A 2017 course, and readiness that does not sleep

The notes follow a 2017 recruit-training course at the National Fire Service Academy on staged firefighting. Modern disasters, they write, have grown more complex, and a firefighter’s work now runs beyond putting out fires, rescue, and ambulance duty, to flood recovery, mountain fires, and even visits to older people living alone. That work, they say, divides into rescue, ambulance, firefighting, and other administration. Ambulance duty itself runs from the call and the run, through the handover at an emergency room, to paperwork and the return to quarters. A fire service, they write, cannot foresee a fire in advance, so it has to keep itself able to act at full strength at any time.

In ordinary hours, they write, equipment should be checked and serviced, the geography of the district and its water points surveyed, and information on target buildings gathered, so that gear is kept in the best state, the area is known, and training and fitness are maintained. On a duty shift, even in sleep or rest, one should stay ready to answer a fire, and should not leave the workplace; each person, they add, should know their role and their share of the work well.

119, two water points, and the run to the scene

A fire is received in several ways, the notes write, but a 119 call is the most common. Reports from mobile phones have been rising, and a 119 reporting app has appeared as a new path. In certain buildings listed in the fire law, they add, notification can also come through an automatic reporting system linked to automatic fire detection. Once a fire is received, the sequence through to arrival is the dispatch. A fire station or a 119 safety center issues a dispatch order according to a plan set by place, type, and scale. The officer on watch should, after the order, check the activity-information card if the target is a listed building, and pass the response manual to the outgoing crew at once.

At least two water points should be chosen, they write, so that a change of situation on arrival can still be met. The route should reach the scene in a short time and safely: a near road, an easy road, one that does not overlap another unit’s approach, and one clear of works or congestion. Dispatch, they say, is the part of fire work that most needs speed; if even one person is late, the unit’s work suffers. But rushing too hard raises the chance of crew colliding with one another, or of being caught in a vehicle door. Even units that leave together, they add, will arrive at different times, depending on where the station sits. Each unit should start defensive work as soon as it arrives, and should work in close link with the others according to the order of arrival.

First-arriving units, a hydrant hook-up, and a command post

On-scene work, the notes write, is split by order of arrival. First-arriving units — those that land first, second, or third, or that reach the fire within five minutes — and later units each have a focus. A fire changes by the minute, so the first defense has to be accurate and fast. The first-arriving crew, usually from the nearest station and at home in the district, should grasp the situation quickly and take the most urgent tasks first. Later units generally arrive after that work has already begun, and should support or fill it in. A pump truck should, in principle, hook up at once on arrival: it parks at a tank, a hydrant, or another water point, and takes water through a suction pipe or a hose.

The field command system, they write, is a policy that sets out responsibility, functions, and operating procedures for managing a fire. They cite the Emergency Rescue Field Command Rule: a system, under Article 2(4), made up of the emergency-rescue headquarters chief, a control officer, section heads and members, for giving orders and for gathering and passing information. Its last aim is effective work on the scene, and the safety of the crew. A field commander should, they write, tell assumption from fact, make a swift and accurate decision, then return at once to the role of manager; should handle stress, the “lonely wanderer,” and mid-point control when giving orders; and should question another person’s report, and check that the reporter really knows, before deciding. Command is taken over the radio from the moment of arrival, a command post is set up if one is not already there, and arriving units report to it. Without a post, they write, there is no clearly marked commander, and unified control is hard. Those steps stay as the 2017 course records them. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.

Sources

1. The notes’ account of a 2017 National Fire Service Academy recruit course on staged firefighting, from 119 intake to a field command post

Last updated: 14 November 2026