POLICY – INTERIM
Command and control
M1 POP
Note
This Day One policy was reviewed and approved as part of the implementation of the Fire and
Emergency New Zealand Act 2017. The policy wil be further reviewed and updated by 1 July 2020.
Introduction
When to use
Al operational personnel must follow this policy when responding to fires and
designated emergencies across boundaries.
Key personnel
This document uses generic roles, which map to the following ranks or titles.
and roles
There’s no implied hierarchy within the rows of this table.
Generic role
Title/group
Senior Officer
DCE Service Delivery
Members of the National Commander’s Group
Region Manager
Urban rank
Rural title
Area Commander
Principal Rural Fire Officer
Assistant Area Commander
Deputy Principal Rural Fire
Officer
Officer
Chief Fire Officer
Voluntary Rural Fire Force
Deputy Chief Fire Officer
Control er
Senior Station Officer
Voluntary Rural Fire Force
Deputy Control er
Station Officer
Rural Fire Officer
Non-Officer
Senior Firefighter
Crew Leader
Qualified Firefighter
Rural Firefighter
Firefighter
under the Official Information Act 1982
Officer-qualified
A Senior Firefighter who is Officer-qualified is considered to have the equivalent rank
of a Station Officer when riding in charge of an appliance.
A Crew Leader who is trained as a Rural Fire Officer and riding in charge of an
appliance is considered to be a Rural Fire Officer.
They wil be clearly identified by helmet markings.
Released
Fire and Emergency New Zealand Response Capability
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M1 POP Command and control policy July 2019
INTERIM POLICY – Command and control
Boundaries
Urban
Urban boundaries are the same as defined under the repealed Fire Service Act 1975:
boundaries
gazetted Fire Districts
Section 38 agreements.
But excluding Defence Areas as defined under section 2 of the Defence Act 1990.
Rural
These are the:
boundaries
Enlarged Rural Fire Districts gazetted under the repealed Forest and Rural
Fires Act 1977
boundaries of territorial authorities that were Rural Fire Authorities under the
repealed Forest and Rural Fires Act 1977.
But excluding Defence Areas as defined under section 2 of the Defence Act 1990,
and certain areas of Maori land under DOC agreements.
Boundary maps
Urban and rural boundaries are defined by the maps that can be found in SMART
Maps or the Portal list of
Urban and rural boundaries. Boundaries can also be clarified by contacting Firecom.
Working together
Consult,
At al times personnel responding at incidents must:
cooperate,
consult, cooperate and coordinate to ensure incidents are managed safely,
coordinate
effectively and efficiently
respect the qualifications, skil s and experience of others.
Disagreements
Should a disagreement arise over incident control, the on-call duty Senior Officer
(rural or urban) may be contacted.
Considerations when handing over control
Decision to
The person in control of the incident must hand over control to an arriving officer if the
under the Official Information Act 1982
hand over
person in control:
control
has any concerns about the safety of personnel or the public, or
has any concerns that the size and complexity of the incident may be beyond
their qualifications, skil s and experience, and
the arriving officer has more appropriate qualifications, skil s and experience.
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M1 POP Command and control policy July 2019
INTERIM POLICY – Command and control
Considerations before taking control
Initial
A more senior arriving officer must have an initial conversation with the person in
conversation
control about the incident to get full situational awareness, including a SHURTS or
SMEACC briefing.
A thorough size-up and dynamic risk assessment of the incident should be
conducted.
If the arriving officer considers the risks are not being managed in the most effective
way, the arriving officer must take control.
Monitor and
When an incident is progressing safely and satisfactorily, the more senior officer may
mentor
allow the officer to remain in control when:
the incident is being managed in a safe and effective manner, and
the strategy and tactics deployed are adequate and appropriate, and
there’s the required level of resourcing on the incident ground for the
complexity and expected duration of the incident, and
there’s an appropriate incident ground structure in place.
If the more senior officer remains at the incident, they should monitor, support and
assist the officer who is in control.
The more senior officer is stil accountable when they remain on the incident ground.
They have a responsibility to work with the officer in control to eliminate or minimise
any safety concerns and operational issues they identify.
Decision to take
The more senior officer may take control if:
control
the incident is escalating, or
there are span of control issues, and
they can provide more structure to manage the incident.
The more senior officer must take control if:
time critical decisions need to be made, or
there’s a significant safety risk that they consider unacceptable (and
imminent), and the danger is so serious that failure to act immediately is likely
to cause serious injury or death, or
requested by the person in control of the incident, or
incident conditions are deteriorating and there is an increased risk where
under the Official Information Act 1982
there’s a need to escalate the management of the incident.
Actions to take control
Steps
The more senior officer must complete the following steps when taking control of an
incident:
Released 1. Advise the person in control that they are taking control.
2. Transmit an incident ground SitRep to advise the change in control.
3. Get a thorough handover from the person in control.
4. Transmit a K45 message to Firecom.
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M1 POP Command and control policy July 2019
INTERIM POLICY – Command and control
Incidents within rural boundaries
When an incident is within a rural boundary, the following operational personnel can take control of the incident:
Type of incident
Who takes initial control?
