Examining the Implications of National Doctrine for the Fire Service Tom LaTourrette IAFC Leadership Summit This briefing represents RAND research but has not undergone RAND quality assurance review

2 Emergency Responder Research at RAND New York City-RAND Fire Project Emergency responder safety and health (NIOSH) –Terrorism lessons learned –Responder community views –Safety management –Injury and fatality analysis –R&D roadmap Emergency response performance requirements for terrorist attacks Gilmore Commission work assessing domestic response to WMD Crime fighting technology Approaches to reducing homicide/gun crimes Readiness of local emergency response agencies

3 IAFC Approached RAND to Examine the Issue of National Guidance for the Fire Service Concern that the fire service faces a growing need for proactive, long term direction Federal government increasingly involved in creating fire service policy and expectations Desire for fire service to take charge of its own direction and develop new ideas for policy, procedures, and service unity

4 The Role of the Fire Service Has Continually Evolved Originally "put the wet stuff on the red stuff" Role evolved as new responsibilities emerged –Fire prevention –Emergency medical service –Hazmat –General community safety

5 The Fire Service Has Increasing Importance at the National Level Fire service generally leads disaster response –Range of operational capabilities –Incident command and coordination ability Need for disaster response growing –Increasing impact of natural disasters –Emerging significance of terrorist threat Fire service has heightened national responsibilities –Does this warrant further change?

6 The Fire Service Has a Tradition of Local Response Fire service grew and evolved from local origins Operational and management policies and procedures largely developed locally Allows fire service to remain responsive to local needs and constraints Results in heterogeneous procedures and expectations, difficulty in defining resource requirements, and unnecessary duplication of effort

7 Is There a Need For National Doctrine in the Fire Service? What is doctrine? –High-level principles and concepts (not rules) that guide operational planning and decisionmaking –Authoritative but not prescriptive –Definitive enough to guide specific operation, but general enough to apply to diverse circumstances

8 National Doctrine Could Influence Operations National doctrine could address command, operations, equipment, and safety & health Benefits could include improved interoperability (fire-fire, fire-other local, local-state-federal), better mutual aid planning, improved guidance for resource requirements Must remain flexible enough to accommodate local needs

9 Example: Doctrine Could Address ICS Facilitate the development and implementation of mutual assistance agreements among collaborating emergency response agencies Help prepare local commanders to manage multi- service, multi-jurisdiction, multi-tier (local-state- federal) response efforts Emphasize span of control and scalability

10 Example: Doctrine Could Address Risk Management Designate appropriate decisionmaking level (e.g., individual, company, department, national) for –Operational procedures –Deployment/dispatch practices –Communications protocols –Personal protection and safety

11 Diversity of Fire Service Complicates Development of Doctrine Because it is locally based, fire service varies along several dimensions –Career vs. volunteer –Large vs. small departments –Urban vs. rural –Inclusion of EMS Fire service-wide doctrine must be appropriate for all Military does not have the same degree of diversity

12 Assessing the Consequences of National Doctrine Link operational manifestation of potential doctrine options to fire service performance –Characterize fire service operations –Develop metrics –Develop simulation tools –Calibrate analysis with available data, e.g., Existing department-level doctrine Call statistics Injury data –Assess anticipated impact of doctrine options on local and national performance

13 Impediments to Implementation Nominally attractive options may face impediments –Transition complexity or cost –Sustained costs –Governance/legal issues Look for ways to overcome impediments –Phased implementation –Research and development of new technologies

14 Government Relations National fire service doctrine will require increased coordination and cooperation among fire agencies and between fire and other emergency services Not new to fire service, but may require more formal inter-agency relationships –Examine possible structural changes in fire service/emergency response organization

15 Contact Tom LaTourrette RAND Corporation x7185 Reports available at