SOP Manual - Cleveland Fire Department

Cleveland Fire Department
Operations Manual
Duties
There are nine basic Ladder/Truck Company duties. Each of these duties might or might not be required in
a particular fire situation. Ladder/Truck Companies shall be staffed, equipped, and trained to perform
necessary duties quickly and efficiently, since their performance can affect the safety and performance of
other responding
Companies. Ladder/Truck Company operations should take into account the ways in which fire, heat, and
smoke travel through a building, as well as the knowledge gained by pre-fire inspections and planning.
At some fires, it might be necessary for a Ladder/Truck Company to perform all of these operations; other
fires might require only some of the duties. Just as situations vary, procedures for each situation will also
vary. With the exception of rescue, the duties are not necessarily performed in the order given; that, too,
depends on the fire situation.
Ladder/Truck Company apparatus and equipment permits truck crews to function effectively and quickly in
accomplishing the firefighting objectives. Through training and experience, Ladder/Truck Company
personnel must acquire knowledge, skill and judgment in performing the nine basic duties usually assigned
to Ladder/Truck Companies. These duties are:
1. Rescue
2. Ventilation
3. Laddering
4. Forcible Entry
5. Checking Fire Extension
6. Salvage
7. Elevated Stream Operation
8. Utility Control
9. Overhaul
Before the Ladder/Truck arrives on the fire ground, all crew members shall know which tools they will be
carrying into the fire building and what their duties will be on arrival -- that is, their initial assignments.
Both the Company as a whole and the individual crewmembers should know their initial assignment before
they arrive on the fire ground.
Effective: June 1, 1997 Revised: 5/14/2009 Page | 197
Approved by: Chief Chuck Atchley