Fire Response Plan Paper

Fire Department Response Plan
Students Name
Institution Affiliation

Fire Department Fire Response Plan
A building at Middlesex County College has just caught fire and the Edison fire department have been contacted to help manage and put-out the fire. This paper is a guideline containing the standard protocols and approaches that must be simultaneously followed to foster the effective and efficient management of the fire.
Arrival and Safety On arrival at the scene, the operation’s department team leader on site will:
a. Promptly assume command of the entire operation and conduct a quick scan and survey of the building and the surrounding environment. This scan of the structure is usually referred to as a size-up and involves
the team leader, together with two or three other team members, performing a quick walk-around of the building to identify the condition of the structure, the building’s exits, and the location of the fire.
b.
After the completion of the walk-around and establishing the type of structure, the number of stories, problem location, types and extent of exposures, the direction of the fire, and any additional resources that might be required, the officer should set-up a proper communication channel to facilitate the effective coordination of the of the fire ground activities and among team members and between the firefighters and other community volunteers. An effective communication system is critical to ensure that the firefighters can communicate in a safe and effective manner while on the fire ground (US Fire Administration, 2013).
c. The third immediate step is to develop an appropriate and effective fire suppression plan. A fire suppression plan is site-specific document that details the essential components of actions that should be undertaken to save human life and property, and ensure that any damage as a result of the fire has been adequately minimized (Dunster, 2011).
d. Depending on the situational data collected from the walk-around, the operations personnel can either adopt an offensive of a defensive fire suppression plan. The offensive strategy entails taking direct actions to mitigate the problem while defensive plan involves isolating and stabilizing the fire to ensure that it does not get any worse (Schottke,
2014).
For the offensive attack, the firefighters should pull out the hose pipe in equivalence to the amount of fire as well as the hose length needed. The fire-fighting personnel should coordinate to stretch the water hose pipes to the points of entry while the truck drivers charge the attack horse lines and secure the water supply. The truck driver will be required to attend to no additional tasks until the water supply has been secured after which he/she will remain at the pump panel but may assist in smaller duties such as setting the positive pressure ventilation fan, setting up lighting at the site, or delivering tools to the entry point. After the hose pipe has been sufficiently charged, the operations personnel and the team leader will descent upon the building to attack the fire. In the case of a second arriving engine, they should be stationed at the hydrant unless contrary information is provided. This second team may supply a forward lay to the fire scene in case a supply line is needed. The first engine should reverse lay to the hydrant in case a second engine is not available.
On the other hand, if the initial walk around requires that a defensive attack be launched, sufficient water supply should be immediately secured since a defensive attack requires more water. In addition, to ensure maximum fire suppression, the firefighters will use a portable deck gun and/or monitor. Besides, the operations personnel at the sight should collaborate to pull handlines through the windows and other openings in the building while ensuring that exposures with handlines have been sufficiently protected.
In both the offensive as well as the defensive scenarios, the team leader should ensure that:
a. At least two operations team members have been positioned on any interior search and rescue as well as the attack hose pipe
b. A standby rapid intervention crew has been situated on any interior operation to quickly and effectively respond to any form of exposure to the personnel
c. All personnel that participate in inside the building search and rescue or fire attack must possess proper training and do so under authorization.
d. The offensive or defensive attacks are carried out with the necessary efficiency until the fire is either contained or extinguished
Other incident actions
In addition to creating and putting in motion the fire suppression plans to contain or extinguish the fire, there are a variety of other activities that the personal should be coordinated to handle simultaneously with the fire suppression initiatives. These incident actions will include:
1. Rescue operation. Rescue refers to the responsive practices that involve the prevention of injury or the saving of lives during an incident or a dangerous situation (Langan, Thomas, Langan, & Reid, 2014). The most important consideration when responding to the Middlesex county college fire is hums life. Therefore, all the other strategic plans and operations should be focused on facilitating the effective rescue of people trapped inside the building. To accomplish this, primary and secondary search teams should be established to search the entire building while marking all sections to indicate that they have been searched
2. Exposure protection and confinement. Exposure protection ensures that the fire does not spread to adjacent buildings while confinement protects against fire spread to uninvolved areas of the burning building. The operations officer will be responsible for assigning teams to combat exposures. Confinement and exposure protection will be attained through either the offensive of the defensive fire suppression plans. The firefighting personnel should consider all areas that the fire might spread through including openings, utility rails, shafts, windows, ducts, doors and so forth. In case the fire has already spread to concealed spaces such as the ceiling, the team leader shall assign a fire ventilation team to open up the areas and attack the fire streams.
3. Overhaul and ventilation. After the fire has been suppressed, overhaul operations should be performed by the personnel to make sure that the fire is fully out. The relaxed, less alert, and tired state of the firefighters at this point might make them more prone to injuries. Therefore, it is critical to appoint a fresh overhaul team if additional personnel are available. Hidden areas should be given overhaul priority should be given to concealed areas and appropriate strategies such a snot removing the breathing apparatus should be communicated to minimize exposure to combustion by products such as carbon monoxide. In addition, the team should ventilate the building to ensure to remove heat, smoke, and flames from the building and from potential victims making the structure safe and more tenable.
4. Salvage operations and utility control. Salvage refers to the process of saving the contents of the building from damage as a result of the incident operations (Klinoff, 2013). Salvage operations may be kicked off at any point during the fire response operation and should include activities such as water removal from the building, removing debris, transferring valuables and furniture to safe locations, and covering outlets to secure the building from bad weather. Finally, utilities should be controlled by shutting them down to make sure that they may not be a source of new types of safety hazards. Gas lines and water supplies should be shut down at the valves and any electrical damages should be communicated to the relevant electricity company so it can be promptly addressed. In case of unavailability of the electricity company, the operations personnel should use circuit breakers to shut down the power.