Date of Issue: 2025-10-03
Last revised date: NIL
Last revised date: NIL
Red County Fire Department (RCFD)
Basic Firefighting
Basic Firefighting
Course Goal, Requirements and Purpose:
The goal is for you to obtain a Basic Firefighting certification in order to continue your career with the RCFD. The requirements for achieving the goal is to be able to provide ...
The purpose of this course in Basic Firefighting is...
Introduction to Firefighting
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) collects and reports on line-of-duty deaths (LODD) for firefighters, providing insightful statistics, including injuries or near-misses.
Here are some examples to reiterate the importance of good education, training, safe operations including lessons learned.
The following examples are reported from October 2024:
Spoiler:
The purpose of listing the injuries and LOD above are to put emphasize behind that all our education, training and experience in firefighting are ultimately paid for by someone's injury or death. Firefighting is inherently a dangerous job, but by acknowledging and attempting to mitigate the risks - firefighting can be safer.
Safe and effective firefighting is the goal of the course Basic Firefighting.
History:
Start with two assumptions until proven otherwise:
- Ventilation is limited
- Construction is light-weight
- Houses are getting larger
- Housing lots are getting smaller
- The fuel loads have changed, more petroleum-based, creating more fuel for the fire
- Home evacuation prior has been seventeen (17) minutes, meaning the time from a small fire until it fully develops.
- Home evacuation times today are three (3) minutes. - Home design has become more open, more windows, less compartmentation, less load bearing
- Statistically we have fewer fires, means less experience
- Rate of LODD due to traumatic injuries in 1970s were 1.8 per 100 000 fires, in late 2000 that number was 3.0 per 100 000 fires, to exemplify this challenge. NOTE: Figures mentioned are regardless of annual number of structure fires having decreased by 53%.
- Alarming rate of LODD correlate with un-coordinated and/or changes in ventilation of the fire, such as windows breaking in basement with firefighters having entered on 1st floor, resulting in a rapid fire progression. - Higher percentage of EMS calls, shifts the focus away from firefighting, further hindering lessons learned and inter-generational experience sharing
Too tight worn PPE, such as turnout gear, is detrimental as the PPE relies on the natural air gap between layers of clothing to protect the firefighter. It can drastically reduce your time being able to be inside.
Basic Firefighting:
To start with Basic Firefighting Operations, the Standing Orders for each Operational year must be read and understood. It is governing our fundamental principles, priorities and expectations. Below are a few excerpts from Standing Orders - 2025:
Operational Priority:NOTE: Incident Commander (IC) has the authority and right to deviate from Operational Priority based on the dynamic situation. Although this must be explicitly ordered by the IC, Command is to be promptly informed by IC as soon as possible convenient and will be held accountable post-action.
- Firefighter and Responder Safety
- No action shall be taken that unnecessarily endangers RCFD personnel.
- "One patient, victim or civilian is better than two" concept.
- Accountability and crew integrity are mandatory.
- Every firefighter goes home.- Life Safety (Patients, Victims and Civilians)
- Rescue of endangered civilians is the next highest priority.
- Minimum of one (1) smoke-diving search and rescue party must be ordered if interior fire in accommodation structure where not all civilians are accounted for, this precedes Firefighter and Responder Safety. “Two-in, two-out” shall be observed on interior fire operations.
- No firefighter will operate alone in an Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH) environment.
- EMS care shall be rendered promptly once victims are removed from danger, regardless of Property Conservation and Salvation, see below.- Property (Value, Conservation and Salvation)
- Fire spread containment, vehicle stabilization, and prevention of escalation.
- Salvage operations (covering valuables, limiting water damage).- Environmental
- Containment of hazardous materials.
- Limiting runoff into waterways.
- Consideration of wildfire spread and ecological damage.
- Environment comes last in the hierarchy but is never ignored.
Chain of Command
Orders shall be followed through the established chain of command.
Disagreements or clarifications will be addressed after incidents are concluded, never during.
The Incident Commander (IC) has operational authority until relieved by a higher-ranking officer.
As you can read above, the chain of command is set and should be adhered to.PPE and SCBA Discipline:
- Full PPE and SCBA shall be worn at all fire-related incidents unless otherwise directed by the IC.
- SCBA shall be used in any IDLH atmosphere until declared clear by IC.
- Failure to comply will result in disciplinary action.
The important take-away from the above are that you as our Firefighter is our greatest asset in achieving fire suppression and rendering emergency medical services (EMS).
