Squad Companies

[trucky66]

Many of engine companies are converting themselves into squad companies. What is an actual squad company consist of?
When does a squad company become a rescue company?
Is it a matter of tools?
or is it the training that the personnel have that are riding on the engine?

I have asked this question to many of people in the service and everyone has there own opinion.
I know if I have a haz-mat, I am going to ask for a Haz-Mat unit, and if I have a rescue, I am going to ask for a Recue unit. But under what conditions would I ask for a Squad, and what does it have to offer me?

[cozmosis]

Here is an important lesson to learn about the fire service... Very few terms are universal in the fire service. A squad can be whatever you want it to be. In some parts of the world, squads are exclusively rescue vehicles (i.e. Rescue 51 from Emergency!). In other parts, they're ambulances. And yet, in others, they are hybrids -- engines that can do either rescue or truck work.

Now, you might get a better answer if you're curious about how a specific region or department uses squads. Also, you'll get a lot of answers if you do a simple search for squads. There have been many threads on the issue in the past.

[jasper45]

Here is an important lesson to learn about the fire service... Very few terms are universal in the fire service.


But ... I thought that NIMS was going to eliminate all of these different terms. You know, make it easier to communicate, no confusion. :D

[trucky66]

Well my first resource would be NFPA 1901. But it does not recognize the term "Squad".
1901 is obviously only a standard, but for the most part you could at least get an idea of what the apparatus would consist of.
With the NIMS now in motion, one would hope that everyone would be under the same assumption that a ladder is a ladder, an engine is an engine, and a rescue is a rescue. But I don't want a squad company to be dispatched if all they have to offer me is a set of spreader tools, because the officer's of said company felt they were a squad because they have rescue tools on the engine.

[Halligan84]

But I don't want a squad company to be dispatched if all they have to offer me is a set of spreader tools, because the officer's of said company felt they were a squad because they have rescue tools on the engine.

Therein lies the problem in most of our area. I proposed that Squads only be designated when they carry engine company equipment, truck company equipment minus the ladders, ability to perform simple extrications and RIT duties. Didn't go anywhere. So you have very well equipped squads that do up to technician level rescue or hazmat and some that can barely do a simple car wreck. Unfortunately the same issues exist with "Rescue" companies.

Is it a matter of tools?
or is it the training that the personnel have that are riding on the engine

As far as this goes I always have felt the quality of who was riding the rig outweighed what was carried on the rig.

[trucky66]

So at what point does NIMS come into the factor? Or are we all NIMS compliant by taking the class, but when it comes to execution we will do as we please.

[RoaddoggAK]

Just remember, according to NIMS, if you call for a tanker, you'll get an air drop. They're called tenders now..... And everbody round me still calls them a tanker. And with squads, in the Pittsburgh area, you're going to get a utility-type pickup, and in the huge Erie, PA metroplex, a squads an ambulance.

[trucky66]

If I call for a tender around here, it better come with Bar-B-Que sauce!!!!!

[Chauffer6]

Here is an important lesson to learn about the fire service... Very few terms are universal in the fire service.

100% true. Ironic that probably the only universal thing about the fire service is that...nothing is universal. :confused: :D


As far as this goes I always have felt the quality of who was riding the rig outweighed what was carried on the rig.

Absolutely! You can buy the biggest, fanciest, most expensive Swiss Army rig out there and jam pack it with all the latest and greatest toys...but if none of the guys on the rig have a clue...what then? The rig and toys sure as hell aren't going to get the job done themselves. :rolleyes:

[Bones42]

Squad by me is the EMS agency.

Then again, we can have an engine or truck perfom Squad assignments.

N ot much
I n here
M akes
S ense

[len1582]

Some cities changed engines to squads ( not formed new companies) and also made them Haz/Mat units . This gets some extra money from the federal gov't. They still function as engines...I saw a dept with a van labeled Squad 1. Basically you can make it anything you want.
.
.
I like that Bones

[firefighterkid]

In Toronto their heavy rescues are called Squads and their Pump/Rescue trucks are called Rescues, so yeah what a name means can change from city to city.

