This blog was written by Robert Moran.
I am a big Green Bay Packers fan. I can trace the beginnings of this admiration to my teenage years when I started reading about the leadership skills the legendary Vince Lombardi used to build a group of men into one of the finest football teams in NFL history. Lombardi used an intense work ethic, hardened exterior and soft interior to teach his players the benefits of teamwork, respect, character, values, and commitment.
While it is a known fact that many of the individuals who played for him, at times, wanted him gone, they will all speak of the respect and love they had for their fearless leader whom they would follow anywhere. His inspirational and common sense spoken words that defined his leadership qualities and abilities are still utilized as the foundation of countless leadership training programs.
One of these more simple and spot-on quotes left by Coach Lombardi is “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” In my opinion, this is the exact attitude we should be adopting when operating on the fireground. From the incident commander (IC) to the nozzle firefighter, failure should not be an option. There is no room for it! If we don’t win we are not standing true to the basic principles of life safety, incident stabilization, property conservation and our most important priority, surviving the incident.
So we should ask. What do we need to do to win? To answer the question, let’s take a closer look at several basic fireground tasks that need to be accomplished if we are to be successful in staying true to Coach Lombardi’s words.
Conducting an Effective Size-up - This critical component of setting the foundation for all fireground actions and decisions must be completed early and accurately meaning that the first arriving company officer, chief officer, or other assigned firefighter (however your SOG’s read) must get a clear indication of what is going on inside the structure from as many sides as possible prior to developing their plan of attack. Task oriented firefighters must remember that the IC is going to be standing outside the building and directing operations. You are going to operate inside and prior to doing so you should conduct your own quick assessment of what you or your company are getting yourselves into prior to entering the structure. Without this vital information we are all doomed for failure. I challenge you to find a NIOSH or other firefighter fatality report that does not include a statement indicating the lack of a proper size-up was a leading contributing factor of the fatality. Conduct a size-up, it may save your life.
Establishing Command - It can’t get any simpler. The lack of a formal command structure will lead to fireground problems, firefighter injuries, and firefighter fatalities. I have been the IC at a number of structure fires in a multitude of diverse buildings. Quite honestly, some went well, some, not so well. I am humble enough to admit it. Good, bad, or indifferent this experience has given me the ability to recognize the critical importance to establishing a formal and stationary (sorry to those IC’s who support the theory of the mobility) command post that allows the individual in charge to make competent informed decisions in an environment that supports the leadership skills and decision making processes needed to win the big game.
Conducting Primary Searches - Entering buildings and rescuing occupants is what we swore to do when we raised our hands and took the oath of office. We also know that completing this task is a difficult job and arguably the most dangerous assignment at a structure fire. The fact is, if you stay in this business long enough the day will come when you will be placed in the position of aggressively conducting a primary search of a structure to rescue trapped occupants under hazardous conditions. When doing so, we should do it safely, smartly, and most importantly with absolute knowledge (situational awareness) of the building on fire and the ongoing fireground operation. The goal should always be to safely remove the occupants and yourself from the building. That is called a win/win decision.
Fire Suppression - You have all heard the quote “putting water on the fire will make everything get better.” This is without a doubt one of the most truthful statements that you will hear in your fire service career. As an IC standing outside the building directing the troops there is nothing more appealing and critical to the ongoing fire fight than to watch a well-trained, well-equipped (correct line with correct flow) engine company making a push into the fire building and safely extinguishing the fire. Completing this one fireground task safely, with determination and authority is the most critical component to making the interior environment safer for us to operate in while radically improving the survivability of any trapped occupants.
Ventilation - The recent UL Studies regarding ventilation flow paths, fire attack, heat release rates, and lightweight construction have provided us with a tremendous amount of eye opening scientific data as to what is occurring inside the structures we are operating in. In reality, the information has brought challenges and questions to the old school methods of how, when, and where we ventilate and force entry into fire buildings. From the incident commander on down to the task oriented firefighter this is valuable knowledge that must be recognized and absorbed into our personal toolboxes. In reviewing all of this new information I continue to return to two very important words concerning ventilation practices that I was taught in my fire academy class 36 years ago. The two words are “timely” and “coordinated.” It may seem like oversimplification to some but it would appear to me that these studies are telling us what we already knew. That is, if we vent too early and with no attention to coordinating our efforts with the engine company the fire will grow in intensity to the point that it will overwhelm the best fire suppression efforts money can buy. To be effective ventilation needs three things, teamwork, timing, and coordination. Just like that winning football team.
Rapid Intervention - We probably all agree that having a rapid intervention crew standing by at a fire scene does not guarantee everyone will go home. There are just too many variables in the dangerous environments in which we work. One of the ways to counter this fact and improve the safety of operating members is for incident commanders to act quickly and proactively in requesting the response of a rapid intervention company to an incident. An even better solution is having a written policy that mandates the assignment of these companies on the initial report of a fire. Every football team has back-ups that support the starting 22. We should also.
Obviously we have just touched on what we consider the basics of structural firefighting. While there are many other complex details that should be considered when conducting interior fire operations if we train to become competent in the tasks identified above we should be able to keep Coach Lombardi happy by “winning” the fireground.