We have a strict operational priority, chain of command and PPE/SCBA discipline for this reason, if you get recklessly injured or killed in the line of duty - accomplishing our mission will be impossible.
Usually the first unit to arrive on-scene has the best first impression and are therefor automatically designated Incident Commander (IC).
Unless a senior officer (Lieutenant+) arrives and assumes IC from the first unit - they stay in-charge up until the situation has been resolved.
The difference between an Incident Commander (IC) and Officer-In-Charge (OIC) is that the OIC is overall responsible for the Fire Station and it's Crews, such as work planning and administration - while IC holds tactical and operational authority and responsibility.
Fire Basics:
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various hazardous to humans reaction products. These hazardous products are designated as an Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH) environment. According to Standing Orders, SCBA must be worn if working in or exposed to an IDLH environment for longer than a short moment.
Fire triangle:
The fire triangle or combustion triangle is a simple model for understanding the necessary ingredients for most fires. The triangle illustrates the three elements a fire needs to ignite/burn:
- Heat or ignition
- Fuel to burn
- An oxidizing agent (most commonly oxygen).
Heat radiation, convection and conduction.
There is a balance between the fire and ventilation.
Light energy transmission from fire itself is called heat radiation. Heat radiation is something that we cannot manage until we extinguish the fire, also known as knocking a fire down.
Radiation from the fire gases is the major issue.
If the ventilation of the room is perfect, a firefighter prone/crawling can approach the fire without suffering from the heat injuries. Hot air gathers in the roof and exhausts out of the room, while fresh and in particular cool air is drawn in from the following vacuum. This is a good environment for the firefighter.
Balance between heat release rate of the fire and ventilation.
If the
In order for a fire to establish you need the correct proportion of fuel, oxygen and heat. In general, if you remove one of the three, the fire should extinguish. For example:
- Without sufficient heat, a fire cannot begin, and it cannot continue.
- Heat can be removed by the application of a substance which reduces the amount of heat available to the fire reaction. This is often water, which absorbs heat for phase change from water to steam. Introducing sufficient quantities and types of powder or gas in the flame reduces the amount of heat available for the fire reaction in the same manner. Scraping embers from a burning structure also removes the heat source. Turning off the electricity in an electrical fire removes the ignition source. - Without fuel, a fire will stop.
- Fuel can be removed naturally, as where the fire has consumed all the burnable fuel, or manually, by mechanically or chemically removing the fuel from the fire. Fuel separation is an important factor in wildland fire suppression, and is the basis for most major tactics, such as controlled burns. The fire stops because a lower concentration of fuel vapor in the flame leads to a decrease in energy release and a lower temperature. Removing the fuel thereby decreases the heat. - Without sufficient oxygen, a fire cannot begin, and it cannot continue.
- With a decreased oxygen concentration, the combustion process slows. Oxygen can be denied to a fire using a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, a fire blanket or water.
Water:
The water can have two different roles. In the case of a solid combustible, the solid fuel produces pyrolyzing products under the influence of heat, commonly radiation. This process is halted by the application of water, since water is more easily evaporated than the fuel is pyrolyzed. Thereby energy is removed from the fuel surface and it is cooled and the pyrolysis is stopped, removing the fuel supply to the flames. In fire fighting, this is referred to as surface cooling.
Smoke cooling/suppressing:
In the gas phase, i.e. in the flames or in the smoke, the combustible can not be separated from the oxidizer, and the only possible action consists of cooling down. In this case, water droplets are evaporated in the gas phase, thereby lowering the temperature and adding water vapour making the gas mixture non combustible. This requires droplets of a size less than about 0.2 mm. In fire fighting, this is referred to as gas cooling or smoke cooling.
Ventilation:
Fires can spread through the interior of a structure as the hot gases spread due to the expansion of the gases as a result of the combustion. Some fires can be partially controlled by venting these gases to the outside through manufactured heat vents in the structure's roof, or by the fire department cutting holes in the roof. Ventilation is important when it comes to the fire service, since it is "the systematic removal or heat, smoke and fire gases from a structure". The main purpose for ventilating a fire is to decrease the likelihood of a flashover from occurring.[6] The best time to ventilate is before sending anyone into a structure so that the path the fire will take is through the roof and not through the front door when firefighters open it, allowing more oxygen to feed the fire.
Ventilation work. If using power-tools to "saw" out chunks of a roof, it's called creating a "key-hole". Pike-pole can be used to rake down insulation from inside or to uncover insulation from the outside.
