One of the first steps we perform when we receive an alarm is to begin size-up. This should start as soon as you hear the dispatch when you can consider things like the time of day, weather conditions and a thousand other bits of information that will help us respond to, operate at and return from an incident safely. But before we can respond to any incident, we need to ensure that we are fully prepared to respond to the incident. It starts with training, it includes having apparatus, equipment and firefighters fully maintained and prepared for battle and one more important piece that will help us create an incident action plan. The important piece is a pre-incident plan, sometimes called a pre-plan.
A pre-plan could be something that is burned in our memory by way of training and drills or contained in a SOP/SOG such as what to do for a car accident. It could also be a formal written document for a region with limited water sources, a neighborhood with similar buildings or a specific building, be it a commercial building or multiple residence apartment building. What the pre-plan does for us is to expedite the size-up that we need to do to determine things like building size, construction type, occupancy and life hazards, available water supply, needed water supply, needed amount of personnel and apparatus, obstructions or impediments, and other details. If you arrive on the scene of a building fire without this knowledge, you will need to take valuable time gathering this information. During an emergency many facts may be unattainable during the incident and the incident commander may not have all of the important information needed for creating a successful strategy.
A pre-incident survey completed by fire department members is probably the most useful tool for creating a pre-plan document. Spend the time now to create a good pre-plan to save time when you really need it for that big incident.
NFPA 1620 Standard for Pre-Incident Planning was updated in 2010 by changing it from a recommended practice for pre-incident planning to a standard. The standard describes five steps for creating a pre-incident plan and contains an appendix for special occupancies:
Information necessary for the pre-incident plan needs to be gathered in an organized manner. The use of a survey form or data collection form works the best since it contains spaces for detailed information about the building being planned.
Other information useful for calculating required fire flows, life hazards, building construction and other data will allow the fire department to create a plan in advance of any incidents. The information in this plan will describe emergency operations that could be based on incident severity and will help cut down the length of time it would otherwise take to develop an action plan specific to this incident. It will provide information that would be difficult or impossible to gather during an emergency and will be key in decision-making for an incident.
NFPA 1620 Standard for Pre-Incident Planning includes a comprehensive form called a Field Collection Card that is included as a link below and will be very helpful for collecting fairly complete information to be used in developing a pre-incident plan.