ESSENTIALS OF FIRE FIGHTING EXAMS SCRIPT
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Cold Zone (Support Zone) - ✔✔The area outside the warm zone (decontamination
zone) where no hazards exist to victims or other personnel and where vehicle staging
and treatment areas are located.
✔✔Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) - ✔✔A device that interrupts and de-
energizes an electrical circuit to protect a person from electrocution.
✔✔Personnel accountability system - ✔✔Method for identifying which emergency
responders are working on an incident scene.
✔✔Passport System - ✔✔Personnel accountability system in which firefighters give
their passport or tag to the designated Accountability Officer when entering the hot zone
and take it back as they exit. AKA a tag system.
✔✔SCBA tag system - ✔✔Similar to the passport system except expected time of exit is
determined by the air pressure in the lowest-reading SCBA in the team.
✔✔Atypically Stressful Event - ✔✔Term used in National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) standards to describe incidents that have a likelihood of causing critical incident
stress.
✔✔battalion - ✔✔Fire department organizational subdivision consisting of several fire
service companies in a designated geographic area. A _________ is usually the first
organizational level above individual companies or stations.
✔✔code - ✔✔A collection of rules and regulations that has been enacted by law in a
particular jurisdiction. _____ typically address a single subject area; examples include a
mechanical, electrical, building, or fire ____.
✔✔company - ✔✔Basic fire fighting organizational unit consisting of firefighters and
apparatus; headed by a company officer.
✔✔Ground Gradient - ✔✔Electrical field that radiates outward from where the current
enters the ground; its intensity dissipates rapidly as distance increases from the point of
entry.
✔✔Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH) - ✔✔Description of any
atmosphere that poses an immediate hazard to life or produces immediate, irreversible,
debilitating effects on health.
, ✔✔Power Take-Off (PTO) System - ✔✔Mechanism that allows a vehicle engine to
power equipment such as a pump, winch, or portable tool; it is typically attached to the
transmission.
✔✔ All-Hazard Concept Approach - ✔✔provides a coordinated approach to a wide
variety of incidents; all responders use a similar, coordinated approach with a common
set of authorities, protections, and resources.
✔✔Scalar - ✔✔An uninterrupted series of steps. The most common fire department
organizational structure
✔✔Chain of Command - ✔✔Formal line of authority, responsibility and communication
within an organization
✔✔Unity of Command - ✔✔Each employee reports directly to just one supervisor.
Moving up the command chain, all personnel report to the Fire chief.
✔✔Span of Control - ✔✔the optimal number of subordinates a manager supervises or
should supervise is typically 3-7 but 5 is considered optimal.
✔✔discipline - ✔✔the organization's responsibility to provide leadership and an
individual's responsibility to follow orders.
✔✔Division of Labour - ✔✔dividing larger jobs into smaller more manageable jobs to
equalize workload and increase efficiency.
✔✔Career Departments - ✔✔Facilities and equipment maintained by large cities or
counties. Employ full-time firefighters which live in the fire station while on duty.
Continually staffed.
✔✔Volunteer Departments - ✔✔Recieves minimal or no pay for their work. May be
overseen by the local government, or it may be independent and governed by an
elected board of directors. Some are publically funded, but some rely on other funding
sources such as subscriptions, billing homeowners for the cost of responding and
fundraising.
✔✔Combination Departments - ✔✔Fire departments that are staffed by a mixture of
career and volunteer firefighters. aka composite departments in Canada.
✔✔Engine Company - ✔✔Responsible for securing a water source, deploying
handlines, conducting search and rescue operations, and putting water on a fire
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Cold Zone (Support Zone) - ✔✔The area outside the warm zone (decontamination
zone) where no hazards exist to victims or other personnel and where vehicle staging
and treatment areas are located.
✔✔Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) - ✔✔A device that interrupts and de-
energizes an electrical circuit to protect a person from electrocution.
✔✔Personnel accountability system - ✔✔Method for identifying which emergency
responders are working on an incident scene.
✔✔Passport System - ✔✔Personnel accountability system in which firefighters give
their passport or tag to the designated Accountability Officer when entering the hot zone
and take it back as they exit. AKA a tag system.
✔✔SCBA tag system - ✔✔Similar to the passport system except expected time of exit is
determined by the air pressure in the lowest-reading SCBA in the team.
✔✔Atypically Stressful Event - ✔✔Term used in National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) standards to describe incidents that have a likelihood of causing critical incident
stress.
✔✔battalion - ✔✔Fire department organizational subdivision consisting of several fire
service companies in a designated geographic area. A _________ is usually the first
organizational level above individual companies or stations.
✔✔code - ✔✔A collection of rules and regulations that has been enacted by law in a
particular jurisdiction. _____ typically address a single subject area; examples include a
mechanical, electrical, building, or fire ____.
✔✔company - ✔✔Basic fire fighting organizational unit consisting of firefighters and
apparatus; headed by a company officer.
✔✔Ground Gradient - ✔✔Electrical field that radiates outward from where the current
enters the ground; its intensity dissipates rapidly as distance increases from the point of
entry.
✔✔Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH) - ✔✔Description of any
atmosphere that poses an immediate hazard to life or produces immediate, irreversible,
debilitating effects on health.
, ✔✔Power Take-Off (PTO) System - ✔✔Mechanism that allows a vehicle engine to
power equipment such as a pump, winch, or portable tool; it is typically attached to the
transmission.
✔✔ All-Hazard Concept Approach - ✔✔provides a coordinated approach to a wide
variety of incidents; all responders use a similar, coordinated approach with a common
set of authorities, protections, and resources.
✔✔Scalar - ✔✔An uninterrupted series of steps. The most common fire department
organizational structure
✔✔Chain of Command - ✔✔Formal line of authority, responsibility and communication
within an organization
✔✔Unity of Command - ✔✔Each employee reports directly to just one supervisor.
Moving up the command chain, all personnel report to the Fire chief.
✔✔Span of Control - ✔✔the optimal number of subordinates a manager supervises or
should supervise is typically 3-7 but 5 is considered optimal.
✔✔discipline - ✔✔the organization's responsibility to provide leadership and an
individual's responsibility to follow orders.
✔✔Division of Labour - ✔✔dividing larger jobs into smaller more manageable jobs to
equalize workload and increase efficiency.
✔✔Career Departments - ✔✔Facilities and equipment maintained by large cities or
counties. Employ full-time firefighters which live in the fire station while on duty.
Continually staffed.
✔✔Volunteer Departments - ✔✔Recieves minimal or no pay for their work. May be
overseen by the local government, or it may be independent and governed by an
elected board of directors. Some are publically funded, but some rely on other funding
sources such as subscriptions, billing homeowners for the cost of responding and
fundraising.
✔✔Combination Departments - ✔✔Fire departments that are staffed by a mixture of
career and volunteer firefighters. aka composite departments in Canada.
✔✔Engine Company - ✔✔Responsible for securing a water source, deploying
handlines, conducting search and rescue operations, and putting water on a fire
