BY ANTHONY KASTROS
In the first two articles, we discussed the need to integrate strategy/tactics, standard operating guidelines (SOGs)/standard operating procedures (SOPs), and the Incident Command System (ICS) into a street-smart, simple, firefighter-friendly system. The top five National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) line-of-duty death (LODD) causal factors surround command are as follows:
A user-friendly system must go "beyond checking the boxes." The March 2011 article in this series discussed the "NIOSH 5" in detail and how to integrate the ICS with your SOGs to maximize safety, effectiveness, and efficiency on the fireground. The August 2011 article discussed the incident power curve, the ICS formula, the 10 Commandments of Fire Command, and the use of preloaded command/tactical templates for known rescues in homes, duplex/fourplex, garden/center hall apartments, condominiums, and hotels/motels. This article will address command in the commercial arena, with emphasis on command/tactical templates for single occupancies, big boxes, strip malls, and taxpayers. I will break down the command topics into the NIOSH 5 LODD factors as they relate to commercial fires.
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