By: Tony Young, Deputy Fire Chief/PIO, OKC FD (Ret.) & Sr. Vice President of Operations, 1-800-BOARDUP International
Author’s Note: 1-800-BOARDUP International is a Five-Bugle partner of the IAFC. In April 2023, 1-800-BOARDUP and the IAFC co-hosted a webinar with Fire Chief Mark Burdick, titled “Why You Should Consider a 4th Incident Priority.” This article and any quotes from Chief Burdick are adapted from that webinar and his portion of the presentation. The original webinar is available on the IAFC’s YouTube channel.
First Things First: What is the 4th Incident Priority?
“The fire service is beloved by the masses, and after incidents, citizens always thank us and say, ‘What a terrific job you did. You risked your lives, you put the fire out at my house.’ But, how do we help that person get through this very traumatic event, and come out on the other side as well as can be?”
- Chief Mark Burdick, Arizona Fire & Medical Authority
As a concept, the 4th Incident Priority builds upon the three fire incident priorities that most departments currently address on every call: Life Safety, Incident Stabilization, and Property Conservation. Originally identified and described by Chief James P. Smith in Strategic & Tactical Considerations on the Fireground, these three incident priorities inform fireground operations and help firefighters prioritize their actions until they’ve safely and successfully extinguished the fire. Here’s a basic review of them:
- Priority 1: Life Safety - Always the number one consideration. Monitor firefighters on the fireground, get citizens out of harm’s way, and keep other public safety personnel, utility workers, and onlookers safe from the fire.
- Priority 2: Incident Stabilization - Put the fire out, stop the spread of fire and water damage, treat any victims, and contain and control any hazardous materials.
- Priority 3: Property Conservation - Proper ventilation, minimizing water damage, and salvage and overhaul.
After Priority 3, when the fire is out and crews have finished checking for hot spots, it’s standard to then roll up the hoses, pack up the tools, and leave. Often, when the homeowner asks what happens next, the response is to advise them to call their insurance provider. The Incident Commander may contact a crisis response team if their jurisdiction has one, but departments generally leave it at that. It’s not ideal, but it is understandable, because the goal is for fire crews to return to the station and get back into service as quickly as possible.
Although these three incident priorities ensure that the fire is fully extinguished and the immediate threat to life and property is over, they do little to help the distraught property owner who’s left standing in the front yard, staring at their now-damaged (possibly destroyed) home or business, trying to figure out how to begin picking up the pieces. To make matters worse, this often happens in the middle of the night, with no one to turn to and nowhere to go, leaving property owners feeling even more alone.
Despite understanding the importance of returning to the station to be ready for the next call, it’s still difficult for first responders to walk away from emotionally distressed citizens. Leaving victims to fend for themselves after a traumatic event—such as a house fire, storm damage, or a vehicle into their building—conflicts with the inherent sense of duty that public safety professionals feel toward their citizens and communities.
This leads many firefighters to question: Does our job really end there? Don’t we owe more to our citizens?
This is where the 4th Incident Priority comes in: the post-fire priority.
The 4th Incident Priority, as proposed by 1-800-BOARDUP, centers around victim assistance and includes three key components: Educate, Secure, and Protect. Broadly speaking, these three components address different aspects of supporting victims, their property, and the broader community in the aftermath of a fire:
- Educate: Explaining what victims/citizens need to know post-incident.
- Secure: Protecting the affected property, valuables, and people.
- Protect: Preventing additional harm to the community.
Think of the 4th Incident Priority as a way to finish the job we started. By introducing a framework for prioritizing and addressing victims’ immediate needs after a fire, the 4th Incident Priority enables fire departments to extend their customer service into the post-fire stage, provide additional care for citizens, and ensure victims have the resources and support they need to begin recovering.
The 4th Incident Priority in Action
To fully understand the 4th Incident Priority and implement it effectively, let’s take a closer look at what each element—Educate, Secure, Protect—entails and how it supports victim assistance.
Educate: Explaining what victims/citizens need to know post-incident. After a fire, there are two key things the property owner must be informed about:
- The need to secure the property and how to do it (e.g., board up, stabilization)
- What kind of resources and assistance are available (e.g., temporary housing, pet care)
Generally, this information is not common knowledge, and even if property owners are familiar with some of it, it is extremely difficult to think clearly after a traumatic event. Figuring out what resources are available, who to contact for help, and what to do first is often the hardest part. Taking the time to explain these things, develop a step-by-step recovery plan, and patiently guide victims through each step is critical to helping them get started on the path to recovery and rebuilding.
Secure: Protecting the affected property, valuables, and people.
We must be able to protect what’s left of the home or business after the fire is out. Fire watch, site security, and emergency water mitigation are among the first steps needed to prevent further damage. But this isn’t only about securing the damaged property and its contents; it’s also about keeping the victims safe. “Our job is to make sure we don’t put them in a hazardous environment,” explains Chief Burdick.
Whether the incident was a full structural fire or a smaller room-and-contents fire, the homeowner or building occupants cannot remain on the property due to safety and exposure risks. It’s important to educate the victims about these risks, and it’s even more crucial to help them secure temporary housing. From providing hotel vouchers for the first few nights to arranging longer-term temporary lodging, making sure our citizens have a safe place to stay is one of the most critical first steps in restoring their sense of security after their lives have been upended.
Protect: Preventing additional harm to the community.
The property must be stabilized to avoid unnecessary risk and prevent additional harm to the community. This is about protecting others from the hazards posed by the damaged property and protecting property owners from the liability associated with those hazards. A big part of this is understanding the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine.
The basic elements of an attractive nuisance are as follows:
- A potentially dangerous condition exists on the property.
- The land/property owner created or maintained the potential hazard.
- The land/property owner should have known:
- The condition would attract children*
- The condition could harm children*
*These considerations also apply to adults with intellectual disabilities.
Many state and local laws require property owners to take reasonable precautions to prevent harm and reduce the risk posed by dangerous conditions on their property. If they fail to do so and harm results from an attractive nuisance, the property owner may be held liable for the injury.
A fire-damaged home or business left exposed, unoccupied, and easily accessible is considered an attractive nuisance. Most people are unaware that the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine even exists, let alone its nuances or whether it applies to them after a significant property loss. But as Chief Burdick notes, “That ‘should have’ is really a dangerous place for all of us to be. And anybody in the fire service needs to know that that [liability] hangs on us if we leave the scene as well.” This is why it’s important to inspect, assess, and stabilize the structure as soon as the fire is out. Promptly addressing hazardous conditions on the property mitigates this liability risk and serves the best interests of all parties involved—homeowners, first responders, and the community as a whole.
How Fire Departments Can Add a 4th Incident Priority
“We talk about owing our citizens all that we can do, and I think that's the critical piece of this–that we provide that extra effort and add this 4th Incident Priority, to just be able to partner with somebody so that victims are not left standing there going, ‘What the heck is next?’”
- Chief Mark Burdick, Arizona Fire & Medical Authority
Adding a 4th Incident Priority enables firefighters to continue providing care and customer service to victims after one of the worst experiences of their lives. If it were merely a matter of duty and desire, there's no doubt that every fire department would stay on scene after the fire is out, provide all necessary post-fire assistance, and do everything possible to help their citizens start down the road to recovery. But the reality is, most agencies do not have the resources for this—time, money, and personnel are already stretched thin. For departments to add a 4th Incident Priority, a more feasible solution is to turn to external support.;
Traditionally, insurance companies and the Red Cross are two of the “go-tos” for post-fire support because both already play a role in the post-fire process. However, with respect to the 4th Incident Priority specifically, their scope is limited. Neither handles all aspects of Educate, Secure, Protect, and the timing and consistency of their responses can also be a challenge, as it may take hours or days for a representative to arrive on-site. Instead, if the goal of adding a 4th Incident Priority is to ensure victims receive immediate assistance after a fire, the best option is to partner with an organization that can assume command of the incident scene as soon as your crews have cleared it.
The key is finding a reliable partner that’s adequately trained and equipped to educate victims, secure the property, and protect the community. 1-800-BOARDUP International was created for exactly this purpose–to serve as a 4th Incident Priority organization that fire departments can trust to handle these critical post-fire tasks on their behalf. With 24/7 emergency response, 1-800-BOARDUP can immediately dispatch a crew to the incident scene, enabling local teams to arrive on site precisely when their fire departments–and citizens–need them. “Instead of saying, ‘Call your insurance agent,’ then getting on a truck and driving away, you can say, ‘Hang on, we’ve got somebody right here who can help,’” Chief Burdick explains. Local 1-800-BOARDUP teams are prepared to take over from there, assisting victims, managing the scene, and tackling all necessary 4th Incident Priority responsibilities.
The Benefits of Working with 1-800-BOARDUP
When it comes to addressing the 4th Incident Priority, Chief Burdick describes working with 1-800-BOARDUP as “a force multiplier” for fire departments. In summarizing some of the key benefits, he explains:
“Consider a service like this because it’s a force multiplier for us. When you don't have the resources to leave on scene, if you've got a tight economy, or you've got an area without a lot of personnel and you need to be available for calls, these local service providers come out and they assume that liability, they take on that security, and they relieve your crews and let them get back into service.”
In other words, partnering with your local 1-800-BOARDUP team helps you make the most of the resources available in your jurisdiction. Fire departments and law enforcement agencies can maintain critical public safety functions and ensure victims receive vital guidance and support without worrying about overburdening already limited departmental resources.
In addition to these practical benefits–freeing up resources, taking away liability, and getting crews back into service–another major benefit of having a 4th Incident Priority partner like 1-800-BOARDUP is the peace of mind it provides for both first responders and victims. When the local 1-800-BOARDUP team arrives on site to assume control of the scene and begin helping victims, it allows those first responders to depart with the peace of mind that their citizens will be taken care of by a team they know and trust. At the same time, it provides those victims with much-needed reassurance that they will not have to face the post-fire recovery process alone.
This ultimately gets to the heart of 1-800-BOARDUP’s mission: to assist organizations that share our commitment to helping victims of fires and other disasters. By focusing equally on implementing emergency safety measures and providing essential victim services, we’re dedicated to doing everything we can to make life–and losses–a little easier for first responders and property owners alike.
To learn more about 1-800-BOARDUP’s services and how we can assist your department, or to see our list of locations and find your local 1-800-BOARDUP, visit 1-800-BOARDUP.com.
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About the Author: Tony Young is a retired Deputy Fire Chief & Public Information Officer with the Oklahoma City Fire Department, where he proudly served for 25 years. After retiring in 2008, Chief Young joined the 1-800-BOARDUP team, initially serving as Director of Emergency Services for the Oklahoma City office, then moving into national operations with the Home Office. Today, as Sr. Vice President of Operations for 1-800-BOARDUP International, Chief Young works with many of the 140+ retired fire officers on local 1-800-BOARDUP teams across the U.S. and Canada, helping them continue to serve their fellow firefighters and communities.