Fire-Fighting

Fire-Fighting

Accidents caused by fire are always tragic when they occur. Under normal circumstances, fire involves the release of energy from the combustion of materials. The fundamental component of fire is oxygen, but other materials tend to combine with oxygen to burn at different temperatures. Fire in its normal state is an essential component in the maintenance of the ecological balance. However, the adverse effects of fire are seen when accidents are caused by fire. Fire accidents are mostly accelerated by catalysts that cause excessive combustion above levels which can be controlled by the existing control measures. The oil and acetylene industries, for example, are always at a higher risk of being hit by fire tragedies. Oil is highly flammable, and thus exposure to fire may lead to a fast spread of the fire. The accidents in fire stations are always in the form of explosions as oil tanks succumb to the heat caused by fire and the flammable nature of oil. Acetylene, on the other hand, is a hydrocarbon that is used as fuel and thus is also flammable. The direct exposure of acetylene to fire leads to excessive direct combustion, and in the absence of proper control and management, the outcome could be disastrous. On the 14th August 2018, a supertanker transporting oil gas exploded on the Oman gas. The accident led to a rise in the risk rating of fire accidents in oil industries. Dealing with fire accidents requires well-laid procedures to avoid extreme damages that could come with negligence.

Precautionary measures

The damages associated with fire accidents require strict precautionary measures. The precautionary measures are aimed at providing protection for the firefighting staff as well as the victims of the fire accidents. Safety measures in the event of a fire accident should be clear and easily understood to avoid casualties that may be caused by misunderstanding in the firefightingprocess. The first precautionary measure that should be taken is having clear and concise expectations. The individual should be calm and focused on the step being taken. For example, if an individual decides to flee the accident scene, then it is advisable for the individual to leave immediately to pave the way for others who would have decided to save lives.

In the event of fire accident concern, the most crucial safety measure is contacting an evacuation process. The evacuation should involve taking people as far from the scene as possible. In most fire accident events, the least distance that is deemed safe is eight hundred meters, with the least required distance increasing to 1600 meters if the fire has already started. The firefighters dealing with the accident should keep safe distances to avoid becoming victims as well. After evacuation, a decontamination area is established where the staff and people caught up in the incident are evacuated immediately to further safer areas. After the safety of the people involved, information is analyzed to control the spillage that could be still happening. The operations team is responsible for every activity in the fire incident, and thus no interruption should be allowed from outside parties.  After identifying the specific responsibility for each sub-team, the hazard is assessed to establish the form of response required to deal with the situation.

Personnel, vehicles, and equipment required

The command chain is a crucial component of the firefighting process. An incident commander controls the operations in case of a fire break out. The first responsibility of the incident commander is to contact the first response team that responds to the fire outbreak call. The command of the incident commander is assumed with the arrival of the response team, and the responsibilities are delegated to the new crew commander. The other personnel present are the fire crew. In a bid to beat the challenge of insufficient personnel, the fire crew is divided into two groups to aid in the operations. The two groups of fire crew include a team that immediately embarks on the evacuation process of the incident scene and another team that immediately starts to fight the fire using hoses and ground monitors. Also, civil defense forces are relevant personnel required in the fighting process to ensure smooth operations by the firefighting team. The roles of the civil defense forces are however not limited to controlling the crowd but also assisting in the firefighting process. After the arrival of sufficient firefighters, the actual firefighting process begins by splitting the firefighting crew into four teams: the hot zone operation teams that will get into the hazard scene and control any further leakages, the assistance team, and the site assess team and the site decontamination team.

The operations of the firefighters are made effective by the use of several firefighting equipment and vehicles. The vehicles required include ambulances and fire engines. The ambulances should be sufficient to help in ferrying victims from the fire scene to hospitals or other treatment areas. Also, the fire engines help in transporting fire extinguishers and water to the accident scene. The pieces of equipment required include air sampler tables, gas indicators, dosimeters, testing kits, firefighters protective clothing, pressure breathing apparatus, respirators, anti-chemical gloves, latex gloves, safety goggles, hoses, ground monitors and thermal image cameras (Fent et al. 2017, p.802). The communication equipment is crucial in the entire firefighting process since the coordination of the process is ineffective without proper communication.

Responsibilities of various personnel

The incident commander is the immediate officer who takes the responsibility of coordinating the activities in the event of fire break-out. The selection of the incident commander is based on competence and the ability to make possible decisions that will aid in the whole firefighting process. The selection of an incompetent incident commander will only lead to a mission failure (HM Fire Service Inspectorate, 2000, p.60). The roles of the incident commander vary depending on the nature of the incident, but the key responsibilities still hold. First, an incident commander ensures that rescues are done immediately and medical support is supplied as required. Also, the incident commander checks whether the building is entirely covered by fire so that a decision is made to control any further spread of fire. The incident commander then initiates the fire extinguishing process. The damage control processes only commence after the incident commander has assessed the situation and is convinced that it is necessary to control damages. The other role assigned to the incident commander is to initiate the commencing of ventilation after assessing whether the conditions allow. Finally, the incident commander ensures the welfare of the victims rescued during the operation is well considered. The roles of the incident commander change with the change in incidents, and thus flexibility should be a key consideration when appointing an incident commander to avoid confusions that may come with a change in the situation of the fire accident.

