Glossary of Firefighting - I

I

• IAFF: Acronym, "International Association of Fire Fighters".
• IAP: Acronym, "Incident Action Plan" A plan consisting of the strategic goals, tactical objectives, and support requirements for the incident. All incidents require an action plan. For simple incidents, the action plan is not usually in written form, while large/complex incidents require the action plan to be documented in writing. When complete, the IAP will have a number of attachments.
• IDLH: Any situation deemed Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health. More narrowly defined by OSHA. See main IDLH article. An area of maximum danger to firefighters. Often requires increased Personnel accountability.
• IFSTA: Acronym, "International Fire Service Training Association". A major publisher of firefighter training materials.
• IMARP: Acronym, "Indiana Mutual Aid Response Plan". For the rapid activation and response of aid to a community in the event of a local disaster. These events can include a major fire, train derailments, hazardous materials incidents, wild land fires, domestic terrorism, and other events that may overwhelm the local fire department serving the community and its normal mutual aid resources.
• Incident Commander (or IC): The officer in charge of all activities at an incident. See Incident Command System.
• Incident Safety Officer: The officer in charge of scene safety at an incident. See Incident Command System. Optional at any incident other than HAZMAT.
• Incipient stage fire: A small fire that may be extinguished using portable fire extinguishers or other means typically at hand.
• Indirect attack: Method of firefighting in which water is pumped onto materials above or near the fire so that the splash rains onto the fire, often used where a structure is unsafe to enter.
• Initial attack: First point of attack on a fire where hose lines or fuel separation are used to prevent further extension of the fire.
• Interface zone (also wildland/structural interface or urban/wildland interface): The zone where wildfires threaten structures or structural fires threaten wildlands, such as in residential areas adjacent to forests. This requires both wildland firefighting and structural firefighting in the same location, which involve very different tactics and equipment.
• Interior attack: Inserting a team of firefighters into the burning structure, in an attempt to extinguish a blaze from inside the structure, minimizing property damage from fire, smoke, and water. Requires a minimum of four fully equipped firefighters: an entry team of at least two to enter the structure and fight the fire, and two standing by to rescue or relieve the entry team (see two in, two out). If the entry team(s) cannot extinguish the blaze, may become an Exterior Attack.
• IMT: Acronym, "Incident Management Team". In the United States, there are predominantly five types of incident management teams (IMTs). An incident such as a wildland fire is initially managed by local fire departments or fire agencies, but if the fire becomes complex additional resources are called in to address the emergency, and higher levels of management training and capability are required. IMTs are "typed" according to the complexity of incidents they are capable of managing and are part of an incident command system.

To manage the logistical, fiscal, planning, operational, safety and community issues related to the incident/emergency, an Incident Management Team will provide the command and control infrastructure that is required.

Incident management starts as the smallest unit and escalates according to the complexity of the emergency. The five types of IMTs are as follows:

• Type 5: Local Village and Township Level – a "pool" of primarily fire officers from several neighboring departments trained to serve in Command and General Staff positions during the first 6–12 hours of a major or complex incident.
• Type 4: City, County or Fire District Level – a designated team of fire, EMS, and possibly law enforcement officers from a larger and generally more populated area, typically within a single jurisdiction (city or county), activated when necessary to manage a major or complex incident during the first 6–12 hours and possibly transition to a Type 3 IMT.
• Type 3: State or Metropolitan Area Level – a standing team of trained personnel from different departments, organizations, agencies, and jurisdictions within a state or DHS Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) region, activated to support incident management at incidents that extend beyond one operational period. Type 3 IMTs will respond throughout the State or large portions of the State, depending upon State-specific laws, policies, and regulations.
• Type 2: National and State Level – a Federally or State-certified team; has less training, staffing and experience than Type 1 IMTs, and is typically used on smaller scale national or state incidents. There are 35 Type 2 IMTs currently in existence, and operate through interagency cooperation of federal, state and local land and emergency management agencies.
• Type 1: National and State Level – a Federally or State-certified team; is the most robust IMT with the most training and experience. Sixteen Type 1 IMTs are now in existence, and operate through interagency cooperation of federal, state and local land and emergency management agencies.

Although the primary purpose is for wildfire response, an Incident Management Team can respond to a wide range of emergencies, including fires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunami, riots, spilling of hazardous materials, and other natural or human-caused incidents.

The five subsystems of an incident management team are as follows:

• Incident command system (ICS) an on-scene structure of management-level positions suitable for managing any incident.
• Training development and delivery of training courses.
• Qualifications and certification national standards for qualifications and certification for ICS positions.
• Publications management development, control, sources, and distribution of NIIMS publications provided by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG).
• Supporting Technology and systems used to support an emergency response, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), orthophoto mapping, National Fire Danger Rating System, remote automatic weather stations, automatic lightning detection systems, infrared technology, and communications

• ISO Rating: (Insurance Services Office Public Protection Classification Rating) This is a rating published by the Insurance Services Office. Insurance companies, in many states, use this number to determine homeowner insurance premiums. Recently some insurance companies, including State Farm, have now adopted a per-zip-code, actual loss, based system in several states and no longer use the ISO (PPC) system.
• Irons: The flathead axe mated with the halligan bar. Firefighters often refer to these as the Crossed Irons, or Married Irons, because the Halligan Bar can fit to the Axe head.