Tag Archives: Incident Command System

There is a lot more that can be done to use social media in a community emergency, but this should be a good “starter kit”. So what are you waiting for? Your community emergency, either man-made or naturally occurring, is “just around the corner”.

By:  Robert Avsec Note to My Readers: I first published this piece early in 2013.  I think it’s pertinent to republish it–with some revisions–because I continue to see the same threats to the safety and well-being of firefighters. (I don’t think I’m alone in this assessment as I see numerous postings in other venues every day that are sounding the ...

If we cannot objectively analyze our own actions and the actions of others for the purpose of learning and not repeating mistakes, can we really call ourselves professional firefighters?

Is your department consistently faced with an inadequate number of qualified and properly equipped firefighters arriving at the scene of a structure fire? Are your people launching an interior fire attack solo, or with only another member with them? (We know this is happening every day in the USA, don't we).

First off, a faulty PASS device is UNACCEPTABLE on any fire scene. When firefighters and officers hear a PASS sounding it should ONLY mean that a fellow firefighter is in need of assistance.

While WBT and social media apps can greatly enhance your community's ability to recruit and mobilize resources in "real time" following an event generator, don't wait until the event happens to put a system in place beforehand. Start now to create a marketing plan to inform and educate the public about how your community will use social media when an EOP/COOP/COG event strikes the community.

In these days of budget reductions and inadequate staffing, the best use of RIC is the non-deployment of RIC because our proactive fireground behaviors ensured that they were never needed.