[rbbehemoth]

Here in Phoenix there are 3 squads. They are funded by the Federal Government, including the training costs. They are staffed with 5, including 2firefighter/paramedics. The crew is mixed between Haz Mat and technical recsue. The squads are sent on any sort of special ops rescue, such as mountain rescue, trench, confined space, Haz Mat, swift water, etc. They also have all the extircation tools and venting tools. They don't carry hose (except high rise packs) or water and do not have a pump. They respond to fires outside their "first due" as ladder support. The squad is basically a huge tool box, even more so than a ladder, but without the aerial. Because they are funded by the government, if there were a major disaster within the state of AZ they would respond to that. The squads used to be called "Heavy Rescue", not sure why it changed. The ambulances in Phoenix are called rescues.

[Dave1983]

As the others have said, its all about where you are. Here, a rescue is a 2-person ALS unit.

By county SOG, a squad is required to carry, at a minimum, a light tower, large generator, either a cascade or compressor/cascade combination, spare SCBA bottles, auto-extrication equipment, other rescue type equipment such as K-12s and cutting torches and various hand tools. The rest is up to each FD. Most also carry full ALS equipment.

As far as auto-extrication equipment goes, many engine and truck companies also have it, but they are still called engine or truck. No special designation.

[bobcoop06]

The department I'm on now calls a heavy rescue a Squad.

My former department called an ambulance with an Advanced EMT on-board a Squad.

Of two departments north of me, one calls a Rescue Pumper a Squad, the other calls a light duty rescue a Squad.


Like others have said... it is whatever you want it to be. Maybe you could trying writing down all of your apparatus on slips of paper, put them in a hat, draw one out, and call that one Sqad _____.

[RFRDxplorer]

Back in Md, this is a squad :
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j314/jhoffman358/RS18.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j314/jhoffman358/2.jpg




Up here, this is a squad:

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j314/jhoffman358/LastUploadfromOldCamera489.jpg

[bobcoop06]

Here in Phoenix there are 3 squads. They are funded by the Federal Government, including the training costs. They are staffed with 5, including 2firefighter/paramedics. The crew is mixed between Haz Mat and technical recsue. The squads are sent on any sort of special ops rescue, such as mountain rescue, trench, confined space, Haz Mat, swift water, etc. They also have all the extircation tools and venting tools. They don't carry hose (except high rise packs) or water and do not have a pump. They respond to fires outside their "first due" as ladder support. The squad is basically a huge tool box, even more so than a ladder, but without the aerial. Because they are funded by the government, if there were a major disaster within the state of AZ they would respond to that. The squads used to be called "Heavy Rescue", not sure why it changed. The ambulances in Phoenix are called rescues.



That, in my mind, is what a true squad is, or should be at least. A very equipped, very capable, heavy duty combination between a rescue and truck company. If only everybody else felt the same way...

[Bones42]

If only everybody else felt the same way... I'm still trying to figure what reasoning there would be for this to be funded by the Federal Government, including the training costs :confused:

[st42stephenAFT]

http://www.ofc1.org/pdfsogs/Squad%20Company%20Assignments. pdf

That's our company's Squad Operation SOG's.

[LaFireEducator]

As I look out towards the appartus bay of the fire station my private ambulance is posted at ...

They have an engine with a combi-tool and some cribbing, designated as a squad.
The same thing in my fire department is designated as a rescue-engine.
The same thing in another neighboring department is classified as an enhanced-engine.
An in Shreveport, where some of the engines carry tools they are called .. engines.

It's all so confusing.

[len1582]

That, in my mind, is what a true squad is.... If only everybody else felt the same way...

. . . It's a shame everyone else is wrong

[bobcoop06]

. . . It's a shame everyone else is wrong

Somebody wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

[len1582]

Not me...must have been him.