Critical Incident Field Guide
A Comprehensive (and Compact) Resource Guide for Firefighters
This field guide was built by a firefighter to provide the firefighting community with quick and easy access to crucial information when they need it most.
Firefighters at every level in the chain of command will benefit from this comprehensive, and easy-to-navigate, resource guide because it offers firefighters clear guidance during a critical incident and explains what to expect.
The guide is similar in size to a taskbook, ensuring that it will easily fit into crewboss kits, buggy bins, and line gear. It’s small, yet packed full of relevant information that firefighters will find invaluable as a critical incident is unfolding. Beyond its usefulness during a critical incident, the guide can also be used as a training tool to better prepare firefighters before an incident ever occurs.
The Critical Incident Field Guide offers diversified content so that it can be utilized by all wildland firefighters, not just one specific entity or agency.
What’s inside?
Contents include beneficial field level information such as:
- Serious injury procedures
- Fatality procedures
- First steps following a line of duty death (LODD).
- Over 50 quick access links/QR codes to critical incident forms, response guides, handbooks, references, etc.
- Job descriptions of key players associated with a critical incident response. Who shows up, and what is their job?
- Guidelines on how to inform fellow crewmembers about a loss of life.
- Types of investigation teams- explained.
- Comprehensive information about employee rights/warnings during federal level interviews and investigations.
- Potential reactions associated with trauma& treatments/therapies.
- Liability insurance information
- Suicide awareness/prevention
- Employer based/non-employer based benefits
All of this and much more.
Table of Contents
| Section 1- Serious Injury Procedures | Section 2- Fatality Procedure | Section 3- Navigating the Aftermath |
|---|---|---|
| 1-A: First Steps as a Critical Incident Unfolds | 2-A:First Steps Following a Line of Duty Death (LODD) | 3-A: Forms and Paperwork |
| 1-B:Accompanying an Injured Person(s) to the Hospital | 2-B: Self-Care During/Following an Emerging Incident | 3-B: Critical Incident Guides and References |
| 1-C: The Hospital Liaison Role | 2-C: Informing Fellow Crewmembers about Loss of Life *Recommendations for how to deliver bad news | 3-C: Advocating for the Impacted *How to designate an employee liaison. |
| 2-D: Preparing for a Death Notification | 3-D:What to Expect from an Employee Liaison | |
| 2-E: Guidelines for making a Death Notification | 3-E:Federal Employees’ Rights and Warnings during Interviews and Investigations |
| Section 4- Key Players of a Critical Incident | Section 5- Potential Reactions Associated with Trauma | Section 6- Recalibration |
|---|---|---|
| 4-A:CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management- Peer Support) | 5-A: Fight-Flight Freeze | 6-A: Creating a Self-Care Plan |
| 4-B:Liaisons (Hospital, Family, and Employee Liaisons) | 5-B: Dissociation | 6-B: Treatments and Therapies |
| 4-C: Public Information Officers | 5-C: Panic Attacks | |
| 4-D: Honor Guard | 5-D:Triggers | |
| 4-E:FLA (Facilitated Learning Analysis) Team | 5-E: Acute Stress Disorder | |
| 4-F:Types of Investigation Teams | 5-F:PTSD | |
| 4-G: Critical Incident Points of Contact Form | 5-G:Physiological Effects of Prolonged Stress |
| Section 7- Pre-Treating the Line | Section 8- Your Resources | Section 9- Adjoining Resources |
|---|---|---|
| 7-A: Liability Insurance | A: Benefits Provided by your Employer | A: Additional Non-Employer-Based Resources |
| 7-B: Suicide Awareness and Prevention |
The Evolving Nomad 