For those of us who lead volunteer or combination fire departments, it is extremely difficult to plan for who will be on the apparatus when it arrives on the scene. This is an issue of experience, availability and/or arrival order at the station. It is possible to never have the same combination of firefighters arriving in the same order for any two fires.

Career departments may have a similar issue for a different reason. While they have personnel assigned by shift, firefighters may shuttle between companies or even stations to fill personnel needs. So how is a chief going to know for certain that the firefighters arriving on an engine, ladder or rescue apparatus know their initial assignments and what tools they'll need to accomplish them?

The answer is two-fold. First, have standard operating guidelines that indicate what apparatus will do what as they arrive on the scene. The second is formalizing the job functions for each firefighter dependent on the seat they occupy in the apparatus in which they arrive.

At my department, the SOG indicates that the functions of the first-arriving engine crew are to give a size-up, secure their own water supply, leave the front of the building for the ladder company and begin the initial attack. The ladder company being given the front of the building can divide into inside and outside crews — the latter ladders the building and goes to the roof, while the former performs vent, enter, search to find and confine the fire, search for any victims and ventilate, if necessary as they move back toward the initial entry point. This ladder crew also communicates the location of the fire to the engine crew and what steps it has taken to confine the fire, e.g., close the bedroom door.

The second-arriving engine crew also secures a water supply and lays into the fire, but their first fire-round assignment is to ensure that the initial attack line from the first engine is in place and operating on the fire. If not, they are to assist in getting it into operations quickly, and then pull a second line off the same engine to assist in extinguishment. The rescue company sets up special equipment — lights, fans, additional SCBA bottles — as needed, while the rapid-assistance team does its own 360° scan of the building and throws additional ladders, or secures additional access points to the building, before stationing themselves and their equipment in the vicinity of the incident commander.

While the SOG sets these expectations, it does not indicate that the arriving firefighters know their individual responsibilities or the equipment they'll need to accomplish them.

This is where the standardized job-assignment card comes in. It is based on the individual riding positions on any given apparatus. This was formalized by my assistant chief of operations, Matt Flagler, with the use of an engraved plastic card mounted opposite the riding seat on each apparatus. For example, the typical firefighters or “roughnecks” riding in the back cab of the first-due engine have a card that reads:

Jobs

• Hydrant side = layoff
• Fire side = stretch attack line
• Fire attack
• Search fire area

Tools

• Radio (fireground)
• Box light

The engineer or apparatus operator also has a job assignment card, which is the same on all engines.

Jobs

• Stop at hydrant
• Position at scene
• Turn on generator
• Charge attack line when ordered
• Connect supply
• Switch to supply

Tools

• Radio (fireground)
• Gloves
• Bunker pant

The ladder crew has two primary assignments, again dictated by seat position. Team 1 consists of the ladder officer and Roughneck 1. It is primarily the inside crew. The ladder officer's card reads:

Jobs

• Forcible entry
• Search and rescue
• Ventilation while searching
• Find fire and communicate its location

Tools

• Thermal-imaging camera
• Radio (fireground)
• Irons

Roughneck 1 is also assigned to the interior with the officer and has the same job assignments, but has several different tools to bring to the scene.

Tools

• 6-foot hook
• Hydra-Ram (for multi-family or commercial structure)
• Search Rope
• Radio (Fireground)

And the assignments go on.

While departments may wish to change the assigned jobs or the order in which they are performed, the job-assignment card concept works for these companies, as well as rescues, medic units, water tenders, brush trucks and any other vehicle responding to the fire scene. Having these jobs spelled out in your SOG, and then reinforced by the job-assignment card helps to avoid confusion and assure a more coordinated initial attack. More importantly, it results in a more consistent approach on the fireground.

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Chief Robert R. Rielage, CFO, EFO, MIFireE, is the chief of Wyoming (Ohio) Fire-EMS, a 78-member combination fire department bordering Cincinnati. He previously served as the fire marshal of the state of Ohio. A graduate of the Kennedy School's Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University, Rielage holds a master's degree in public administration from Norwich University and is the immediate past-president of the Institution of Fire Engineers-USA Branch. He is a member of the FIRE CHIEF Editorial Advisory Board.