Midterm Exam Review
What are the different kinds of fire departments?
1. Military Fire Departments 2. Federal Fire Departments 3. State Fire Departments 4. Local Government Fire Departments 5. County Fire Departments 6. Intergovernmental Fire Protection 7. Private Sector Fire Protection Organizations
Describes any vehicle that has been customized for use during firefighting operations.
Apparatus
What is the organizational structure in a medium-sized fire department?
Authority and responsibility divided between line functions and administrative support (staff).
An act that created a federal grant program for the development of regional EMS systems and, for the first time, defined the components of an EMS system.
EMS Systems Act of 1973
What is the traditional organizational structure of a fire and emergency services department?
Fire Chief --> Chief Administrator and Chief Firefighter
A bureau of fire departments that is headed by a manager who is usually called the fire marshal, is responsible for preventing fires by enforcing the fire code in existing structures, reviewing construction plans for buildings to be built, and interacting with other local code enforcement agencies.
Fire Prevention Bureaus
What are the different types of EMS agencies?
Fire-based Agencies Third-service Agencies Public Utility Agencies Private Agencies Hospital-based Agencies
A form of public safety consolidation in which all administrative and operational functions are integrated into a single department of public safety.
Full
A role played by fire chiefs and managers, in which they help others focus on the end results and desired outcomes, then help them maneuver through obstacles in the community and the political arena.
Navigator
Describes the short and long term efforts to restore the normal activities of everyday life.
Recovery
A service given fire and emergency services, which includes response to structural collapse, trench collapse, high-angle rescues, confined-space emergencies, and water-related incidents.
Technical Rescue
What are the roles of the state level in emergency management?
The governor is the key official for emergency management; there is a emergency manager that leads the program for the governor.
What are the roles of single-role providers in EMS services?
They provide only emergency medical services; no other services.
A fire and emergency service department in which firefighters are not paid by the department and do not work full time as firefighters.
Volunteer Department
What are some factors that contribute to the public policy environment of fire and emergency services?
(1) Politics (2) Economics (3) Demographics (4) Geography) (5) Sociology
What are some of the emerging issues and themes in the delivery of fire and emergency services?
- "All-Hazards" Fire and Emergency Services - Collaboration - Innovation - Professionalization
What are new challenges for fire protection and emergency medical services going forward?
- Adapting to changes in the healthcare system. - Preparing for natural and man-made disasters. - Using technology effectively and efficiently. - Ensuring diversity and fairness in hiring and promotion.
What are the main components of the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAPs)?
- Answering and triage of incoming emergency calls. - Provision of prearrival instructions. - Quality improvement activities.
What are the seven major roles of effective fire chiefs and managers?
- Community Ambassador - Futurist - Political Strategist - Negotiator - Lobbyist - Navigator - Champion
Who are the stakeholders regarding the continuum of care?
- EMS Agency Leaders - Governmental and Private Entities - Physicians in Multiple Specialties - Nurses - Hospitals - Educators - Elected Officials
What are some of the functions that most EMS agencies perform on a daily basis?
- Emergency Medical Dispatch - Prehospital Service
What is the organizational structure in a small fire department?
- Fire Chief is responsible for most administrative and operational functions. - Assistant-level Chief Officer --> responsible for fire prevention and emergency operations.
What are some of the services provided by fire and emergency departments across the United States?
- Fire Suppression - Community Risk Reduction - Emergency Medical Services - Technical Rescue - Hazardous Materials - Emergency Management - Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction
What are examples of all-hazards scope of services?
- Hazardous Materials Response - Law Enforcement EMS Tactical Integration - Urban Search and Rescue - Mass Gatherings - Wildland Firefighting - Rural/Frontier Public Health
What are the factors that need to be considered in deciding whether to use single or multiple-role providers?
- Recruitment and Retention - Medical Screening - Salary and Fair Labor Standards Act Impacts - Existing Infrastructure
What are the components of an EMS system?
- Staffing - Training - Communications - Transportation - Facilities - Critical Care Units - Public Safety Agencies - Consumer Participation - Access to Care - Patient Transfer - Coordinated Patient Record Keeping - Public Information and Education - Review and Evaluation - Disaster Plan - Mutual Aid
What are the different types of fire and emergency service departments?
- Volunteer Departments - Career Departments - Combination Departments - Paid-Call Departments - Public Safety Consolidations
What are the five forms of public safety consolidation?
1. Administration 2. Functional 3. Area 4. Partial 5. Full
What are some activities that occur following an incident?
1. Damage Assessment 2. Donations Management 3. Reentry Controls 4. Disaster Housing 5. Family Reunification (w/ Pets) 6. Debris Management 7. Counseling Services and Health Monitoring 8. Cost Recovery and Funding 9. Lessons Learned 10. Long-term Recovery
What are some activities that occur during an incident?