Fire Sector Designations:
Front of a fire, where units arrive and/or establish their command post, is called Alpha.
Then in a clock-wise rotation from that point, the left-side is called Bravo, the rear-side is called Charlie and the right-hand side will be called Delta.
Thus co-ordinating efforts will be simplified.
The usual approach is to prepare hoses and an action from Alpha.
Construction Materials and Firefighting
A normal fire has approx xxx deg C.
Concrete is non-combustible, but may retain heat and too quick cooling with water might compromise it's integrity and stability - risking collapse. 800 degC = convert to merica units!! XD
Mortar has less tensile strength than concrete, see above, compromised at approx 500-600 deg C. In general a normal, fully developed fire gives a 12 cm wall of mortar about two (2) hours before being compromised.
Steel is non-combustible, loses it's integrity and tensile strength at approx 600 deg C (merica units), at which point steels starts to melt. Steel is very conductive of heat, always suspect adjacent spaces for secondary fires.
Aluminium, is worse in terms of tensile strength than steel, it expands from heat and has similarly to steel a very high heat conductivity. Melts at approx 650 deg C.
Concrete is comparative to tiles, 12 cm wall with-stands approx 2 hours of normal, developed fire from one side. 16 cm lasts approx four (4) hours.
Reinforced concrete, the weakest link is the reinforcement itself, the covering of the reinforcement is the critical part in these materials.
Light concrete, can be compared to normal concrete, from a fire science perspective, it has a worse ability to retain heat but it's porosity gives it less tensile strength and less reliability.
Wood, is a combustible material, ignition at 300-600 deg C,
Fire Characteristics and Behavior:
Majority of the heat is in the fire gases that a fire generate, this gas naturally travels upwards due to having a lower density than air. Note: using too much water when conducting a search party inside and interior fire, to give an example, can be contra-productice to use excessive amounts of water, due to the water steam being generated that also retain heat energy similarly to fire gases.
A significant tell-tale sign of a fire, in terms of the fire triad, is the smoke. If it is white, grey and/or whispy - the fuel to air ratio is adequate, the fire is most likely in it's early to medium stage before becoming a fully-developed fire. This means that there is enough air for the fire to continue developing. When the smoke transitions from white, grey and eventually black it means that the fuel air ratio is imbalanced, there is not enough oxygen to support the fire, it is choking - but the burn intensity might still be high from having consumed all the air in the room. If a door or window is opened, new air will draft inside and a flashover or backdraft might occur. This will restart the fire and most likely cause it to burn at full intensity, since you just supplied it with air (heat still retained). Read more about backdraft and it's dangers below. Another note-worthy mention is the two (2) to three (3) second spray, in order to suppress/buy time with a fire that has consumed all of it's oxygen already.
Provided that the firefighter use their PPE correctly, standing in fire for a few moments will not penetrate the PPE. One risk is that fire gases or steam bypass the PPE in gaps, such as near the mask and/or neck.
Fire Hazards, Injuries and Firefighter Endurance:
Most common complication with any fire injury, more so than actual burns, are breathing fire gases. Fire gases can severely aggravate your or any victims airway - pay close attention to A - Airway during your UA (refer to EMT-B if you're unsure) if any victims is recovered from a fire. It may close shut in seconds, similar to an allergic attack.
On the same subject, heavy work in extreme and hot environments will degrade the firefighters cognitive functions quickly, therefor if for example entering an interior for a search party or interior attack line - one should always keep low posture, preferably on their knees and hunched in order to minimize contact with the hot fire gases collecting in the roof. As the fire gases continue to produce from the fire, this layer will go down up until the entire room is filled with these hot gasses at which point visibility becomes zero and the heat directly dangerous. It is a fine balance between cooling the fire gases, suppressing the fire and consequent production of water steam inside any interior and it is up to the firefighters on-scene. Do note that sometimes less water is better in terms of actual heat inside an interior. If the purpose for interior entry is to search for and rescue of persons, using less water is advisable. If it is in order to attack, then extinguish as required. But be weary of the negative impact of hot gasses. One search party or smoke diver team will have at best twenty (20) minutes of active time when masked on and having entered. The cognitive function will be compromised, the longer you're exposed to the heat, the worse your critical thinking and abilities will be. For example, a firefighter exposed to a realistic heating scenario and having gone through a labyrinth has issues dealing with a puzzle for 8 year olds after 15 minutes exposed.
