This year, we’re all getting a reminder of the importance of safety, preparation, and coordination in the event of an emergency. All three are crucial for any event, whether it’s responding to a global pandemic or managing a more common occurrence, such as fighting a fire.

At Battalion 3, we’re doing our part by helping fire departments develop stronger fire incident command and ensure proper fireground accountability. Having good, strong incident command and ensuring proper fireground accountability are two vital functions on any fire emergency scene.

An incident commander must take control of the scene and assign firefighters to support fire strategy and tactics. Without strong command and direction, firefighters are left to ‘freelance,’ which can lead to unsafe actions and tragic outcomes.

For instance, if a firefighter breaks out a window to provide a ventilation point prior to someone being in place to suppress the fire, the fire could spread rapidly and create untenable conditions for potential victims and crew members inside.

Many fire departments feel that a strong incident commander will naturally have excellent command and accountability. But that isn’t always the case.

Many departments employ an accountability system using Velcro tags that get collected and placed on a board. Typically, a second person on scene is responsible for moving the tags around based on where people are working per their command assignments. However, this system has a couple of potentially fatal drawbacks.

First, a Velcro tag system only works if the tags are collected every time on every incident, with the correct names on them. Assuming the tags are correct and the right people’s names are on them, this still requires a second person to manage. But this isn’t always possible in departments with limited personnel.

This means the accountability function is sometimes left unfulfilled, which leaves the department and incident commander open to liability, risk, and potential tragedy. In fact, many line-of-duty death investigations list lack of fireground accountability as a contributing factor. Thus, the stakes for fireground command and accountability are extremely high.

Fortunately, we’ve developed a much safer and more effective solution to help save lives and protect our firefighters. Our Battalion 3 ICx solution creates a mobile, digital software interface that allows one person to do both command and accountability.

First, it creates a very easy tactical worksheet that helps the incident commander track personnel movements digitally through drag-and-drop functionality. This makes it easier to organize and manage the scene accurately, which makes the scene inherently safer.

ICx also provides personnel accountability by providing current information about who is on scene, on which assignment and resource, and how long they’ve been in the current assignment. Using our mobile software, a commander can instantly view a PAR (personnel accountability report) and determine who is responsible for the crew.

Thanks to this integrated approach, fire departments that use our solution have seen a vast improvement in incident command and fireground accountability. And, the solution is easy to use and deploy with Zebra’s XSlate R12 and L10 rugged touchscreen tablet devices that are designed for first responders who need reliable operation in the most extreme environments.

Daytime-readable displays, military-grade drop ratings, and water resistance are all part of Zebra’s advantages in delivering our software and creating a large tactical worksheet that allows incident commanders to manage several fire companies through multiple assignments and complicated incidents.

To learn more about ICx and how your department can use it to save lives and fight fires more effectively, contact our team at Battalion 3 to schedule a demo.