1. Detection 2. Public Warning, Alert, and Notification 3. Incident Management 4. Disaster Declaration 5. Emergency Operations Center 6. Evacuate, Shelter, or Shelter-in-Place 7. Public Information and Managing the Media 8. Requesting Help and Additional Resources 9. Access Control and Credentials
What are the six tools for working with communities?
1. Develop a community profile. 2. Reevaluate the departmental mission and core values. 3. Create a citizen task force. 4. Develop a community-based program. 5. Maintain a greater community presence. 6. Check out citizens' needs and satisfaction.
What are ways that fire departments have expanded the services delivered?
1. Fire Prevention and Plan Review 2. Public Fire and Life Safety Education 3. Fire Investigation 4. Emergency Medical Services 5. Hazardous Materials Response 6. Technical Rescue Services 7. Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting 8. Community Partner and Customer-Oriented Services
What are some of the most common natural and man-made disasters that are faced by communities across the United States?
1. Floods 2. Fires 3. Hurricanes 4. Tornadoes 5. Volcanoes 6. Tsunamis 7. Hazardous Materials and Toxic Industrial Chemicals 8. Civil Disorder 9. Resource Shortages 10. War
What are the nine basic elements by which elected bodies govern?
1. Listening to the Community. 2. Informing Citizens about the Local Government. 3. Defining the Future Direction of the Community by Articulating a Focused Vision. 4. Making Decisions on Policy Direction, Resource Allocation, Solutions to Problems, etc. 5. Setting the Tone for the Way Business is Conducted in Local Government and its Image. 6. Representing the Local Government 7. Monitoring the Performance of Local Government. 8. Seeking Feedback from Citizens and Adjusting Policies and Resources Accordingly. 9. Mobilizing Support from Community Partners.
What are the four phases of emergency management?
1. Mitigation 2. Preparedness 3. Response 4. Recovery
What are some activities that occur before an incident?
1. Planning 2. Coordination and Oversight 3. Intergovernmental Agreements and Collaboration 4. Risk Assessment and Hazard Vulnerability Analysis 5. Mitigation and Preparedness Programs (Before) 6. Training and Exercises 7. Grants and Grant Management 8. Intelligence and Information Sharing
What are the three pillars of the National Strategy for Homeland Security (2007)?
1. Prevent and Disrupt Terrorist Attacks. 2. Protect the American People, Critical Infrastructure, and Key Resources. 3. Respond to and Recover from incidents that occur.
What are typical factors in determining a site for a fire station?
1. Property Use 2. Street Network 3. Location of Other Fire Stations 4. Property Availability 5. Attributes of the Site 6. Future Needs 7. Politics
What are the two methods for justifying the need for a new station or a relocation?
1. Time and Distance 2. Number of Calls
What are the typical work schedules for firefighters?
24-hour rotating shift; usually 56 hours/week
A form of public safety consolidation, in which both departments maintain separate operations, but administrative functions, such as budgeting and human resources, are combined.
Administrative
A bureau of fire departments that is responsible for budgeting, financial management, human resources, planning, and procurement.
Administrative Bureau
An EMS response level that provides additional patient care items such as medications, intravenous fluids, advanced airway devices, and cardiac monitors, and other services.
Advanced Life Support (ALS)
A form of public safety consolidation in which joint operations are performed in certain areas, such as residential neighborhoods, where demand is relatively low.
Area
An EMS response level to provide initial patient care with such items as oxygen, bandaging materials, splinting devices, and automated external defibrillators.
Basic Life Support (BLS)
A fire and emergency services department in which all firefighters are full or part time employees and are paid a salary for their services.
Career Department
A series of actions with the shared goal of reducing mortality associated with cardiac arrest events.
Chain of Survival
A role played by fire chiefs and managers, in which they serve as boosters of the fire and emergency services departments.
Champion
Fire and emergency services are provided by a department that relies on both career and volunteer firefighters.
Combination Departments
A role played by fire chiefs and managers, in which they work with their communities.
Community Ambassador
Citizens who form neighborhood associations, cultural/religious organizations, or special interest groups that advocate for a specific cause.
Community-Based Local Government
The purpose of this bill was to fund cleanups and emergency response actions for some of the worst inactive or abandoned hazardous waste sites scattered across the country.
Comprehensive Emergency Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
The concept of consistent patient care across the entire health care team from first patient contact to patient discharge; working together with a unified goal, results in improved individual and team performance, better patient and provider safety, and improved patient outcome
Continuum of Care
An approach to all hazards that involves planning, coordinating, training, and exercising for a wide variety of both predictable and unforeseen emergencies.
Emergency Management
What type of vehicle apparatus is utilized by firefighters?
Engine
True or False: Career and combination fire departments in the United States are generally supported by state taxes.
False
True or False: State governments bear most of the cost on providing fire and emergency services across the United States.
False
True or False: The majority of the U.S. population is served by volunteer firefighters.
False
How are firefighters usually employed?
Federal Civil Service System
What is the organizational structure in a large fire department?
