Wednesday February, 22 2023

Nature: Incident Scene Size Up Inservice Training

Location: Indian River Station #1

Address:  32628 Oak Orchard Road, Millsboro, DE 19966

On Wednesday evening, February 22^nd, the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company hosted its monthly in-service firefighter training addressing Firefighter Incident Scene Size Up.  Our neighboring mutual aid partners were invited to attend and participate as well.  Volunteer firefighters from Millsboro (83), Lewes (82), Dagsboro (73), and Indian River (80) were in attendance.

Firefighter Incident Scene Size-up is the on-going evaluation of problems confronted within an emergency response situation which could include a variety of first responder functionalities.  Incident Scene Size-up starts with the receipt of an emergency alarm and continues until the emergency is placed under control and all apparatus returned to their respective stations. This process is carried out many times and by many different individuals at each emergency event. The responsibility of incident size-up initially lies with the first officer of the first unit or company that arrives on scene. This responsibility is passed up the chain of command as other units arrive with higher-ranking personnel.

Conducting an initial scene size-up and establishing an incident command structure early in the event not only helps the incident run smoothly, but can also save lives. 

Incident Size-up is the on-going evaluation of problems confronted within an emergency incident.   Every emergency responder at the scene should constantly be doing a size-up.  Any condition encountered or observed that could impact operations or the safety of emergency responders should be immediately passed up the chain of command. 

The Delaware State Fire School (DSFS) provided a fully trained and certified instructor to coordinate the classroom instruction of the training session.  The topics of discussion included but not limited to:

1. Five major area of importance during a size-up where valuable information may be obtained.  These include:

   1. Receipt of Alarm

   2. Enroute responding to the Alarm

   3. Arrival at the scene

   4. Inside the fire building or area

   5. Post Control operations.

2. Strategic factors that must be considered in size-up are:

   1. Time of Day

   2. Life Hazards

   3. Area of Building

   4. Height of Building

   5. Type of Construction

   6. Occupancy

   7. Location and Extent of the fire

   8. Water Supply

   9. Street Conditions

   10. Auxiliary Appliances (sprinklers, standpipes, etc.)

   11. Weather Conditions

   12. Apparatus and Equipment

   13. Exposures

3. Size Up Actions

   1. Cornerstone of tactical operations

   2. 360-degree reports of the building

   3. Communicate the conditions, building construction, basement, etc.

   4. Declare Operational modes by advising actions

   5. Request additional resources, if needed

   6. Establish or pass command

4. Size Up and ongoing process of evaluating the situation to determine:

   1. What happened?

   2. What is happening?

   3. What is likely to happen?

These in-service training sessions are essential to the development of firefighter’s knowledge, skills, and abilities to assist in mitigating emergency incidents.

The Indian River Volunteer Fire Company expresses its gratitude to our mutual aid partners that participated during this event.