The first officer at the scene irrespective of rank takes command of the incident in the interim period before the formal command structure is established. The Officer does not become involved in rescue work as it is more important that they are in a position where they can assess, inform and maintain contact with control in order to co-ordinate the response.
The vehicle they arrive in becomes the Forward Control Point (FCP) using the vehicle radio for communication.
A simple mnemonic is used nationally in order to provide a situation report to the Control Staff.
|C||Casualties||Approximate numbers of facilities, injured and uninjured.|
|H||Hazards||Fuel spillages, debris, terrain, chemicals, fire etc.|
|A||Access||Suitable rendezvous, access and egress for emergency vehicles.|
|L||Location||An exact location of the incident.|
|E||Emergency Services||Those present already and those required.|
|T||Type of Incident||Train, aircraft, chemical etc.|
|S||Safety||Personal safety and that of colleagues.|
Having passed on this information, the Officer maintains radio contact with control whilst their partner keeps a log of all radio transmissions and decisions made. They remain at the FCP until relieved by an officer of more senior rank.