South Australian Country Fire Service Promotions Unit

Raising awareness of the roles, training and activities of CFS Volunteers state-wide

 

Operations
Using the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System (AIIMS)

Strike Teams assembling

Operational resources are managed within the Span of Control, which is the number of groups or individuals that can be successfully supervised by one person and is usually 1:5 ratio, for example one Crew Leader to five crew members, or one Strike Team Leader to five appliances.

Operational resources include appliances, private vehicles, plant and equipment and aircraft.

They can be used as single resources or they can be put into Strike Teams, which typically include a command vehicle and five appliances.

Alternatively, a Task Force could be assembled for a specific task, for example some plant, equipment and appliances assembled into a team to establish a fire break.

Incidents are often divided into Sectors and Divisions, depending on the size of the incident. Each Division has a Divisional Commander that reports to the Operations Officer in the Incident Management Team, and each Sector has a Sector Commander who reports to a relevant Divisional Commander.

Incident and Action Plan (IAP)

Operations is responsible for implementing the Incident Action Plan. The Incident Action Plan outlines objectives and strategies. The objectives will generally describe what is to be achieved within a specific timeframe. The strategies describe how the objectives will be achieved, for example through backburning operations, creating a mineral earth break or by asset protection.

The relevant parts of the Incident Action Plan should be communicated to each person involved in the incident. For example, a Sector Commander briefs Sector personnel on the strategies and tactics of the Sector.

Strike Teams assembling

If multiple fires are being managed by one Incident Management Team, they are refered to as a complex of fires.