Tactics, command, leadership

Tactics concerns applying measures in patterns to address various
parts of the assistance need, in time and space. The patt ern of
action shall be configured so as to obtain and maintain control
on the basis of the conditions that may be created due to resource
availability over a period of time and the dynamics of the assis-
tance need.
An assistance need can be graded, given a value in different
parts and also be defined in other ways in time and space. Diff erent
measures can then be executed in different ways for these various
parts, and it then becomes necessary to weigh up the capacity of
the resource against the gain expected of the measure. This so-
metimes results in small resources providing significant value th-
rough, for example, creating the conditions for victims to become
involved and evacuate a building or area. Another example would
be when a measure is taken, over a period, to facilitate the execu-
tion of other measures. Through ventilating combustion gases,
for example, from a burning building the conditions are establis-
hed for trapped people to survive for a longer period, increasing
the possibility of resc uing them. In some cases such measures re-
quire relatively small resources, yet much can be gained through
them. Their low resource requirement means also that they can
often be applied in the interim while waiting for further resour-
ces to arrive. The removal of valuable art from a threatened room
or building would be another example. Removing the art is an
offensive activity, even if it does not contribute to saving the buil-
ding. It is worth mentioning here also that things that would per-
haps appear to be of little or no value to the outsider can be of
very significant sentimental value to the victim. Much of signifi-
cance, then, may be rescued with limited resources.
In addition to the care of victims, measures are applied to
address the destructive sequence, the affected environment or
the affected object in different ways. Measures can be taken, for
example, to diffuse the threat of further injury or damage, by,
for example, eliminating the threat of explosion by removing gas
bottles which could perhaps become affected by heat at a later sta-
ge. They could also concern reducing the probability of the threat
materialising by, for example, hosing down the front of a building
on the opposite side of the street from a burning building.
Certain measures affect the physical damage situation more
directly, which is important with consideration to the fact that
the sooner the chain reaction of a destructive sequence is broken,