The sector commander is obliged to report to the incident manager concerning the resource utilization in the respective sector as well as the progression of the operation. The underlying focus of the sector commander involves commanding and controlling the sector operations, deploying the required resources, conducting tactical planning and coordinating the health and safety of the involved personnel. The sector commanders provide information to the incident commanders so that the overall progression of the process can be assessed. The roles of a sector commander are independent of the decisions made in other sectors, and thus a sector commander determines the courses of action to be taken in the respective sector.

The incident commander and other supporting staff form the command team. The command team is responsible for offering support required in the different sectors (HM Fire Service Inspectorate, 2003, P. 40). The team commander controls the roles of the team members and approves the decisions made by each team member. The responsibilities of a team commander apply only to the members of the team under the commander. The decisions made by a team commander do not affect the overall operation as the incident commander’s decision would do. The team commander is responsible for approving activities that require specialists to handle.

The firefighters are at the bottom of the chain of command and follow the instructions given by the various commanders in delivering their services. The firefighters deal with putting out the fire and controlling the spread of the fire. In well-organized operations, the firefighters are tasked to save savable lives and recover any property only if necessary. However, the firefighters do not take risks to save lives that cannot be saved, or to recover property whose recovery will only put lives in danger.

Special officers

The roles of special officers involve the activities that require special attention and caution while being undertaken; for example, the fire and emergency rescue servicemen can be defined as special officers in the firefighting process. The roles of the rescue servicemen include rescuing people trapped in fire or debris and preventing further escalation of the incident by conducting several safety precautions. The rescue officers are tasked with dealing with the chemicals and contaminants in a bid to make the incident site safe and secure. Also, the rescue team helps the ambulance service in handling casualties and the police in recovering bodies in the event deaths occur. Also, the rescue team is responsible for recording entrances and exits to aid in data analysis and the assessment of the disaster severity. The rescue team also assists the health service department in decontaminating casualties in the event where large numbers of people have been exposed to dangerous chemicals.

The police are also treated as special officers since their roles are independent of the firefighting operations. The police are under a different chain of command, and thus the incident commander can only coordinate with the police and not giving commands (HM Fire Service Inspectorate, 2008, p. 55). The police are tasked with providing a peaceful environment to allow for successful progress of the firefighting procedure. If the cause of the accident is suspected of being a terror attack, the police assume full control of the situation and firefighters only deliver their services under the command of the police.

The other special officers are health servicemen. The health servicemen operate in conjunction with the ambulance service to provide treatment services to the victims of a fire accident. The health service officers help in determining the hospitals to which victims are to be taken depending on the types of injuries sustained. The ambulance service and the health service aims at sustaining lives by providing treatment at the accident scenes. Also, the health service determines the procedure for releasing victims and help in transporting victims to hospitals in the special event treatment is required.

Firefighting procedure

The procedure for fighting a fire involves all the activities involved right from the occurrence of the accident to the closing of the incident scene by the incident commander. The initial procedures include the evacuation process where the site is made safe for human life before the fire is put out. The evacuation process first considers the safety of human life before the damage control on property commences. A crucial step in the fire fighting procedure is determining whether the fire has the potential to spread to nearby buildings and property. Once the spread of the fire has been contained, the firefighting team embarks on a mission to put out the fire in the shortest time possible to minimize the severity of the incident. The procedure for putting out fire utilizes water and firefighting gases. The process always starts at the source of the fire to make the fire weaker and make the process effective. Once the source of the fire has been contained, the other points that cause more fire are contained.

The tragedy caused by fire accidents always leads to severe consequences if not contained in time. The effectiveness of a firefighting procedure depends on the competence of the commanders in the different sectors in the process. The incident commander controls the overall progress of the firefighting process with the help of sector commanders and team commanders. Other special officers like rescue members of the armed forces and police officers come in to make the process successful. The firefighting procedure requires clearly defined procedures to ensure that coordination is at the best level to ensure a successful mission.

Command chart

Fire fighting position

Figure 1 The fire fighters should keep safe distance from the tanked marked with a red colour.

References

Fent, K.W., Alexander, B., Roberts, J., Robertson, S., Toennis, C., Sammons, D., Bertke, S.,        Kerber, S., Smith, D. and Horn, G., 2017. Contamination of firefighter personal          protective equipment and skin and the effectiveness of decontamination procedures.           Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene, 14(10), pp.801-814.

HM Fire Service Inspectorate (2000) Fire Service Manual Vol 2. Fire Service Operations Petrochemical Incidents, TSO

HM Fire Service Inspectorate (2003) Fire Service Manual Vol 2. Fire Service Operations

            Acetylene Cylinder Incidents, TSO

HM Fire Service Inspectorate (2008) Fire Service Manual Vol 2. Fire Service Operations              Incident Command, TSO