Company member guide
This is the guide for everyone working the drill who is not the instructor: company members assigned to a unit, and observers.
Joining#
- Open the site and sign in with your department account. If the instructor turned on guest joins, you can instead type your name.
- If your department has a drill open, it is listed under Happening now on the Sessions page: press Join and you are in, no code needed. You are already signed in, so there is nothing more to prove.
- Otherwise, enter the four-character session code. You will be given one for a drill that is not advertised to the whole department, such as a promotional evaluation.
If you are joining on a phone, allow microphone access when the browser asks. Without it you can hear the radio but cannot transmit.
In the lobby#
Before the drill starts you are in the lobby. Your card shows your unit assignment once the instructor makes it.
The lobby microphone is open. Everyone can talk to everyone, at the same time, in normal voice. This is for sorting out who has what before the run. The button below the panel toggles your microphone:
- A green mic means you are live.
- A red slashed mic means you are muted. Tap the button to switch.
Lobby conversation is not recorded and does not appear in the review.
If the instructor runs a ready check, a I'm ready button appears on your card. Press it when you are set: audio working, assignment understood.
Responding#
When the instructor starts the clock, the dispatcher reads the call: units, address, and time. Your screen shows your callsign and a red strobe while you are responding.
While responding you can hear and use the radio, but you cannot see the scene. Your unit arrives at its own time, usually a few minutes in. The scene appears when it does.
Observers, meaning anyone without a unit, see the scene as soon as the drill starts.
On scene#
The tabs across the top of the scene are the positions you can move to. Click one to walk there. A number on a tab is how many people are standing there.
- Side A, B, C, D and any custom exterior positions: walk freely.
- Aerial: the tactical map, shown when apparatus placement is on.
- rooms: interior positions, available only if your assignment allows it. A lock on the tab means you are not cleared to enter; the tooltip says why.
Walking the building is the exercise. If you never leave Side A you will report Side A conditions, which is exactly what happens on a real fireground.
The radio#
Once the drill starts, the radio is push-to-talk and half duplex: one person transmits at a time, like your working channel.
- Hold the button, or hold the spacebar, to transmit. Release to end.
- If someone else is on air, the button shows Channel busy with their name. Wait for them to finish.
- Transmissions during the drill are recorded, transcribed, and reviewable afterward.
See Radio and communications for the details.
CAN reports#
The CAN report control above the radio sends a structured report:
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Conditions | What you have: smoke, fire, layout, victims. |
| Actions | What you are doing about it. |
| Needs | What you need: ventilation, a backup line, manpower. |
| Heat | Low, Moderate, High, or Untenable. |
Any single field is enough; you can send heat alone. The report is tagged with the position you are standing in, appears in everyone's feed, and the heat shows as a badge on that room's tab.
Heat is declared by whoever is inside, because heat is felt rather than seen. Report it honestly, including when it is getting worse.
A CAN report supplements the radio; it does not replace it. Say it on the radio when it needs to be heard now.
Apparatus placement#
If the placement module is on, when your unit arrives you are taken to the aerial and asked to place your apparatus before you can walk the sides. Tap your rig in the tray, then tap the map where you set up. Use the rotate buttons to show which way the rig faces.
Park the rig where you would actually put it: the side you park on is the side you walk out onto.
See Apparatus placement in a drill.
Going interior#
If the interior module is on, you can enter a room when all of these are true:
- the drill has started,
- your unit has arrived,
- your unit's assignment on the command board is an interior duty (the house flag), and
- you are not the incident commander.
Then the room tabs unlock. Inside, you see what is there: fire, smoke banked down from the ceiling, victims, hazards. Report by radio and CAN report; command cannot see any of it.
If command reassigns you to an exterior duty while you are inside, you are walked back out.
See Interior operations in a drill.
If something does not work#
- The button says "not recorded" with a reason: read the reason. Common ones are your unit not being on scene yet, or an action you do not have permission for.
- ⏳ syncing in the header means your last actions have not been confirmed by the server yet. They send themselves as soon as the connection recovers; nothing is lost.
- Reconnecting means your connection dropped. It restores itself, and you come back as the same person with the same assignment.
- No microphone: allow it in your browser's site settings and press retry.