Strategic & Tactical Considerations on the Fireground, 4th Edition

Features

Offers a lifetime of real experience for readers to apply in their firefighting career

• Draws on author, Chief James P. Smith, 41 years’ of experience in a large metropolitan fire department as a firefighter and fire officer who achieved every civil service rank and held the highest rank of deputy chief for over 20 years.
• Content is informed by Chief Smith’s 30+ years of classroom experience to students throughout the United States.
• Follows FESHE Course Objectives and Outcomes and written to relative NFPA Standards.
• Offers a consistent approach that discusses strategic decisions as well as tactical operations.
• Uses easy-to-understand understood language to discuss what needs to be accomplished for safe and successful operations.
• Contains systems that prepare a firefighter for handling a wide variety of situations on the fireground.
• UPDATED: Includes On Scene stories—encapsulated real-life scenes that allow readers to share the author’s experiences as well as significant incidents that have occurred in other locales. These real-life occurrences permit readers to increase their cue-based decision-making skills, skills normally accumulated through training or during actual situations at an incident scene.

Provides updated coverage on current trends and practices

• UPDATED: Chapter 1 now includes Safe Operation of Fire Department Apparatus, which has been moved from the appendices.
  • Shares new research findings and information developed by the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on the effects of ventilation on a fire.
• UPDATED: Chapter 2 now contains Emergency Operating Centers (EOCs), which has been moved from the appendices.
• UPDATED: Chapter 3 discusses an Agency Administrator’s briefing;
  • Discusses the UL and NIST tests on how flow paths occur and their impact on a fire, as well as the use of an offensive-exterior fire attack in dwelling fires;
  • And discusses ICS Form 208 Safety Message/Plan.
• UPDATED: Chapter 4 discusses the needed change from Vent, Enter, and Search (VES) to Vent, Enter, Isolate, and Search (VEIS).
• UPDATED: Chapter 6 offers an expanded discussion on the Safety Officer’s role;
  • Near miss information;
  • Electrical hazards and firefighting safety;
  • and Additional discussion on accountability and Maydays.
• UPDATED: Chapter 7 discusses new basement fire information;
  • Updated information on wildland urban interface fires;
  • and Numerous USFA statistics gleaned from the National Fire Incident Reporting System on residential fires, vacant building fires, and civilian fatalities in residential fires.
• UPDATED: Chapter 8 expands from acknowledgment and discussion of active shooter incidents in schools to other active shooter events, including churches, movie theaters, government and military installations, and so on.
• UPDATED: Chapter 10 discusses changes in the handling of hazardous materials since the United States adopted the Globally Harmonized System (GHS). It looks at the impact of GHS on responding firefighters and clarifies the difference between the previously used Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and the current Safety Data Sheets (SDS);
  • Looks at the impact of some recent hurricanes and superstorms;
  • and Now includes information on derechos under Natural Disasters.
• UPDATED: Chapter 11 introduces a format that can be used for a formal critique.
• UPDATED: Includes brief, current summaries of NIOSH investigative reports of firefighter fatalities.
  • Lists the

This book is written for firefighters, fire officers, and chief officers who hope to improve their firefighting skills. It can be utilized in college fire science courses, or at a fire training academy. It can be beneficial for a candidate preparing for promotion to company or chief officer.

Improve readers’ understanding with real-world insight and research
Blending research and over 40 years of personal experience in the field, Strategic and Tactical Considerations on the Fireground, Fourth Edition, draws on author Chief Smith’s career operating in one of the largest fire departments in the United States. This authoritative text covers strategic decisions as well as tactical operations, guiding readers through the process of problem identification and solution response. From planning to incident scene control, this text exposes readers to almost every possible tactical scenario and provides knowledge that can be applied to a variety of complex fire situations. The Fourth Edition is updated and expanded to include information that addresses evolving fire service operational approaches.

Table of Contents

1. Preparation
2. Management Tools
3. Decision Making
4. Company Operations
5. Building Construction
6. Building Collapse and Scene Safety
7. Special Situations and Occupancies
8. Health Care and High-Risk Populations
9. Commercial and Industrial
10. Technical Operations
11. After the Incident