“A pre-incident plan is one of the most valuable tools available for aiding responding personnel in effectively controlling an emergency.”  NFPA 1620, A.4.1.1

NFPA 1620, the Standard for Pre-Incident Planning, calls on local authorities to prepare, in advance, plans for emergency response to the various premises within their area.  When a fire, chemical spill, explosion, bomb threat or other foreseeable emergency occurs, the Fire Department then has some basic and very useful information about the property, its uses, its particular hazards and its occupants.  The plan gives the incident commander the best information possible to be able to formulate an effective and safe plan of action. Situational awareness is greatly improved. Police and EMS can also benefit from this information as they play their own particular roles in the event.  Pre-incident plans are awesome!

Needless to say, like a great many other NFPA standards that “should” get implemented, this too often gets left on the good-idea pile, the victim of too many competing priorities and too few resources.  This is especially the case outside of the larger centres, where the role of Fire Chief is volunteer or part-time.  These folks have all they can manage (along with making a living at their day job) in just maintaining their department in a state of readiness.  Extra work like pre-incident planning, no matter how beneficial, isn’t likely on the agenda.  There is just not the time, and creating these plans in full is a time-consuming prospect.

All the same, the need for good pre-incident planning is just as real in smaller communities as in the larger, better-funded metropolises.  Getting it done with limited resources takes a great deal more innovation and cooperation.  It is worthwhile, though, as the results can significantly improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of public safety services.  Sometimes just a little help is needed to get a new initiative off of the to-do list and into action.

This is where the friendly neighbourhood Building Official can offer a valuable service to the community they serve, at very little cost to themselves. Here’s how. 

The basic information for the beginning of a pre-incident plan comes straight from the construction or renovation drawings.  During the course of the plan review, the building official might consider compiling any or all of the following, with the Fire Department in mind:

• Building location and name
• Owner’s contacts (phone numbers are ideal)
• Occupancy type (specific use or uses of the building)
• Occupant load
• Construction type (firefighters classify construction into 5 types: Non-Combustible, Limited Combustible, Ordinary, Heavy Timber and Light Wood Frame.  Don’t worry about that.  Describe it as you see it).
• Basic dimensions and floor area
• Drawings (in whatever format is easily available) including, as may be relevant:
  • Site plan
  • Floor plans (the layout of the floor, and the locations of doors, windows and stairs are the basic necessities)
  • Relevant cross sections (I-joist floor joists are of particular interest to firefighters, due to their propensity to fail rapidly if unprotected. Crawl spaces and other concealed spaces are important to note, along with any building feature that could contribute to rapid fire spread, early collapse, or difficulty gaining access for fire extinguishment)
  • Exterior elevations can also be useful

(Simply including a PDF of the complete construction drawings may be quite adequate.)

• Water sources – where will water for firefighting be available from, and at what distance?
• Utility shutoff locations
• Mechanical and electrical room locations
• Is the building sprinklered? (And if so, where is the sprinkler tree, standpipes and the FDC, unless it’s a 13D system).  Let’s make sure those hose threads are compatible with the local standard!
• Is there a fire alarm?  (If so, what type, where is the panel, and who monitors it?)
• Are there fire separations, fire walls or party walls? (Nice if they are highlighted on the floor plan)
• Particularly for commercial and smaller industrial premises:  
  • Are there hazardous materials stored in the building or on site, and if so where? (the exact nature of these may not be available at this time)
  • Is there spill containment?
  • Is there processing equipment with potential special hazards? (This may not be known at the time of your plan review either)
  • Are there any pits, sumps, unprotected drop-offs or other unpleasant “surprises” that firefighters would be glad to not find out about the hard way?
  • Roof and crawlspace access points
  • Confined spaces (again, information on these may be scarce at this point)

The fire chief will take these basic indications, and flesh them out in detail during a future site visit

• Less common, but important, items:
  • Unusual roof loads
  • Alternative energy or backup power systems
  • Smoke handling systems
  • Other fire suppression systems (other than sprinklers)
  • Elevators
  • Anything else you think may be important!

Large or complex industrial sites must develop their own pre-incident plans from the design stage on.  Such sites are not in the scope of this article, however the AHJ must ensure that workable pre-incident plans are indeed developed by professionals having the requisite skills and knowledge, and maintained in coordination with the fire department.

This may look like a lot, but again, this is information that you are likely taking into account during the plan review anyway.  ANY information is useful, and even a few of the above items could prove to be priceless when a fire or other emergency occurs at the occupancy, even many years in the future.  Also, this is far from an exhaustive list, but certain other information may be best obtained during on-site visits by fire officials at a later date.  

Develop a checklist based on the above list (or use mine – perhaps it’s attached here somewhere below).  Keep it handy as you review the plans, add any notes, and when you’re done just pop the whole thing into an email or envelope for the fire chief.

Finally, don’t forget to collect payment – in some form.  At the very least, make sure you get invited to the fire department’s annual barbeque. They have the best cooks!

And now a word to any fire chiefs who may be the beneficiaries of this unlooked-for assistance:  

Make use of this goldmine of information!  

1. Make the pre-incident plan information available to the incident commander in some reliable format, such as:
   • In Binders: Place copies of the above notes and drawings in the best quality binders you can find, with tabbed dividers to separate the different addresses, special pockets to stuff in large plans, and so on.  Keep a copy in the command unit, another one at the fire hall radio desk, and another in the EOC. Keep them up to date.
   • In the Cloud:  As long as you have good cellular data access, and a decent device (tablet or laptop – phones are just too small a screen), consider organising your pre-incident plans online for quick access and freedom from Binder Hell.  Ideas:
     1. Google Drive – simply scan, upload and organise. Password-protected access from anywhere.
     2. A professional pre-planning software solution.  (Blazemark is my favourite.  Designed by and for firefighters, this system scales up to meet the pre-planning needs of the most complex industrial site, and yet is simple enough for a straightforward single dwelling.  Bart and his crew are great to deal with, too).
   • A copy of the plan should be given to the property owner as well.  

2. Add new information, and flesh out the pre-incident plan as much as possible
   • Take every opportunity to visit a site, meet with the owners or managers, add new relevant information, and a few key photos.  Occupancies change over time, and your pre-plan should too.
   • Fire inspection reports are useful sources of updated information.
   • Where the building or site contains something unusual in its construction, equipment, processes or hazardous materials, learn all you can about those.  Figure out how that particular feature will influence the fire behaviour in the building, and add that tidbit to the pre-plan.
   • Arrange to tag along with the building official on inspections of the building, and see what else you can learn and add to the plan.
   • Get familiar with NFPA 1620.  There is quite a bit of other information that can be added to a pre-plan, and it’s all explained in the standard.

3. Train your officers in the use of pre-incident plans
   • Reviewing and discussing the pre-plans, running mini tabletops and other such exercises based on them can greatly increase familiarity with a site.
   • Use the pre-plans in training evolutions on topics such as building search, ventilation and RIT.
   • Develop the habit of referring to the plans in the initial stages of a fire call.

4. Of course, once you get in the pre-planning habit, you will want to develop plans for existing premises as well.  Make arrangements to spend some time in the archives at the municipal office, where with luck much of the above information will be on record.  Look for copies of construction drawings, plan reviews and inspection reports as a starting point for your own pre-incident plans.  Site visits, of course, are indispensable, and if the building has its own well-developed emergency plan you will have another trove of useful information for the taking.

5. Don’t over-think this or get overwhelmed! Complete pre-incident plans are really great, but if all you come up with is a floor plan and some after-hours contacts, that’s still a lot of valuable information to have on hand when there’s a fire call at the building.  Conciseness is important too: on the fire scene, no one has time to sift through reams of information or wordy text.

6. There are many other strategies that can help you build the best, most effective pre-plans possible for the premises in your fire protection area.  Annex A of NFPA 1620 is a good source of inspiration (imagine that, a standard being inspiring reading!)

7. Importantly, keep these documents confidential!  Building owners won’t appreciate finding a stray copy of your plan of their building in an uncontrolled place.

Finally, be sure to invite that building official to your next fire department social occasion.  They’re part of your team now.  (Actually, they were all along, really).

The above article is not intended to be an exhaustive treatment of the topic, and the author claims no particular expertise, other than as a municipal-level practitioner of sorts.  The hope is that you may be inspired to take a renewed interest in pre-incident planning, as an integral part of the fire protection strategy of your community or region.  Whether you are a fire chief or building official, more collaboration leads to better things!

Below are examples of a cloud-based pre-planning software system, which integrates with google earth, the Emergency Response Guide and other resources to provide an excellent presentation of information relevant to the incident commander.   The pre-incident plans in these systems may be accessed live, or printed for use offline.

Above: At a high level view of a community, the user can zoom in on the general area, and select from available pre-incident plans identified by the yellow icons displayed above each building.  Once open, all available information on the building, including floor plans, maps and annotated photos, are easily accessible in an organized manner.

Above: For a large, complex occupancy such as a hospital, the plan may be broken down into sub-sections. (Note the hydrant locations indicated on the map above.  Green indicates a hydrant producing up to 1500 GPM.)  Other elements may be included, such as staging areas, heli-spots, access routes, specific hazards, and more.