Fire Chief responds to large emergency incidents, but is still responsible for firefighting as well as fire prevention, budgeting, and human resources. Bureaus are usually included with different responsibilities.
In this EMS system, fire personnel generally are cross-trained as emergency medical technicians (EMTs) or paramedics.
Fire-based Agency
A form of public safety consolidation, in which the departments may or may not be administratively consolidated, but some operational functions, such as communications, are combined.
Functional
What is the most common type of consolidation?
Functional (then full, administrative, partial, and area)
A role played by fire chiefs and managers, in which they have their eyes on the horizon regarding potential policy or political issues that may affect the delivery of fire and emergency services.
Futurist
Defining what the government is going to be.
Governance
What does the acronym HAZMAT stand for?
Hazardous Materials
An agency within the EMS system that operates under the oversight of a hospital to provide EMS coverage either independently or cooperatively with public services.
Hospital-based Agency
What is the relationship between the insurance industry and firefighter departments?
Insurance companies were created to protect property owners from economic losses due to fires and other hazards --> fire suppression. Most insurance companies raise awareness about fire protection and issue grants to assist fire service organizations.
A role played by fire chiefs and managers, in which they work with state and federal governments to make decisions that affect the fire and emergency service's responsibilities, capabilities, and resources.
Lobbyist
Efforts to restore the routines of everyday life --> involves the social and economic sectors of the community.
Long-term Recovery
The effort to reduce the overall effect of a hazard before an event occurs.
Mitigation
Provided a national certification agency for EMS providers.
National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT)
A strategy implemented by President George W. Bush that defined homeland security as a "concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur".
National Strategy for Homeland Security (2007)
Established safety standards for automotive vehicles; became the cornerstone of legislation for EMS system development.
National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966
A role played by fire chiefs and managers, in which they represent the fire and emergency services department to other agencies and organizations, and represent the local government to other public or private entities.
Negotiator
A bureau of fire departments that is commanded by senior fire officers and delivers fire and emergency services.
Operations Bureaus
A type of fire and emergency services department in which part-time employees are paid on a per call basis , or per hour for time spent in training and at alarms.
Paid-Call Departments
A form of public safety consolidation in which the fire and police departments are administratively consolidated, and most of their operations are integrated.
Partial
A role played by fire chiefs and managers, in which they work with elected officials and community leaders.
Political Strategist
The processes that citizens use to make policy choices about how their communities are governed.
Politics
How do demographics affect the delivery of fire and emergency services?
Population drives demand for fire and emergency services; as populations increase with effects (new buildings, increased density, traffic congestion, etc) and a demand for fire and emergency services.
Activities that include all efforts --> planning, equipping, training, educating, public communications, exercising, and like activities directed toward ensuring readiness for a particular hazard.
Preparedness
A pillar of the National Strategy for Homeland Security (2007) that refers to activities to identify, deter, disrupt, or defeat acts of terrorism before they occur, as well as to prevent other types of hazardous events.
Prevention
Locally owned agencies that may be operated by a national company in either a for-profit or not-for-profit business model --> contracts with governmental entities, individuals, or private companies to provide nonemergent and emergent services.
Private Agency
A pillar of the National Strategy for Homeland Security (2007) that refers to efforts and activities to secure people as well as critical infrastructure and key resources from terrorism and other threats.
Protection
What are the roles of dual or multiple role providers in EMS services?
Provide more than just emergency medical services, may provide firefighting services.
A continuum of service delivery arrangements in which some element of service provision is shared among the traditional disciplines of law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services.
Public Safety Consolidations
An agency within the EMS system that is referred to as quasi-governmental agencies, where they are products of a specific arrangement between a local government and another entity to provide EMS response to a community.
Public Utility Agency
Describes the operational phase of reacting to an emergency to save lives, property, and the environment.
Response
A bureau of fire departments that is responsible for providing a range of specialized support services.
Service Bureau
What does response and recovery look like for homeland security?
Similar activities to emergency management, but the FBI usually lead in managing a response. Other incidents follow directives from NRF and NIMS.
What are the roles of the federal level in emergency management?
The President directs emergency management activities across the entire government, delegating responsibilities along the way.
What are the roles of the local level in emergency management?
The senior elected or appointed official is generally designated as the emergency management director or coordinator --> department head runs the day-to-day operations.
An EMS agency, in which there are separate EMS divisions that cooperate with the fire and law enforcement public safety agencies.
Third-service Agency
True or False: According to guiding principles of emergency management in the United States, control usually rests with the lowest governmental and organizational level.
True
True or False: Career firefighters are usually employed by federal, state, county, and local government fire departments.
True
True or False: Contemporary fire and emergency service departments today provide a wide range of services.
True
True or False: Many fire departments utilize a paramilitary model for operations, regardless of organizational structure.
True
True or False: Regarding fire and emergency services, in the United States and Canada these services are a state or provincial responsibility that is delegated to localities with a degree of flexibility.
True
True or False: The minority population is expected to become a majority in 2042.
True
