Riding Assignments

An easy method to increase accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness is utilizing predetermined riding assignments.  Predetermined riding assignments proactively provide personnel with a role and responsibility within the company.  I prefer the correspondence of riding assignments with specific seat positions due to the consistency it provides.  Regardless of who is in charge of the rig or what shift is working, the firefighter riding in seat “X” will always have the same riding assignment as will the firefighters in seats “Y” and “Z”.

The first step to utilizing riding assignments involves identifying the fireground functions your company performs.  After determining the company’s functions, determine how to best utilize your personnel to carry out these functions.  Once this has been determined, to best fit your company’s operations, assign areas of responsibility to specific seat positions on the rig. An example of this would be the Engine Company firefighter riding in the seat behind the driver (could be designated as seat 3, left bucket, left jump seat, etc.) is given the riding assignment of “Back Up” firefighter.   The obvious benefit is that specific areas of responsibility have been proactively assigned prior to receipt of the alarm.

Utilization of riding assignments increases accountability, of personnel and tasks, within your company.  Of course, the discipline and skills required for successful utilization of riding assignments must be gained through training prior to use on emergency incidents.  After members gain the necessary discipline and skills, riding assignments should allow the company officer to manage the overall company operation instead of focusing in too far on small pieces of the operation.  Focusing in too far on small pieces of the operation could lead to tunnel vision and cause the officer to miss the “big picture” of the operation.  After receiving some direction from the company officer, a properly disciplined and skilled company member will know where to be and what to be doing.  Also, the company officer will know where the member is and what they are doing.  If your company is not disciplined or skilled enough to operate in this manner, don’t! Instead, work to improve your company’s discipline and skill so that you will be able to operate in a more efficient and effective manner.

Time matters in our business.  With that said, there is a fine line between moving efficiently with a purpose and moving recklessly and inefficiently. I discussed this topic in depth in a previous post, so I’m not going to beat a dead horse.  The point I’m trying to convey is that we need to move efficiently on the fireground and utilization of riding assignments provides us a great opportunity to do so.  From receipt of the alarm, company members should be thinking about the type of occupancy they are responding to, their responsibilities upon arrival, and the challenges they may face while carrying out their responsibilities.  This is a great example of why all company members should be familiar with their response areas.  If a member is assigned as the “Irons” firefighter on the Truck Company and is responding to a fire in a 1970’s garden apartment, the members should have a good idea of the locks they may encounter and the tools they will need to accomplish forcible entry.  Showing up and wandering around looking for clues on what tools will be needed is not nearly as efficient as showing up and knowing what tools will be needed and subsequently going to work.

As stated above, time matters.  It matters to us and it matters to the citizens we serve.  All members of the fire service should be well aware of the widespread information that has been shared in the last couple of years relating to heat release rates, building construction, and ventilation.  If you’re not, then get with the program!  All of these things can cause significant issues on the fireground if we are not effective in our fireground operations.  Water needs to be applied to the seat of the fire as quickly as possible or fires are going to grow exponentially and potentially lead to structural compromise.  Simultaneously, searches need to be conducted to give occupants the best chance of survival and to identify the extent of the fire.  Portable ladders need to go up to provide the companies doing the search a way out.  Ventilation, coordinated with the fire attack, needs to occur to help the Engine Company keep moving and to give the search crews better visibility.  Riding assignments allow members to make these things happen without having to have a team huddle thus improving our effectiveness. 

I’m not advocating operating without receiving any direction from your officer, but I am advocating creating a “thinking fire service”.  The fire service doesn’t need robots.  The fire service needs thinking firefighters who are able to receive direction such as “primary search, floor above”, and are able to go to work efficiently and effectively carrying out a primary search of the floor above the fire.  Thinking firefighters will know what tools to bring, how to get to the floor above, and what the primary search entails.  The company officer should be able to manage the primary search operation instead of having to tell the firefighter assigned as the “Hook” firefighter to periodically open the baseboards to ensure fire isn’t extending to the floor above.   Riding assignments help create thinking firefighters and allow a company to perform in an efficient and effective manner.  I have attached two photographs of riding assignment boards for the two organizations I am affiliated with.  These work for us.  With that said, figure out what works best for your company and determine if riding assignments will improve your company’s accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness.