Pre-plans, we all know what they are. We all have our own needs and desires as to what should be displayed, in what format and in what order. Look through any fire magazine, or do a Google search and you'll find numerous options at a variety of prices. However, what if you wanted it customized? Or what if you're on a tight budget? Or you want the identical format at numerous neighboring departments?
We have developed a simple, cost-effective solution that solved all of these.
We defined a pre-plan as a brief page of information; a who, what and where. Vital information accessible during an emergency response detailing unusual hazards to firefighters or the public. Any department developing, or revamping their pre-plans, needs to decide what constitutes the hazards that will require a pre-plan to be generated.
Ashtabula County in Ohio is served by 24 fire departments including full-time and part-time paid and volunteer staffing. The county's public service agencies are moving to a computer aided dispatch (CAD) system. This has resulted in a renewed vigor in the pre-plan process. Prior to this, they were typically stored on individual computers or in a binder on each apparatus. Anyone who has managed, or attempted to utilize a paper program such as this will understand the shortcomings of the system.
So, as we are dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, the need for an electronic format became evident. Then the question becomes what should the structure be? What software should be utilized to generate it? What file format should be used?
Group discussions determine needs
When I was given the task of answering these questions, it was suggested that collaboration between our neighboring departments would be of benefit to everyone involved. At the first meeting to discuss the form, a group consensus was reached to develop a system, and make it available to all fire departments in the county. So, the simple task of developing an internal form and system rapidly expanded in scope. Although this may seem like a daunting task, the benefit of having every department utilizing the same identical pre-plan template outweighed the work.
Whether you are receiving or providing mutual aid, the information is available, accessible and in the same format for everyone. Whether I am responding within my own community or 20 miles away, I am looking at the same form, no searching for key safety information. What we developed was a customized format that will work for my county, be available to all 24 departments and with little to no cost.
Today’s fire officer is presented with an incredible number of responsibilities while en route to an emergency call; from getting dressed, to radio traffic, to the safe operation of apparatus. The officer is near maximum capacity for tasks and information. So, for a pre-plan to be effective, the information needs to be pertinent, concise and available without a great deal of searching. With this in mind, a conscience effort was made to limit the basic form to a single page. After a number of meetings and countless iterations, a form that met everyone's desires and expectations was produced. A single-page form that prioritized information, presented it in a logical order and was neat and easy to read was created.
While these were our goals, the technique used can make a form that fits your department's needs. Once the form has been designed, the easy, but time consuming, part begins.
Microsoft Word was used to generate a template that follows our exact layout. Word's templating functions, include checkmark boxes, text fields, pulldown menus and several others to fulfill any need. Making the template with legacy controls will allow the template to be opened and used in versions of Word dating back to 1997, including versions for Apple computers. Someone with very little computer skills can create a customized pre-plan template in just a few hours. The only cost to this method is a copy of Microsoft Word.
Organizing pre-plans
The files created will need to be organized in a manner that will allow retrieval without significant difficulty. Our method was to create a separate folder for each street name. Within each of these folders, a separate folder is created for each of the building numbers.
This folder structure of streets and then individual addresses would be effective in a standalone environment. A laptop or tablet with the files organized in this manner could be utilized by a department that doesn’t have the luxury of a CAD system.
Each document is saved in a Word format for future editing and updating and in an Adobe Portable Document File (PDF) format. The PDF format is the version uploaded to the CAD system. The PDF file conversion provides for a small file size and a format that is readily readable on virtually any electronic device, from smart phones to tablets to laptops.
With this approach, you could generate any number of pages or any format desired. In the end, we generated three separate Word templates: one each for the basic data, hazardous chemical storage and water supply. The intent being to utilize only the pages needed for each plan. For example; my suburban municipality has a complete layout of hydrants that are mapped in the GIS map used in the CAD system, so our use of a "Water Supply" template would be limited to a few specific occupancies along the river, whereas, the rural departments may use that template extensively.
Within a few dozen hours of time, we arrived at a custom, consensus driven pre-plan model (PDF download) that we are able to make available to our neighboring departments at no cost!
This entire process was accomplished through the collaborative efforts of the following fire departments: Ashtabula, Ashtabula Township, Conneaut, Geneva, Rome and Saybrook.
STEPHEN CHASE is a lieutenant with the Ashtabula, OH, Fire Department. He became involved in public safety while serving on the U.S. Navy's USS Sandlance fast attack submarine. An Ohio-certified Fire and EMT instructor, he has received extensive training in hazardous materials and technical rescue topics.
