Choosing an IC on a Volunteer Response with Richard Ray

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges of choosing an Incident Commander in all-volunteer fire departments.

If you’re a member of a volunteer department, you’ve probably run into the problem of Incident Command. The issue is, who’s going to be the IC on a given fireground. Now, if your volunteer department is lucky enough to have career firefighters showing up to calls with you, the problem’s not so bad. Odds are, that career firefighter is going to be the one who takes command of the scene. But what if the response is all-volunteer? Who takes command then? That’s the question we’re going to examine on this edition of Code 3. My guest today is Richard Ray. He’s got over 30 years in the fire service. He’s both a firefighter with the Creedmoor, North Carolina Volunteer Fire Department. His full-time job is battalion chief with the Durham, North Carolina Fire Department. He instructs on a national level as well.

People in this episode

Host: Scott Orr

Guest: Richard Ray

Topics covered

• Incident Command
• Volunteer Fire Departments
• Fireground Management
• Leadership in Fire Service
• Firefighter Training

Keywords

• Incident Command
• Volunteer Firefighters
• Fireground
• Leadership
• Fire Service

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Creedmoor, North Carolina Volunteer Fire Department, Durham, North Carolina Fire Department

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