It's Size Up Time!

This is a great video for SO many things.  Ignore all the companies already operating and just read the conditions.  I want you, as you watch it to give the following report:

"Dispatch (YOUR COMPANY i.e. Engine 1) is on the scene with a (FLOORS, BUILDING CONSTRUCTION, OCCUPANCY, DIMENSIONS), (CONDITIONS), (FIRE LOCATION IF KNOWN), (YOUR ACTION), (DIRECTION OF TRAVEL)



No reading ahead!  What is radio report as the first due Engine? 

Okay, now, before I give you my size-up why do we care about the topics I mentioned?  Let's go step by step.

1. YOUR COMPANY - Pretty straight forward.  Radio communication should follow the "Hey YOU, It's ME" format.  Get the listener's attention.
2. FLOORS, CONSTRUCTION, OCCUPANCY, DIMENSIONS - Paint a picture of the building.  Height: How many floors gives us a sense of what laddering issues, how hard it will be to get water up top if needed, etc.  Construction should be of a defined type.  "Ordinary" is a construction type, "Brick" IS NOT.  Construction matters because it tells the responder who can synthesize information how the fire is likely to spread. Occupancy gives us a sense of what hazards we may find.  A typical single family dwelling poses different issues than a Taxpayer.  Dimensions are important becasue they give a rough guess as to critical fire flow.  If you give estimated dimensions rounded to the nearest 10 feet (40'x50') a good Nozzle Team (Nozzle Operator, Officer, Back-up) can figure the right GPM in their head (for 2000 square feet it's 650+GPM using the LxW/3 method).
3. CONDITIONS - Is there Fire, Heavy, Moderate, or Light smoke showing.  Does it appear to be into the structure or is it room and contents still?
4. FIRE LOCATION - Where is the fire at?  Smoke always points to the fire location, but watch for multiple indicators (hint, hint).
5. YOUR ACTION - Are you leading out, and what are you leading out with?  Are you going in to investigate?  All depends on the rest of the size-up but telling folks that you are leading out with 2-1/2" gives a very different sense than saying you are going in with a pre-connect.
6. DIRECTION OF TRAVEL - Few places do this, but unless the Truck Company pulled out of quarters with you they need to know what direction you are facing.  The Truck HAS to be in an advantageous position to make use of that million dollar aerial, otherwise it's just a tool box.  Leave room for the truck and let them know where to come in from.  Also this lets the 2nd due companies know how to avoid blocking the way, and where to position.

Here's my size-up.
"Main, Engine 1 is on the scene with a two and a half story, balloon frame, residence, 20x40, heavy smoke showing from the attic, looks like the fire may be in the walls, we're droping the skid, we're east bound."

All key information.  Let's folks know what the building is, that we may need the flow of a 2-1/2" line on each floor is this gets away from us, that I likely have an attic fire (and possible a basement fire that's in the walls), I'm leading out with a manueverable attack line, and that the Truck has to approach from the West.

It's really that simple.  Really knowing your job means being able to take all that information and create (syntesize) a picture of what is likely occuring on the fireground.  That's what Situational Awareness is.  Being able to fully Percieve, Comprehend, and Predict what is going on with the fire and the building.

Now, I'm going to do the studying I put off for an hour.  Cheer!