Glossary of Terms
Apparatus - means a motorized fire department vehicle including, but not restricted to, pumpers, elevating devices, tankers, rescue vehicles and equipment vehicles.
Automatic aid
- response of fire companies from one or more other fire department, under written agreement authorized by by-law, to provide protection, incorporating an interlocking automatic response schedule between the fire departments such that responses are, in effect, those of a single department.
Company
- means a complement of personnel operating one or more pieces of apparatus under the control of a supervisor.
Crew
- a working team assembled at the fire scene.
Dispatch time
- the time to relay the emergency message to the first due responding company from the communications centre of first receipt.
Evolution
- a series of supervised activities undertaken by fire suppression staff leading to the completion of a fire or training ground function.
Fire attack team
- one or more companies responding to a fire.
Fire demand
- a defined level of fire risk.
Fire department
- a fire department organized under the Municipal Act and equipped with one or more motorized fire pumpers.
Fire ground
- the location where fire suppression and rescue are conducted.
Fire prevention
- includes inspections, investigations and public fire safety education programs.
Fire protection services
- a range of programs and services designed to protect the inhabitants of the fire department response area from the adverse effects of fire, sudden medical emergencies or exposure to dangerous conditions created by man or nature and includes prevention, rescue and suppression services.
Fire risk
- the features of a property including the occupancy which determines the potential fire severity and accompanying work load to accomplish rescue, control, extinguishment and salvage.
Flashover
- the stage of a fire at which all surfaces and objects are heated to a temperature at which flames break out almost at once over the entire surface within the space.
Initial fire attack team
- the minimum complement assembled at the fire scene capable of commencing interior rescue or fire fighting operations.
Intervention time
- the time from fire ignition to the point where the first arriving pumper, or other apparatus providing comparable functions, arrives at the fire scene and directs an extinguishing agent on the fire. For the purposes of this study intervention time is comprised of preburn time, notification time, dispatch time, travel time, set-up time and first application of extinguishing agent.
National Fire Protection Association (N.F.P.A.)
- a U.S. based scientific and educational organization that looks at the causes, prevention and control of fire; and develops and publishes standards.
Notification time
- the time to register the emergency with the communications centre of first receipt from the point at which a person or device first takes steps to announce the incident.
Observed variable
- a variable whose value is not changed however its effects are observed.
Optimum level of protection
- the combination of fire fighting staff and apparatus that delivers a suppression effort commensurate with the fire demand faced, yet representing the most efficient use of resources in a safe and effective manner.
Pre-burn time
- the time from commencement of unwanted burning to the point when notification of fire is initiated.
Preparation time
- the time for a company to assemble for an emergency response after the alarm dispatch and before commencing travel time.
Professional standards setting body (PSSB)
- Ontario based committee established in 1989 under the auspices of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC) and Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) whose mandate is to set minimum performance standards for the Ontario fire service.
Response time
- the elapsed time between fire ignition and the arrival of the first unit and its crew at the occurrence location.
Set up time
- the time from arrival at the fire scene until just prior to commencement of applying extinguishing agent on the fire.
Supervisor
- a person designated by department policies and guidelines to assume command of a crew or company.
Total fire attack team
- the total number of fire fighters assembled on the fire ground capable of rescue, fire containment, fire extinguishment and minimization of injury life, property and environment losses.
Travel time
- the time period between leaving the station and arriving at the fire scene.
Triple combination pumper (pumper)
- a motorized vehicle designed to transport fire fighters to the scene of a fire and provide the necessary fire suppression equipment for extinguishment and equipped with a major pump, water tank, ground ladders and hose body. For the purposes of the study, a triple combination pumper equipped with elevated fire fighting capability may be substituted.
