10 Minute-Training: An exterior fire extends to the interior & attic. You’re IC No. 2. What do you do?
10-Minute Training
An exterior fire extends to the interior & attic. You're IC No. 2. What do you do?
By Ed Hartin
B Shifter Buckslip, Aug. 25, 2026
Every month, the B Shifter Buckslip features a 10-Minute Training scenario designed to provide a bit of synthetic experience while enhancing your ability to recognize patterns, identify relevant cues, expectancies and anomalies, set plausible goals, and develop a workable incident action plan.
Top: Units were dispatched to a detached single-family home in a suburban residential neighborhood. Adapted from Google. (2023a). [Street view of 77 Hickory Ave, Mantua, N.J]. ©2025 Google.
Bottom: Conditions upon arrival. Adapted from Cosme, L. (2026). Fire, Mantua, N.J. 2026-0810.
When confronted with a fire extending from the exterior to the interior and attic on the Charlie side, IC No. 1 must decide whether the first attack line should be deployed to the Charlie side or advanced through Alpha. How do obstructions, such as a chain-link fence, affect the selection of the initial attack position? Should the presence of rooftop solar panels factor into your decision-making?
This month’s 10-Minute Training for IC No. 2 takes us to Mantua, N.J., for a residential fire. The initial dispatch is for a single engine responding to an unknown type of fire, which means Engine 1 will be operating alone for a period before additional companies arrive. Additional learning opportunities in this 10-Minute Training focus on pre-arrival anticipation and planning, communication, incident organization, tactical operations, and firefighter safety when operating around solar panels. Includes incident audio and video!
Click here or the image below to access the drill. For other 10-Minute Trainings, visit https://commandcompetence.com/
Ed Hartin retired as fire chief with East County Fire and Rescue in Camas, Wash., after a 50-year fire service career. Ed maintains an active international training and consulting practice and is a Blue Card instructor. He holds the Chief Fire Officer designation from the Commission on Professional Credentialing and is a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers. Ed has undergraduate degrees in fire protection technology and fire service administration and a master’s degree in education. Since 2017, Ed has developed more than 450 10-Minute Trainings to provide ICs with deliberate practice to build competence.