Patrick Déry: Command Structures

Here, read the transcript of the interview with Patrick Déry, Captain in the Saint-Eustache Fire Safety Department.

***

The Fire Department functions hierarchically, with a military-like organization. The command structure comes… has its origin in the military, but it’s been adapted to the Fire Department. So, it’s important to understand that way of doing things. The hierarchy is really important. The ranks. And the fact that during operations, we function like the military. Firefighting is full of surprises, which makes it imperfect. Having a command structure helps us make our operations more effective, safer, and better coordinated. The command structure has to be able to evolve. That’s really important. We can go from a simple structure for a car fire or a car accident to a very complex structure, when taking measures to respond to a major emergency, for example. All the plans for situations like that have already been made. Mission plans. So, a command structure is there to allow us to assess the situation we’re dealing with.