#Fireground sizeup how to#

It provides you with all the tools you will need to make an informed decision.įor each hazard identified, determine the associated degree of risk in terms of severity and My recommendation…download WISER onto your smartphone. Additionally, a NIOSH Pocket Guide will be useful as well. Those steps are:Įvery engine should have access to an ERG, whether it be an electronic or hard copy reference. Similar to Noll and Hildebrand’s 8 Step Process, risk management can be broken down into 5 steps with an operations level engine company. Number one of the NIOSH 5 is improper risk assessment. Probabilities are likely to happen, and this is where forecasting and risk management comes into play. This can be based on dispatch information while en route or information gathered as you roll up on the scene (DOT placards, shipping papers, manifests, wind direction, location, time of day, etc.). It stands for: Facts, Probabilities, Own situation, Decision, Plan.įacts are the things you know. What is FPODP, and how can it be applied to HazMat? FPODP is an acronym normally used for Operations level firefighters and give you, the technician, a great picture of what to expect when you arrive at the party. Using the FPODP acronym for initial HazMat size-up can serve as something familiar for your The use of fog streams was a very effective manner of extinguishing the fire in the setting of He theorized that under certain circumstances, Huge amounts of British Thermal Units (BTUs). The steam resulted from converting the water from a liquid to a vapor, thereby absorbing He theorized that finely divided water droplets interjected into a fire environment would result in extensive steam production. His texts are classics, and his work on the use of fog streams was based upon a simple theory.

#Fireground sizeup how to#

The first was called ‘Attack and Extinguishing Interior Fires.’ The second was entitled ‘Firefighting Tactics and Strategy.’ Most of his work was done in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and for decades his methods were the standard for teaching individuals how to fight fires in structures.

Layman “pioneered two fundamental documents in the fire service. His talk, titled ‘Little Drops of Water,’ was very well received.” (1) Confident of his work, he presented on the subject at the 1950 Fire Department Instructors Conference.

Following World War II, Layman returned to the Parkersburg Fire Department and applied the indirect attack method to structural fires. Still, Layman’s research through shipboard tests led to the development of the indirect application of fog as a successful suppression method. At the time, the use of water fog was quite limited. Commissioned and promoted to the rank ofĬommander, he established and led the Coast Guard Fire Fighting School in Baltimore, which

Layman applied military tactics to the fire service, initiated pre-fire planning, and in 1941 authored a pamphlet titled ‘Fundamentals of Fire Fighting Tactics.’Īfter the disastrous fire on the troopship Normandie in 1942, the Coast Guard asked Layman to direct its fire research and training efforts. While commanding the state police unit in Parkersburg, Layman was asked to serve as the city’s fire chief, which he assumed in 1931, though not before he spent time with several progressive fire departments. He organized and directed the agency’s first training academy, which became a model for other states and brought him recognition as a leader in law enforcement. “A native of Fairmont, W.Va., Lloyd Layman (1898-1968) served overseas as an officer during World War I, after which he joined the West Virginia State Police, rising to the rank of captain by 1926. Many of you may (or may not) be familiar with the scene size-up acronym FPODP developed by Lloyd Layman. In HazMat, Ludwig Benner’s DECIDE acronym is a great start, but what about theĪverage engine company? How are we training our operations level personnel because, let’s face it, they’ll be the first ones on scene? When it comes to scene size-up on the fireground, strategies, tactics, and acronyms are abundant.