(Photo by Tony Greco)
In this collection offirefightertrainingdrills, Forest Reeder takes a look at the various roles and responsibilities that fall to the incident safety officer on the fireground.
Even if you are not the designated safety officer for your fire department, almost the entire content of the drill will apply to officers and firefighters alike.
After an incident safety officer identifies a hazard, it must be evaluated in relation to how urgent the management of the hazard is.
This training drill puts you in a face-to-face meeting with the incident commander (IC) and asks you to establish an understanding of a number of incident factors.
Drill: Monitoring Incident Communications
This installment discusses the importance of monitoring radio communications as an evaluation tool of imminent and potential safety hazards.
Drill: Monitoring Scene Operations and Conditions
This drill will discuss some basic incident scene and operational hazards that need to be evaluated.
Drill: Monitoring Crew Progress
What observations and information do you need to monitor the progress of crews working at an incident?
For the safety officer, exterior operation duties have specific hazards that extend beyond establishing and protecting collapse zones.
The incident safety officer can perform several critical safety observations relating to time.
Drill: When Is a Safety Officer Due to Respond?
Fire department policy and procedure should identify specific types of incidents in which a safety officer is due to respond or should be assigned by the IC.
Drill: Safety Officer Responses
Qualifications for the safety officer need to be defined as part of your policy but, in general, the safety officer must be trained to at least the same level of those who are operating at the incident.
Forest Reederbegan hisfire servicecareer in 1979. He serves as Division Chief ofTraining&Safetyfor the Des Plaines (IL)Fire Department. He is a past recipient of theInternational Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI)prestigious George D. PostInstructor of the Yearaward and has been responsible for the design, implementation and coordination of in-servicefirefighter trainingactivities as well as a full-service消防培训academyprogram. Forest holds numerous Illinoisfire servicecertifications and holds a Masters Degree in PublicSafetyAdministration from Lewis University.
