托德麦克尼尔
With the multitude of risk management protocols devoted to firefighter safety in荒芜之地suppression operations, sometimes the simplest tools are overlooked. I advocate that the simplest safety elements are usually the best. Examples of these simple riskmanagementtools are everywhere: in reference materials like the事件响应口袋指南(IRPG), etched into our memories, and written into our agency policies. However, even with this saturation of memory aids, there are still incidents when the most fundamental and elemental safety reminders are not established or adhered to. An example of this would be failure of firefighters to establish and adhere to tactical decision points, formerly known as trigger points. “Trigger point” has evolved through time to the more refined term “tactical decision point.” The reason for this evolution is that a trigger point is in essence a decision point established prior to tactical engagement and, once reached, forces or “triggers” firefighters to re-evaluate their situational awareness and tactical progress and effectiveness and to, ultimately, help them make critical decisions regarding their safety. These decision points are simple, but they must be set, recognized, and evaluated, and when reached, they must not be ignored.
如果这些简单但有效的操作安全工具不在我们的战术敬意评估过程中，我们管理风险的能力会降低。有几种类型的战术决策点，它们可以用于各种紧急情况，而不仅仅是在野外竞技场。决策点总是如此objective. They come in three basic categories:
- Fire environment
- Operational environment
- Time environment
Tactical decision points should always be clearly defined objective points communicated and understood by all firefights present. The idea of objectivity is paramount, as there should be no debate or subjective nature in recognition of a decision point. For the decision point-risk management tool to work as designed, all affected personnel should have no doubt that the identified critical change in the fire environment has been reached and appropriate adjustments have been initiated.
While tactically engaged in the dynamic environment of wildland suppression operations, it is not the time to stop and debate as a group about whether decision points have been reached and, if so, about their type or kind. This compromising position can be avoided by not establishing a subjective decision point such as, “We will disengage when the flames get more orange.” What is orange to you may not be the same to all others at the incident–some people can’t even see that color at all. This subjective point won’t work; it leads to hesitation, doubt, and, in some cases, failure to recognize and respond. Obviously, this is an exaggerated example, but it illustrates the concept of subjective vs. objective quite well and demonstrates how being subjective can possibly introduce a delay into the risk-management process. What each person sees as orange or as a changing orange color is a matter of opinion and could rightfully be debated based on each individual’s concept of the color. When involved in operations with potential risk, firefighters should not waste critical time debating about what that color is or isn’t. As conditions deteriorate, all fireground personnel need to respond quickly and safely.
战术决策点需要最大限度地实现目标。当满足这些决策点时，可能没有争论，也不会被忽略。一旦决定点已经实现，一个人必须评估他的情况，以确定是否正在制定安全有效进展，或者因为在消防环境中的情况变化，是时候调整计划或位置了。决策点有很多例子;许多将基于入射驱动的变量设置。为了最大限度地提高有效性，决策点将在三个基本类别中的一个或全部建立。
Fire Environment
有目标消防环境相关决策点的一个简单示例是以下内容：
When the relative humidity (RH) reaches 20 percent. Once 20-percent RH has been observed and verified, we will analyze the fire behavior and our tactical progress to determine if we are still in a safe location.
没有讨论当RH测量正确嗨ts 20. It is clear when the RH reaches the designated number, or any established number, and measurement of that variable is easily performed. The example decision point of RH is clearly a fire environment-based, as changes in RH influence how fire behaves. Every firefighter understands the concept of the presence or absence of moisture in the fuels or atmosphere and how that moisture influences fire behavior. In the wildland fuels, especially the fine dead or one-hour fuel class, moisture content responds to changes in RH the most rapidly. Changes in RH, or environment moisture, alter the critical fire environment variable of the fuel particles measured at 0.25 feet or less in diameter, and these are the fuels that fires start in, the fuels that predominately carry fire spread and among which the fire will spot. The science behind the interaction of fine dead fuel particles and changes in atmospheric moisture and the rate by which those particles take on or give off moisture can be modeled and replicated in a lab to provide reference knowledge to wildland firefighters. In fact, using fine dead fuel moisture as a tactical decision point is an excellent choice. It is objective, clearly falls into the fire environment category, and can be easily calculated in the field.
Both RH and fuel moisture are key inputs in the fire behavior equation and illustrate an important reminder about decision points. Tactical decision points are not necessarily transferrable from one location or fuel model to the next. What is critical RH in Florida is not the same critical RH in the western states. This obvious fluctuating critical RH level that triggers an increase in fire behavior across the landscape drives home the idea of the responsibility placed on all firefighters to be familiar with local factors that influence fire behavior. Some additional fire environment-based decision points that are objective and frequently used include wind speed, rate of spread, probability of ignition (spotting potential), and flame lengths. All of them can be measured quickly in the field, can greatly change the total output of fire behavior, and can rapidly impact the safety of the operation.
