By FireRescue1 Staff
The recent FireRescue1 What Firefighters Want survey revealed that a surprisingly high number of incident commanders do not use a command tool on the fireground. Specifically, of the 1,922 respondents, representing a healthy mix of career, volunteer (including paid on-call) and combination departments, 30% of incident commanders reported that they do not use a command tool.
Complete the form on this page to download the incident command worksheet.
Of the 70% of ICs who do use a command tool, most report using a paper tool (63%) while 7% use an electronic tool.
Certainly not all departments can afford electronic tools, likely driving the high percentage of paper tool users; however, what is the reasoning for not using a paper tool at all, even paper? And does this mean that 30% of ICs are essentially “winging it” on the scene?
Given all the research into decision-making under duress, it’s vital that ICs have a command tool at the ready. Fortunately, incident command worksheets and mayday checklists are freely available online or easy to build from scratch in a variety of programs.
If you’re not sure where to look, we offer the following downloadable incident command worksheet, courtesy of Fire Chief (ret.) John Tippett, director of fire service programs for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. And read more from Chief Tippett in “Command tools: Getting the marbles back in the bag.”