Rule of thumb a fire develops:
Up in seconds
To the adjacent sides in minutes
And down in hours
Therefore all actions against the fire should be aimed at targeting the upper quadrant or adjacent sides. If one wishes to attempt to directly extinguish the fire, aiming directly might be advisable. But just two (2) to three (3) second spray up into the fire gases inside a room will buy you a significant amount of time, especially if done in combination with reducing inlet air/ventilation to a minimum, by for example closing the door, window, etc. The steam will consume/absorb the heat energy until it condensates, forming droplets that fall to the floor and/or evaporates entirely.
Pyrolysis is a thing. If the temperature exceeds the materials pyrolysis temperature, the material itself will start to "steam" flammable material or fuel that is easily ignited by either spark and/or heat. This is mostly gonna concern the auto-ignition point, meaning that if you extinguish the fire directly - the temperature might still be too high, material gives fuel that mixes with the air and auto-ignites anew from the high temperature.
So is backdraft. If a fire is deprived from oxygen, it will idle, awaiting more oxygen in order to flare up again. This is particularly dangerous for firefighters when entering or leaving an interior.
Fire Operations Concept of Operations (CONOPS):
Concept of Operations (CONOPS).
In firefighting operations we call out different kinds for line, stemming from the use of our hoses and positioning. We continuously reassess if we should do a:
Search party (often in combination with defensive line, i.g. deploy around and suppress the fire by cooling or cool adjacent structures to stall the fire from spreading).
Note: if a person is missing or if there is doubt, a search party and subsequent rescue attempt must be attempted at minimum one (1) time.
Attack like, used if all persons accounted for, no risk for life. Fire is not fully developed and risk to firefighters are low to moderate.
Defensive line, used if buying time for a search party and or if the risk for an attack line are too great.
Water Supply:
The most common tool for engaging a fire, is by using water. The engine company has a limited supply of water stored onboard and by using the pumps on-board, we can secure our own mobile water supply. Do note that this is limited and connecting to another water source, such as the city's water system by way of coupling a hose from a hydrant to the engine or "church" for our use, is always advisable.
The hydrant and engine have valves to control the flow of any media, such as water and foam valves.
A few examples configurations:
Hydrant via hose to nozzle.
Hydrant via hose to church, then two additional hoses, each with a nozzle.
Hydrant via hose to engine, engine pump via hose to nozzle and/or church, etc.
What we call a church is just a portable device with hose couplings and valves, so that lines can be prepared as needed, allowing us to deploy closer to the fire but also to attack from two angles just to give an example. Another example is that if an interior search party, or smoke diving, is ordered then one group can enter with one hose, while the other suppresses the fire from outside on-top of the structure to cool off the glasses while also remaining outside and on stand-by in-case the first two smoke divers need rescuing.
When using the nozzle, do note that it has different settings by rotating the forward end. You can select according to the symbols direct, in slight variations to it's opposite - the fog. The fog is used primarily to "shield" against a fire and/or fire gasses. Direct is for longer distances, to penetrate the burning material to reach the bottom/core - generally for extinguishing aggressively. Do note that material can spread around in the vicinity, flung around by the velocity of the water.
Smoke-diving:
...
Standing Operation Procedures (SOP)
The RCFD does not use Standing Operating Procedures (SOP) per say. Instead we use Mission Command, opposed to Detailed Command while adhering to our Standing Orders - 2025.
We avoid being a rigid, top-down organization, where firefighters blindly follows orders and all Officers are transcendant Gods who only give perfect orders.
Instead, we at the Office of The Fire Chief, want mission command, basically empower our subordinates to help the Incident Commander (IC) achieve the Commander's Intent, in order to act quickly and exploit opportunities that might be time-sensitive without always asking for or worst yet just waiting on direct orders to do something.
This is decentralized execution.
It's a philosophy based on the fact that fire incidents are are inherently chaotic. We as a smaller, rural Fire Department need to accept that uncertainty and unpredictability disallows us to make perfect plans, tailored for every situation.
Competence, our foundation, everything is built upon subordinates being competent. Tasks should never be delegated to an incompetent employee, this includes tasks beyond their scope. We're a team, ensure you yourself is competent and then help others around you. Train your juniors and help your seniors.
Mutual trust, it built everyday, we give trust to get it, we allow for some failure in order to learn and grow both as individuals but also a team.
