's shift. C. Public Request of Reports Any requests to view or obtain copies of Fire Incident Reports must be directed to the Fire Marshal's Office. V. **PROCEDURES** A. Fire reports must be completed to include all relevant demographic and checkbox information. B. For any fire report that has reported a fire or civilian casualty you must follow the reporting guidelines set forth in the EMS Report Writing Manual. C. The Incident Commander or Company Officer will be responsible for generating a Fire Incident Report within 24 hours from conclusion of incident. 1. Battalion Commanders are exempt from the 24 hour/end of shift requirement for large-scale or complex incidents. D. Report Writing Deviation 1. The ERS reports are subject to subpoena and are therefore considered legal documents of the fire department. 2. Narratives shall be limited to the facts and not include superfluous, self-promoting, or editorial comments. This includes any inappropriate photos, subject matter, attachments, or false information that is inappropriate or unrelated to the call. VI. **MINIMUM REPORT CRITERIA** A. [All fire reports must meet a score of 100 for validation.] **[B. Incident Narrative]** - **[D-Dispatched Information]** 1. Initial units dispatched - Individual District, 1st, 2nd or 3rd alarm - What was the Location & Incident Type? - Tactical Channel utilized - Code 1 or Code 3 response - Mutual aid or Automatic aid 2. What Additional information was received enroute (Additional 911's, Alarm company cancel, possible illegal burn etc.) 3. Requests from units enroute (PNM, NM Gas, Law, FMO, Mutual/Automatic aid, Rehab, Command Page, Specialty Team(s), Responsible Party.) 4. Upon arrival (scene size up) What did you have? - Occupancy type: Residential, Commercial, Industrial (Structure/Vehicle/Brush/Forest) - Nothing showing, working fire, defensive conditions. - Level 1 or Level II staging? - What operational strategy did you declare? (Offensive, Defensive. - Name of fire command, Incident Commander, who has accountability and Safety Officer. 5. Components of follow-up report. - **[T-Tactics]** 1. State what Strategic Objectives were used to mitigate the incident based on operational mode declared and if applicable during a transitional operation. 2. State the Assigned units by Groups and/or Divisions that were assigned to achieve Strategic Objectives (i.e.E-32/R-32 Fire Attack group, E-34 Exposure group, Tower 36 Ventilation group, E-33 Water Supply, R-32 Rescue Group, etc. Salvage, Overhaul/Mop up, Rehab, Investigation, Utilities, Staging, Medical). 3. Note how the assignments were completed: a. BENCHMARKS: 1. **Fire under control,** in how much time 2. **Primary Search all clear,** in how much time 3. **Secondary Search all clear,** in how much time 4. **Loss Stopped,** when fire suppression and salvage/overhaul operations are complete. Note: This benchmark is achieved just prior to when suppression units begin packing/cleaning up to leave the scene. b. Firefighter Injury or emergency actions taken (May Day) i.e. "May Day called due to a firefighter falling through a floor see patient report for details" or "Emergency traffic due to..." (possible additional information about the property i.e. devices, HAZ MAT, evacuation etc.) c. State who the scene was transferred or referred to (Responsible party, BCSO, APD, FMO etc.) or to other authority (i.e. DOD, DOE, Homeland Security, FBI, US Marshalls, ATF, etc.) d. Failed/lost/damaged equipment due to incident response, tactics or unforeseen hazards i.e. (Hose crushed by collapse, chainsaw damaged due to 5 layers of shingles, tool broken forcing entry etc.) - **[A-ADDITIONAL After incident mitigation actions]** 1. Victim/Citizen support 2. Red Cross, Random Acts, BCSO, Chaplain. 3. Securing residence 4. Release of incident to property owner or other authority 5. Termination of Incident Command. - **[C-Conclusion of Report]** 1. Document and summarize any attachments. Attach Reports: Patient, Firefighter injury, RISK Management Blanket exposure forms, Tactical worksheet, Command sheet, NM State Forestry form, Confined Space, Wildland, SLR, SAR, Rehab sheet, after use SCBA forms, Pictures as applicable. Appendix A: Property Loss Estimation Go to website:  - Input street number: i.e. 3617 - Input street name: i.e. El Porvenir - Input Direction: i.e. South West - Input Year: i.e. 2015 - Select Display: Notice of Values - Click on PARCEL ID  **TOTAL FULL VALUE: i.e. \$85,500** - If total loss, input this number into loss estimate in ERS. - If not a total loss, take number and multiply by estimated percentage of structure damaged. i.e. - Input this number in total loss. - Estimate contents. - If structure does not show up in system: Estimate loss at \$130 per square foot x damage percentage. **Review/Revised** **5/24/17** - Reviewed no changes 2/22/20 - Changed Emergency Reporting to Electronic Reporting - A.4 Changed day specific requirements for submitting documentation from Monday to cycle specific day - A.5 Removed requirement to review high life hazard reports. - B.1 Made specific to Lieutenants - B.2 Added Captain specific authorizations - B.4.a changed to match Image Trend requirements - B.5.b.9 removed patient notes requirements - B.1.a Changed Division Chief of EMS to Division Chief of Support Services - D Removed availability for QA timeline - E Removed late call exception - A Replaced listed criteria with Image Trend validation score. - B.4 Changed to match Blue Card - B.5 Changed to match Blue Card