What To Do When Arriving First On A Working Fire (First 60 Seconds, In Order)

The first 60 seconds on a working fire are not about what tools you grab. They are about the sequence of decisions you make and the transmissions you put on the radio. Get the sequence right and the incident has a structure that the second-due, the BC, and the rest of the alarm can plug into cleanly. Get the sequence wrong and everyone is improvising for the next 20 minutes trying to catch up to a freelancing first-due.

Senior officers who have run hundreds of working fires will tell you the difference between a clean incident and a sloppy one is almost always set in the first minute. That is also where the NIOSH LODD reports get their causal threads. Skipped 360s, missed strategy declarations, late command, freelance attacks before water supply, no IAP. The patterns are consistent across decades.

The sequence below is the one that holds up against NFPA 1561 (Emergency Services Incident Management System), NFPA 1700 (Standard for Structural Fire Fighting Operations), and the standard tactics references. It is what an oral board panel scores against on a tactical scenario, and it is what a deputy chief reviews against on after action.

Apparatus positioning is the first tactical decision you make and it constrains everything after. Park to give the truck or the second-due engine the building. The engine company on a residential fire generally goes past the address by 75 to 100 feet so the truck can take the front. On commercial occupancies, defer to your local SOG and the truck's needs.

Do not block the hydrant if you have not laid in. Do not block the address you might need an aerial for. Do not park in the collapse zone (1.5 times the height of the structure on commercial, 1 times the height as a minimum on residential). Do not park in the flow path of fire coming out the front of the building.

While the apparatus is stopping, you are reading the smoke. Volume, velocity, density, color. You have about 5 seconds to form an initial smoke read before the doors open. Call it out loud to your driver and crew. "Working fire, heavy black smoke pushing hard from Side Alpha second floor, structural conditions look intact, residential, two-story platform frame, mid-1990s build." That is the smoke read and the construction call in one sentence.

Step off the rig in a position that lets you see the building. Not at the back of the apparatus, not at the pump panel, not behind the truck. Your initial position should give you a view of Side Alpha and, if possible, a partial view of one of the side B or D.

Your initial transmission goes on the radio while you are still moving. "Engine 14 is on-scene, two-story single-family residential, heavy fire showing from the Bravo side second floor, Engine 14 is establishing 1234 Main Street Command, all units en route continue." That transmission does three things. It puts you on-scene, it gives a picture, and it establishes command per NFPA 1561.

Command is not optional. Even if you intend to transfer to the BC in 4 minutes, you establish command now. The reason is accountability. Without an IC, units arriving have no one to receive their assignment from and the scene runs on momentum, which is the failure mode that leads to freelance.

If you are a single-piece response with no immediate backup, you may have to choose between fast attack with mobile command or formal command with delayed attack. The NFPA 1561 framework allows fast attack command for the first-arriving officer provided you can still maintain accountability. The trigger to upgrade to formal stationary command is the arrival of additional units that need a fixed point of coordination.

This is the input that NIOSH LODD reports keep flagging as the missed step. The 360 is non-negotiable on residential fires. The basement fire that was not visible from Side Alpha. The occupant on the Charlie side balcony. The grade change exposing a walkout. The exposure on the Delta side that is about to catch. None of that is visible from your initial size-up position.

If the building footprint or attached construction makes a 360 impossible from your position, you assign the second-due officer or a designated firefighter to complete it. You wait for the report before your interior crew commits. "Engine 14 to second-due, complete a 360, give me the Charlie side picture before crews commit."

The 360 takes 20 to 30 seconds for a single-family residential. It is not a luxury. It is the input that catches the conditions that get firefighters killed. If you are still figuring out the rotation on a working fire, this is the habit to drill into your reps first.

Strategy is binary. Offensive (we are going inside to put out the fire and search for occupants) or defensive (we are staying outside, protecting exposures, and writing this one off). There is no third option. Investigative is not a strategy, it is a posture you take when the picture is not clear yet.

The strategy declaration is on the radio. "Engine 14 Command, offensive strategy, primary search Side Alpha first and second floor, fire attack Side Alpha through the front door, second-due to establish water supply, third-due to Side Charlie for backup line and secondary egress." That transmission lays out the strategy, the first tactical, and the assignments for the next two units.

Common failure: declaring strategy implicitly. The officer goes in with a hose line and never says "offensive" on the radio. The second-due shows up and does not know whether you are committed or backing out. The BC arrives and has to ask. Make it explicit. Every working fire gets an explicit strategy declaration.

The offensive-to-defensive transition is the one that goes wrong most often. The triggers are documented: structural conditions deteriorating, fire conditions worsening despite suppression, crews unable to make progress on the seat of the fire, elapsed time on offensive operations exceeding the building's structural reserve. When you transition, you transition completely. All crews out, PAR check, then defensive operations begin.

Your crew is your responsibility from the moment you step off the rig to the moment overhaul is complete. Account for them. PAR check on assignment. Names and locations known. Air status confirmed before entry.

Benchmarks are the milestones you will hit on the radio that tell the IC and the second-due how the incident is progressing. The standard ones for a residential fire:

Primary search complete. This is the all-clear on the structure for occupants, not the structure being safe. It comes from the search crew, transmitted to command.

Water on the fire. The line is in position and flowing. Differentiate between charged at the door and actually on the seat.

Fire under control. The forward progress of the fire has been stopped. This is not "out." It is "we are winning."

Secondary search complete. A second pass through the structure by a different crew, confirming the primary search.

Loss stopped. Salvage and overhaul are complete or in their final stages. This is the benchmark that closes out active fire operations.

These benchmarks come on the radio in transmissions to command. They give the IC the picture without command having to ask. They are also what an oral board panel will score you on if they ask you to walk through a tactical scenario.

The first-due officer who runs this sequence cleanly does not look fast. They look calm. The smoke read happens while the rig is still rolling to a stop. The on-scene transmission is on the radio before the boots hit the pavement. Command is established in that same transmission. The 360 either happens or gets assigned. The strategy declaration and the first tactical come out as a coherent sentence. The crew is accounted for. The next-due units are assigned before they arrive.

That sequence takes 60 seconds. It is not because the officer is rushing. It is because the sequence has been drilled until it is automatic. The brain on a working fire is in pattern-match mode. It cannot construct frameworks from scratch under that level of cognitive load. It can only execute frameworks that are already wired.

The wiring comes from reps. Drill ground exercises with the crew. Tabletop reviews of working fires. Photograph and video walkthroughs where you call the sequence out loud. Promotional exam prep. And graded simulators that score whether your transmission covered the priorities.

StruckBox's tactical fire sim drops you on Side Alpha of a real working fire, asks for your initial size-up and tactical decisions, and grades you on the sequence. It scores command establishment, smoke read, 360 discipline, strategy declaration, life hazard call, water supply, exposures, and benchmark assignment. The feedback tells you what a panel or a deputy chief would have caught and what they would have flagged. Run the sim two or three times a week and the first 60 seconds becomes muscle memory. When the real working fire comes, the sequence runs on its own and you can pay attention to the things you cannot drill in a kitchen.

The first-due officer who has the first 60 seconds wired sets up the entire alarm to succeed. Get the sequence right, get the transmission clean, and the badge takes care of the rest.