Firefighter identification on the fireground

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Permalink Reply by Keith Addie on April 27, 2008 at 10:39am

Gregg,

My department uses portable numbers as firefighter designations and it is based on where you are seated on the apparatus. For instance, if you are the front seat officer of Ladder 31, your designation is 31A, driver is 31B and so on. My argument with this set up is that when 31A is calling the incident commander - What does that mean? Where is that firefighter? What are they doing? This doesn't tell the IC any of this.

What I would like to see done when communicating on the fireground is the use of terminology indicating what task you are performing. Example: if I am on the attack handline on the 2nd floor, my radio transmission would be "Command from division 2 attack". This lets the IC know that I'm on the attack line and on the 2nd floor. This paints a clear picture of what is going on. Also, this lets the IC know what tasks are being conducted and what tasks still need to be assigned.

It just seems that the use of portable numbers on the fireground doesn't keep sufficient firefighter accountability. Communicating portable numbers over the radio doesn't paint a picture of where everyone is located and what tasks are being conducted. All the portable numbers do is let everyone know where you were on the apparatus when responding - does this mean anything once on the fireground?

Thank you for your response and input. Be safe!!

Keith

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Permalink Reply by Keith Addie on April 27, 2008 at 10:53am

Denny,

My department uses the same exact system and I have tried to get that changed. My reasoning for this is that when companies arrive on scene and start operating, the portable numbers being used don't really mean much anymore. When on the scene, I would like to see the tasks being conducting communicated over the radio. For instance, if I am on the 1st floor conducting a search, my radio transmission should be "Command from division 1 search" not "Command from portable 31A". All this tells the IC is that I responded to the scene on Ladder 31 and I was sitting in the front seat officer position. This doesn't tell the IC where I am on the scene and what task I am conducting.

If everyone on the scene identified themselves by what task they were conducting, this would give a clear picture to all personnel on scene where everyone was and what they were doing. This is a good way to keep better firefighter accountability. It is more important to identify where the firefighters are on the scene rather than where they were on the apparatus.

Thank you for your response and input on this subject. Be safe out there!!

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Permalink Reply by Denny Hansen on April 27, 2008 at 11:52am

I appoligize. I did not fully clarify our fire ground identification. If Egine 3 is assigned fire attack, then 3A is designated Fire Attack 3A. If they are assign ventialtion then they are assigned Ventilation 3A and so on. The Incident Commander is designated "Command", Operations Chief is designated "Operations", a 3rd floor Search Division Supervisor is designated as 3rd Floor Search. I hope this clears it up.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Meek-Shields on April 27, 2008 at 12:05pm

We use radio numbers. Since mutual aide is from other towns in the county it keeps things from getting to confusing. For example my city is all 700's, 701 is the chief and then after that it is just randomly assigned. It just depends on what numbers were open when the person joined. Our department also has two ID tags. One is issued from the county via a homeland security system that was purchased. The other tag is issued from our department and is color coded. Each color represents what the person is trained in. The more colors the more things you can do on the fire ground.

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Permalink Reply by Shayne K. Schnell on April 27, 2008 at 12:23pm

We use radio idetifiers at our department, for example our station is station 2 and all radio numbers signify something like engines are 01-05's and ladders or quints are 10-12's and BLS units are 70's while ALS units are 80's. So our Medic Unit is Medic 280 and Engines are 201, 202, and 203, and Ladder is 210, the Chief Officers are 50 series and ours is 250.,All individual firefighters have radios with similar numbers like the driver of the Medic Unit is 242 while the Medic Attendant is 241, and the Engineer is 243, and officers are Capt-252 and Lieutenant 257. I know there are better ways and more understandable ways but this is how we do it. The department I used to work at in Ohio used a four digit number and the first two signified the Station number while the second two numbers signified the employees badge numbers. I personally liked this system.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Addie on April 27, 2008 at 12:41pm

Denny,

Yes it does clarify everything. That is a good way of doing things. At least you know what personnel you are talking to a what task they are conducting. This allows you to have some kind of accountability on the fire scene. Thank you for your input on the discussion.

Keith

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Permalink Reply by Shane Eaton on April 27, 2008 at 12:53pm

We use an individual number for example my number is 116, so it would be 116 to 110 or who ever I need to talk to. We are so small, sometimes we use a name by mistake. We try not to due to scanner world but it happens. I like some the other systems that I see being used. I might try to train on different ways to communicate.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Meek-Shields on April 27, 2008 at 1:00pm

Shane the same thing happens with us. I don't know how many times we just go "Melissa we need...." Instead of "722 we need..." It happens and due to how small our community is most people know our fire numbers anyway.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Addie on April 27, 2008 at 6:32pm

Shane,

I see that your department uses the individual's number on the fireground for identification purposes. How do you determine where that person is located and what task they are conducting? How are the firefighter's at the scene accounted for? I had mentioned in some of my replies that portable numbers, badge numbers or riding positions don't account for where the firefighters are operating on the fireground.

I like that you mentioned you're willing to train on different ways to communicate. That's how you determine what system works best for you and your department. By no means is any certain way the 100% correct way. If you are gonna try something new, try using terminology to establish where the firefighters are located and what their tasks are. Examples: 1st floor attack handline = Division 1 attack, 2nd floor search team = Division 2 search, roof team = Roof sector. These are just a few examples that couild be used when operating at any firre scene whether it be a fire alarm activation or working fire. The everyday routine calls is the place to practice this until it becomes second nature.

Thanks,

Keith

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Meek-Shields on April 27, 2008 at 6:44pm

Keith,

I'm not Shane but I can tell you how we know what the person is doing. Locating a person is easy, you are either assigned to extior or interior. Those assignments are based on their training as each person has a tag that shows where they can be assigned. After that their task is up to the person supervising that area. If they are on scene then they must have turned in their departmentaly issued ID tag. If they are working inside of the structure then they must turn in their other ID tag to the med person in charge of rehab. That person keeps track of time in and calls the person out when their air should be getting low. When you are working on a small department with a max of 14 people on a call and everyone works with a partner that's only 7 teams that you have to keep track of. When activly fighting fire there is a role call done every 5 minutes, if someone does not answer the role call then we treat that as a firefighter down and start a search. The person in charge of that sector is responsible for knowing the location of the firefighter. When overhaul starts then role call is done every 15 minutes. We also rotate teams out every 25-30 minutes. They go to rehab and are not allowed back to duty until their pulse rate is below 100.

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Permalink Reply by Shane Eaton on April 27, 2008 at 7:37pm

We account for our firefighters using the PASS device system. This only allows us to see who is down, but it is a start. I am trying to implement new ways of keeping account but as you know change is hard. I have taught classes using A,B,C,D side and divisions but I still have the old guard fighting me on that. The younger generation is being trained through our state academy so it will come about with time.

Thanks
Shane

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Permalink Reply by William Anderson on May 16, 2008 at 8:13pm

We take a pretty straightfoward approach to this subject. My engine is Engine 911, the officer refers to himself as "911 Officer", the apparatus operator is "911" if he is with the vehicle or "911 Operator" if he's mobile, and "911 Firefighter" for the backstep man (3 man company).

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