Fire Fighting in Canada March 2009 : Page 37firefighters organized geographically, on the east side or the fourth floor, would be called a division. If they were organized function- ally; for example, for ventilation or fire attack, they would be called a group. Brunacini refers to either as a sector. He also wryly notes that this 30-year debate persists only because the original authors are still alive, but the point is well taken. All language evolves, and technical terminology is no different in that respect. I have always felt that Brunacini’s term “marginal” for the strategic mode during the period of change to defensive from offensive operations would be more intuitively described as “transitional”, but at last report he is still alive and kicking so I will let that one lie. In the meantime, in 1982 the FIRESCOPE ICS had developed further into the National Inter-agency Incident Management System (NIIMS). In 1993 the IMS consortium began producing model procedure guides that sought to harmonize the best practices of each existing system. Most recently, by presidential directive, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) was issued in 2004. The cynic in me suspects that the sitting president found “nims” easier to pronounce than “ni-ims”, but there’s more to NIMS than a name change. It is an integrated system of protocols that, according to FEMA, will “enable responders at all jurisdictional levels and across all disciplines to work together more effectively and efficiently . . . .One of the most important best practices that has been incorporated into the NIMS is the ICS, a standard, on-scene, all-hazards incident management system already in use by firefighters, hazardous materi- als teams, rescuers and emergency medical teams.” NIMS divides management teams, their equipment needs and training requirements into five levels: type 5 is at the city or town- ship level or up to 12 hours’ duration; type 4 is at the county or fire district level for 12 to 36 hours; type 3 involves state agencies or large metro areas for two to seven days; type 2 is at the national level for seven to 14 days; and type 1 is also at the national level for huge incidents of more than two weeks’ duration. So to put this in a Canadian perspective, consider the following: type 5 is your first-alarm response to Mrs. Smith’s kitchen fire or an MVC on the highway; type 4 is a mutual-aid fire or a multiple- alarm fire in the city (these two types alone represent the majority of emergency responses and the greatest risk to property and the lives of firefighters and taxpayers); type 3 represents the tornadoes in Barrie or Edmonton, the fires at Plastimet or Sunrise Propane, or the August 2003 blackout; type 2 could be compared to the Hagersville tire fire or Mississauga derailment; and type 1 to the 1998 ice storm or the SARS outbreak of 2003. The National Incident Management System was set up to aid in the response to the largest yet least frequent emergencies. As Alan Brunacini puts it, “99 per cent of our local, all-risk tactical activity is managed by type 4 and type 5 management teams.” After all, assum- ing the resources are in place, where’s the risk to the responder at a 17-day defensive tire fire? Alan and his sons Nick and John have devel- oped a training system specifically to address the risks associated with incident operations at type 4 and type 5 responses. Their Blue Card Command Training and Certification Program meets the bottom- up needs of the first-due incident commander within the context of the top-down NIMS mandates. Blue Card Command Training was schedule to be available in mid-February through Medteq Solutions (www.medteqsolutions.ca) in a combination online/in-class setting in order to efficiently disseminate this important information. As our industry continues to further define and demand best practice at all levels, tools like Blue Card for the development of command and decision-making expertise are invaluable. Whether you call it communicating with signs and signals, fire ground command, ICS, NIIMS or NIMS, seamless communication and co-ordination will keep us safer at all emergency scenes – local, regional or national. March 2009 FIREFightingInCanada.com 37 Air Technology Solutions Canada Inc |
