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As the first arriving company officer and current incident commander, you are in charge of the incident scene until relived by a higher-ranking officer. In some instances/exercises, company officers can be responsible for command of the incident for an extended period of time. Prior to being relieved by a chief officer, there is a required and necessary protocol called the “transfer of command” that must accompany the change in leadership. Your task is to describe to the assessment board the information that would be included in your “transfer of command“.
Answer key:
Transfer/Assume Command: Use of this step in your oral assessment will depend upon the scenario time frame, and whether you have established command prior to the arrival of a chief officer. In many exercises, test designers will place you as the first arriving fire company/officer at an incident requiring you to assign, and manage resources. In addition to your command responsibilities with the exercise, you must be prepared to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for an efficient and effective transfer of command information. If this is the design of your exercise, you will have to exhibit a simple, yet required protocol. When required, advise the assessment board that you will conduct a face-to-face meeting so you may discuss the following:
- Situation Status of the incident, specifically “what do you have?” State that you would provide information about the fire’s location within the building, the building’s construction, layout, and square footage, the life hazard concerns, as well as any anticipated difficulties related to the same.
- The Deployment and Assignment of Resources, also referred to as “what have you done and where?” Advise the assessment team that this part of the information exchange should include the companies assigned, staged, and their location. Information should also include the different geographical and functional areas assigned, the number of hoselines stretched and operating, the status on the ventilation, and the results of any primary searches.
- Next, give any suggested Tactical Needs. Simply do you feel that the current strategy in place, combined with currently assigned and deployed resources are sufficient to handle the incident?
- And finally, advise the assessment board that once completed and comfortable with the information presented, expect that the new incident Commander will assign you to a Operations or Division/Group assignment.
For anybody who has studied incident scene management, this is an outlined procedure that would be a required answer for this type exercise. As simple as it may seem, if the exercise has you responding into the incident as a first due company officer, or as a chief officer where command has already been established, miss this section/step, and you will loose the opportunity to score significant points.
