Essay Sample on Probationary Firefighter

Introduction

The above organization structure is for the local fire service department and consists of the fire chief as the top-most commander in the structure. At the topmost level, the EOC organization from the state level undertakes its responsibilities with the local fire service department. The rank in command goes down to the assistant fire chief, to the four units in the department including operations, logistics, finance, and prevention. The operations units are responsible for different fire emergency plans implementation activities and the following subunits help the organization in executing the duties of the battalion chief, captain, lieutenant, firefighter and probationary firefighter (Loyd & Richardson, 2014).

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Summary of the Roles of National, State, and Local Support Organizations

The national, state and local support organizations play various roles in the organizational design and command structure of the local fire department. The Emergency Operations Center within the organization design is a coordination agency to adhere to the local emergency management plan based on the national response framework (Moeller, 2014). The center recognizes and coordinates all the functions of the Emergency Support Functions with the help of the local fire department. The EOC developments the incident action plan and provides the fire department the equipment, tools, and apparatus for firefighting. The staff organization in the local fire service department comprises of the fire chief, assistant fire chief, and line organization departments such as planning, operations, finance, and prevention. As stated earlier, the operations department consists of various subunits with various roles in the local department.

There is the staff organization at the local fire department that caters for everyday activities including emergency, non-emergency and administrative. At the state level, the fire chief is appointed by the city manager. This department in firefighting oversees all the operations in the fire company including making the annual budget, review and update standard operating procedures, labor relations management, oversee disciplinary proceedings and provision of required resources (Loyd & Richardson, 2014). The assistant fire chief supervises battalions and responds to multiple-alarm fires in the local fire department.

The battalion chief is the district chief in the fire department and supervises the different fire stations in the assigned companies. The battalion chief trains and equips the emergency personnel. Battalions are responsible for planning, finance, and logistics in the fire service department. The battalion also heads the district organization unit within the local fire service department. The battalion chief assumes the duty of the incident commander at the emergency scenes in the assigned area of responsibility (Loyd & Richardson, 2014). The captain is the shift officer in the fire station to supervise firefighters and other officers during the emergency and non-emergency operations. Captains contribute in the strategic and tacit planning and sometimes assume the emergency response role.

The lieutenant is the supervisor of the rescue or engine company. At the local fire department, the lieutenant is assigned the duties to implement the tacit and strategic plans, and the first officer to respond to an emergency. The driver delivers personnel and equipment to the emergency scene and returns them safely in the fire station (Flin & Arbuthnot, 2017). The driver also operates the pumps and aerial equipment. The driver ensures operational readiness for all apparatus, inventory control and keeps track for tools and equipment during emergency operations. The firefighter performs all the physical tasks during the emergency scene operations (Haynes & Stein, 2017). The firefighter is the entry level in the department after the probation of three months to two years. The probationary firefighters are the new recruits in the fire department. At the entry level, the probationary firefighters are trained and evaluated for six to 12 months of working for promotion to firefighters.

Organizational Chart for the Planning Department of the Incident Management System (IMS)

• Planning
• Resource Unit
• Situation Unit
• Demobilization Unit
• Documentation Unit
• Technical Specialists

The planning department is one of the functional areas in the incident management system. Its basic subunits include resources management, situation, demobilization, documentation, and technical specialists.

Summary of the Duties for the Planning Function in the Area

As shown in the organizational chart, there are four units within the planning function including resources, demobilization, situation and documentation (Loyd & Richardson, 2014). The technical specialists have a role in data interpretation, evaluation, forecasting resources requirements, and situation development. During incident planning, the command and operations work together to obtain an updated strategic plan (Flin, 1996). An assessment of the past actions and strategies used in the fire department is made. From these evaluations, it is possible to make adjustments to the present and future plans of firefighting as well as give recommendations to the command and operations units. The prediction of results, estimation, and assessment of the possible resource requirements are made during incident planning. The projected tasks are also reviewed by the command and operations units to establish their contribution to the overall operations in the fire service department.

The resources assessment unit in the planning function oversees the responsibilities of personnel and accountability of the responding units (Loyd & Richardson, 2014). This unit monitors the assignments and keeps track of the special firefighting equipment. The situation status unit has the responsibility of continually monitoring the activities in the fire department to keep an updated status of the incident situations. The documentation unit plays the role of maintaining a master series timeline of activities and requests of resources (Christen & Maniscalco, 1998). The demobilization unit has the duty to develop a plan of dismantling the organizational structure and giving back all the equipment, apparatus, personnel as well as other resources after the event is over.

Within the local fire service department, the planning function has the duty to evaluate incident information and come up with the required action plan. The planning function gives the incident commander with an updated status of the reports regarding resource requirements and allocation. The function also provides the incident commander with information on the development of the situation, incident control, intelligence, incident stabilization suggestions and responder injuries (Loyd & Richardson, 2014).

The relief manager in the fire department takes the responsibility of planning and directing the fire emergency response. A needs assessment is performed for the purpose of identifying the main threats and priorities of the incident (Abdallah & Burnham, n.d). The nature and magnitude of the fire emergency are evaluated to establish the beginning point of intervention. Increased planning is undertaken when the magnitude of the fire emergency is huge to achieve the effectiveness of the proactive response to the situation. By using a pre-defined plan the incident managers and the section chiefs come up with an incident action plan to respond to fire emergencies (Flin & Arbuthnot, 2017). The team of planning section chief, situation status unit leader, resource status unit leader, documents unit leader, and weather specialist. Planning continues throughout the incident response to address any changing dynamics with the fire emergency situation. The five units of the planning function help in undertaking the various activities including collection, analysis, and storage of information as well as making estimates of the available resources.

References

Abdallah, S., & Burnham, G. (n.d). The Johns Hopkins and Red Cross/Red Crescent public health guide for emergencies. 1st Edition. The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Christen, H. & Maniscalco, P. (1998). The EMS incident management system: EMS operations for mass casualty and high impact incidents. Brady: Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.

Flin, R. (1996) Sitting in the hot seat. Leaders and teams for crisis management. Chichester: Wiley.

Flin, R., & Arbuthnot. K. (2017). Incident command: Tales from the hot seat. 1st Edition. Routledge.

Haynes, H., & Stein, G. (2017). U.S. Fire Department profile - 2015. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA Research). Retrieved from https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/Emergency-responders/osfdprofile.pdf

Loyd, J., & Richardson, J. (2014). Fundamentals of fire and emergency services. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Moeller, B. (2014). The role of the emergency operations center (EOC): special operations. Fire Rescue.