Operational Environment
基于运营的决策点侧重于荒地抑制操作的移动部分。其中一些简单的例子包括丢失的景点，空气支持损失，受损通信，泵故障等。很明显，达到这些事件或决策点中的任何一个都将可能改变计划或级别的参与水平。至少，这些操作变化强制消防员重新评估其当前位置，并确定是否安全地继续进行当前计划或策略或启动替代计划。每个操作将具有必须在操作期间必须到位的关键元素。需要识别和传达这些关键元素，因此所有受影响的人员都可以关注它们，并易于确定其中一个关键业务组件的损失或变化。为了有效地利用战术决策点的益处，各级人员必须有多个替代目前的计划和策略。设置积分，因为预计更改。我在高风险/低频操作中运行时侧重于所有人员始终期望最糟糕的情况。如果为最坏的情况做好了消防员，那么它不呈现自己，那么很可能的人会“惊喜”而不是“悲惨地惊讶”。
Time Environment
Another widely used objective decision point used is time environment, sometimes simply called a “time tag”. Firefighters whose background is largely comprised of structural suppression are familiar with this category and use it frequently on the fireground. A perfect example of a time environment-based decision point is the concept of an incident clock or analyzing what type of building construction you have, how long the fire has been burning, and how much progress has been made to help determine the safety of crews working on the roof or inside. This skill is used in the wildland environment and, quite honestly, sometimes the fire itself tells us when the time tag should be set. To illustrate this point, consider the following example:
You are working on a fire under a consistent and persistent weather pattern in the timber fuel model. Every day the incident action plan (IAP) calls for almost the exact weather forecast with temps reaching into the high 80s , RH dipping to the low 20s, and wind picking up to about 7 miles per hour (mph) eye level. Each day as you return to your division assignment to continue with the tactical objective of cutting line, you observe that fire activity increases in the hour between 1300 and. 1400. This daily increase in activity results in the fire transitioning from the surface fuels to the ladder fuels, and isolated trees begin to torch. As the afternoon progresses, the isolated tree torching becomes a consolidated crown fire and the increased activity does not subside until the sun goes down and the weather conditions to improve. You and your crew have been asked by the division supervisor to engage a new section of the fire’s perimeter and cut a fire line as direct as possible.
All people reading this article should be able to look at the above hypothetical, but realistic, scenario and pick out numerous decision points from each category for safe progress monitoring. To assist all firefighters in evaluating mission safety, look to the given conditions, set points, and respond in a timely manner. To illustrate the time-tag concept, look at the daily transition from surface to ladder, then to aerial fuels, and set a time tag before the actual transition occurs to reevaluate that you and your crew are in a safe location and the tactics and assignments are still valid and obtainable. Don’t wait until the transition of increased fire behavior happens–always build in a positive safety margin! The fire environment is dynamic, and the firefighter’s risk-management thoughts need to be as well. The challenging part about the wildland decision points is the fact that they can vary so widely across the diverse environment of fuels, weather, and topography.
一旦达到战术决策点,do not ignore it! Use that mental reminder to reevaluate the safety of your operation position or tactics and then decide how to proceed based on those findings. Some of the clear choices are to continue with current tactics, hold in place until conditions change again, or to ultimately disengage and fall back using escape routes to the designated valid safety zone. There will be times in wildland suppression operations when that is all that can be done. The conditions today, or the proverbial recipe of fuels weather and topography, are combining in such a way at that specific location to produce fire behavior that is unstoppable. The bottom line is to make the risk-management process successful through the wise selection of decision points, recognition of when the points are reached, and the resultant determination of a safe plan of action that adjusts for the changing environment.
For all firefighters who have experienced full alignment of fire environment variables to produce extreme fire behavior and for those who have yet to experience that dramatic event, we must be prepared for the worst-case outcome. If all personnel use the ideas embedded in the 3rdFire Order, “Base all actions on current and EXPECTEDfire behavior“然后，作为一个组织，我们已经开始了主动风险管理的难以捉摸的过程。风险管理过程的基础是使用所有所描述的类型的战术决策点，在完全处理存在的条件和个人情境感知之后设置。确定适当的决策点并相应地响应转化为最重要的事件目标：消防员安全！
TODD McNEALis chiefChain Harte火灾和加利福尼亚州杜松县的救援。此前，他是索诺拉消防部门的队长，并担任荒地培训官。他在荒地和结构火灾管理和抑制方面拥有多元化的背景，并在过去六年中作为联邦II型事件管理团队的一个部门/集团主管。他与国家公园服务和美国森林服务一起开始职业生涯，在加利福尼亚州和蒙大拿州工作。他一直是过去十年的讲师，在荒地运营中有许多事故指挥系统资格。他是加利福尼亚州火灾训练和加州消防官员的注册教练。他在自然资源管理中拥有学士学位。