Shared understanding, by having read, understood and adhering to for example this Basic Firefighting course material (excluding EMT-B), we form a mutual understanding of situations that might arise and what we can do to solve them. Everyone, regardless if you're working at McDonalds or in the RFCD, needs to have a shared understanding of what we're capable of doing, our limitations and how we best can solve the tasks before us. Clear, open and honest communications are vital to this endeavor. If the IC receive critical information, changes orders without orientating their subordinates this can create friction and confusion. Likewise if the subordinates receive critical information, but fail to orient their IC on the new conditions or why solving a problem in a certain way might be impossible can create confusion and irritation - but primarily, disallows the IC to allocate more resources and/or change their tactical decisions. Both examples, leads to losing trust, safety and efficiency due to a conflicting understanding of the situation. Everyone needs to communicate openly, even if it leads to disagreements, in the end IC has responsibility and authority to overrule. But are always held accountable afterwards.
Commander's Intent is a clear and concise explanation of what they want to achieve, for what purpose and what the desired end-state should be. How to practically solve this, in the absent of direct orders, the subrodinates should do on their own initiative. This enables subordinates to act without direct orders, even when the situation changes or the situation was unclear from the start. Commander's Intent basically gives the subordinates the big pictures, but they have to figure out how to do it.
Mission Orders, what needs to be done, when and who. Never how to do it.
Disciplined Initiative
Duty to exercise initiative within constraint within the Commander's Intent to achieve the Desired End-State.
Discipline is to follow and adhere to the plan until it is evident that the orders or plan is no longer suitable for the situation. This can be due to unforeseen circumstances, events, new opportunities. Then subordinates have a right to adjust their order, according to the Commander's Intent, to produce better results. Incident Commanders (IC) rely on subordinates to act.
Risk Acceptance
Delegating authority comes with risk, since you give up control, they might fail, but we have to be willing to deal with it.
Doing nothing sometimes feels safer than doing something, but often it isn't.
Doing nothing carries hidden risks, slows down the response and time-sensitive objectives or opportunities might be missed out on.
Trust your subordinates to act.
Freedom to act.
The world is complex, can't plan for everything, accept chaos and uncertainty, build competent teams through mutual trust and shared understanding.
Give clear commander's intent that enables disciplined initiative.
Manage and accept risk.
Doing this will make our crews very adaptable to changing circumstances.
Giving an advantage to crews who don't.
"Never tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
- General George S. Patton.
All course material in the Basic Firefighting, excluding EMT-B, is there to provide you with the tools necessary to complete your tasks. The information given is not written in stone, but instead aim to provide you with knowledge, an understanding of and insight into your own capabilities and limitations - so that our Incident Commanders (IC) and our firefighters can act to solve the tasks as indicated or required in a safe and efficient manner.
The only SOP in the RCFD is our Standing Orders - 2025, which are revised as needed and reviewed every year. This means that the RCFD practices put a heavier load on their Incident Commanders (IC) who instead is given the responsibility and authority to act according to their Size-Up.
Arriving First On-Scene:
- Declare yourself Incident Commander (IC)
- Complete a Size-Up of the situation and fire conditions
- Based on your Size-Up, choose Tactics
- Then follow RECEO-VS, see below.
RECEO-VS
The mnemonic RECEO-VS, see below, dictate priorities of tasks at a fire scene. The tasks should be in-line with the tactics that your IC has chosen and either according to order or in their interest.
RECEO - Priorities at a fire scene, in order. Ventilation and Salvage fit in as time and personnel allow.
Rescue - Get known victims out!
Exposures - Don't let it spread, part 1.
Confine - Don't let it spread, part 2.
Extinguish - Put it out.
Overhaul - Eliminate hot spots and rekindle risk.
Ventilate - Get the smoke out.
Salvage - Preserve property from fire, smoke, or water damage.
PASS, LUNAR.
On arrival: IEAT, TRIPOD
IEAT - These are the phases of incident command.
Initiate - by the first unit on scene.
Establish - a formal command post and structure.
Assume - take over IC from a previous commander.
Terminate - end formal command of the incident.
TRIPOD - The six different possible primary phases of a fire response.
Transitional - making an offensive attack from a defensive position.
Rescue - entering to retrive known victims.
Investigating - verifying the nature of the emergency.
Preparing - putting a plan and resources in place while waiting for additional personnel, eg. waiting to fill two-in, two-out.
Offensive - performing an interior attack.
Defensive - firefighting from outside the building or collapse zone.
Mayday calls: LUNAR
LUNAR - Elements of a Mayday call.
First, call "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" Then, report these points of information:
Location - Where are you?
Unit - What unit are you with?
Name - What is your name? (usually last name)
Air - How much do you have left?
Reason/Reaction - what happened, and what are you doing about it?
Notes