Fireground Size-Up

Learn how fire ground size-up can make your operations efficient, effective, and safe.

Fire officers have many decisions to make when they approach a scene―decisions that could mean the difference between life and death. Pre-incident information combined with your on-scene size-up give the fire officer the advantage of knowing what to expect when arriving and operating at a fire scene. In this definitive guide to fireground size-up, author Michael A. Terpak gives fire fighters an in-depth and expanded review of 15 size-up points to help them make decisions that are efficient, effective, and safe.

In each different type of building referenced, Terpak covers the following points:

• Construction concerns
• Occupancy
• Apparatus and staffing
• Life hazard
• Terrain
• Water supply
• Auxiliary appliances and aides
• Street conditions
• Weather
• Exposures
• Area
• Location and extent of fire
• Time
• Height
• Special considerations

Michael Terpak has been in the fire service for 41 years spending the last 36 years with the Jersey City Fire Department, where he recently retired as a deputy chief and citywide tour commander. Throughout his career he has worked in the city s Lafayette and Greenville areas with Engines 10 and 17, Ladder 12, Rescue 1, as chief of the city s 2nd battalion, and as the former chief-in-charge of the city s training division. He was also the high-rise training coordinator for Jersey City. Terpak travels extensively lecturing on fire-rescue topics and is the founder of Promotional Prep, a New Jersey based consulting firm designed to prepare firefighters and fire officers studying for promotional exams. Chief Terpak holds a BS degree in fire safety administration from the City University of New Jersey, is an adjunct professor for the Fire Science Technology program at Sussex County Community College, and is the author of five best-selling books, Fireground Size-Up, Assessment Center Strategy and Tactics, Fireground Operational Guides, Assessment Center Management and Supervision, and Fire Officer Oral Assessment Study Guides.