Who takes control once officer(s) arrive?
Vegetation fire
The most senior person
If the person in control is a…
and an…
then the arriving officer…
on the first arriving fire
appliance.
Non-Officer
Officer arrives
must take control. (Regardless of risk-status, or in or out-of-district status.)
Urban Officer
Rural Officer arrives
may take control or direct another person to take control.
Rural Officer
Urban Senior Officer
may take control or direct another person to take control.
arrives
Note: The Principal Rural Fire Officer should be consulted.
Urban Senior Officer
Rural Senior Officer arrives may take control or direct another person to take control, or may choose to
leave the Urban Senior Officer in control while they command rural
resources.
Any other
The most senior person
If the person in control is a…
and an…
then the arriving officer…
incident type
on the first arriving fire
appliance.
Non-Officer
Officer arrives
must take control. (Regardless of risk-status, or in or out-of-district status.)
Rural Officer
Urban Officer arrives
may take control, or may choose to leave the Rural Officer in control while
they command urban resources.
Urban Officer
Urban Officer from the
may take control if they are of higher rank.
same fire district arrives
Urban Officer from a
should have the ‘initial conversation’ with the officer in control and make a
different fire district arrives
joint decision about who should take control. If a joint decision cannot be
under the Official Information Act 1982
reached, the first arriving officer remains in control and the on-cal duty
Urban Senior Officer may be contacted if required.
Rural Senior Officer
Urban Senior Officer
may take control, or may choose to leave the Rural Senior Officer in
arrives
control while they command urban resources.
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M1 POP Command and control policy July 2019
INTERIM POLICY – Command and control
Incidents within urban boundaries
When an incident is within an urban boundary, the following operational personnel can take control of the incident:
Type of incident
Who takes initial control?
Who takes control once officer(s) arrive?
Vegetation fire
The most senior person
If the person in control is a…
and an…
then the arriving officer…
on the first arriving fire
appliance.
Non-Officer
Officer arrives
must take control. (Regardless of risk-status, or in or out-of-district status.)
Rural Officer
Urban Officer arrives
should have the ‘initial conversation’ with the officer in control and may
take control. The Rural Officer has command of rural resources.
Urban Officer
Rural Officer arrives
should have the ‘initial conversation’ with the officer in control, but may
only take control if the in-district officer asks them to.
Urban Officer
Rural Senior Officer arrives may take control of a vegetation fire that requires specialist rural resources
and tactics.
Note: The Urban Senior Officer should be consulted.
Rural Senior Officer
Urban Senior Officer
may take control or direct another person to take control. The Rural Senior
arrives
Officer has command of rural resources.
Any other
The most senior person
If the person in control is a…
and an…
then the arriving officer…
incident type
on the first arriving fire
appliance.
Non-Officer
Officer arrives
must take control. (Regardless of risk-status, or in or out-of-district status.)
in-district Officer
out-of-district Officer
should have the ‘initial conversation’ with the officer in control, but may
arrives
only take control after following the steps in the ‘Decision to take control’
section.
out-of-district Officer
in-district Officer arrives
should have the ‘initial conversation’ with the officer in control, and may
take control if required.
under the Official Information Act 1982
Urban Officer
Urban Senior Officer
may take control or direct another person to take control.
arrives
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M1 POP Command and control policy July 2019
INTERIM POLICY – Command and control
Definitions
Definitions
The following terms are used in this policy:
Term
Definition
Dynamic Risk
A process used by operational personnel to manage risk on the
Assessment
incident ground in rapidly changing situations.
Firecom
The radio cal sign for the Fire Communications centre.
K codes
How operational personnel transmit messages to ensure radio
congestion is kept to a minimum. K45 stands for command
responsibility change (state name).
More senior officer
The officer who is more qualified, skil ed and experienced.
Person in control
The Incident Control er (IC) under the New Zealand Coordinated
Incident Management System (CIMS).
Rural Fire Officer
An appointed rural incident control er. They may be a volunteer, a
contractor or an employee of another agency e.g. DOC.
SHURTS
Stands for
Size up |
Hazards |
Using |
Requirements |
Tactics |
Structure.
SitRep
Stands for Situation Report.
A report that may be transmitted on incident ground radios or to
Communications Centres.
SMART Maps
A suite of dynamic and interactive maps designed to help users
quickly access spatial (location-based) data. It is integrated with the
Station Management System (SMS).
SMEACC
Stands for
Situation |
Mission |
Execution |
Administration |
Command |
Communications.
It’s an acronym for a standard sequence when directing actions.
Document information
under the Official Information Act 1982
Owner
National Manager Response Capability
Last reviewed
1 July 2019
Review period
Every second year
Record of amendments
Released
Date
Brief description of amendment
1 July 2017 This interim policy has been reviewed and approved to provide clarity as to who has command and
control of an incident from Day One of Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
The policy wil be further reviewed and updated by 1 July 2020.
1 July 2019 Updated ‘Senior Officer’ list to reflect Service Delivery Leadership Team role changes.
Content owner updated.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand Response Capability
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M1 POP Command and control policy July 2019
