Course: Command and Control at Catastrophic Incidents

Course & Section: FES 3815

Credit Hours: 3

Session:

** On-line

Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Lindsey, PhD, PM, EFO 

Office Rinker School of Construction Management

Room 336

Jeffrey.lindsey@ufl.edu

352-273-1199

Bio for Jeffrey Lindsey, Ph.D., PM, EFO 

Dr. Lindsey is an experienced leader, educator, lecturer, author, and consultant in emergency services. He has authored a number of textbooks for Brady Publishing. Dr. Lindsey earned his doctorate and master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from USF. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Fire and Safety Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and an associate in paramedic from Harrisburg Area Community College. He also has earned his Chief Fire Officer designation and completed the Executive Fire Officer program. He was the 2011 recipient of the IAFC EMS section James O. Page EMS award.

Dr. Lindsey has been involved in the emergency services industry since 1980. He has a diverse background with experience as a paramedic, firefighter, 911 dispatcher, and educator. He served in various ranks including fire chief. He is an associate member of the Pre-hospital Research Forum, representative to the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education EMS degree committee, liaison for the IAFC EMS section to ACEP, and a number of other appointments through his career. He served on the inaugural National EMS Advisory Council and was the safety chairperson of the Council. He has served in the past as a member of the State of Florida EMS Advisory Council, vice –chair of the Florida Fire Chief’s EMS section, NAEMT Governor representing Florida, board member of NAEMSE, and Chairperson of the Strategic Planning committee for the Lee County Fire Chief’s Association.

 

Office Hours:            I am in the office (Rinker 303 or remote) Mon – Fri hours vary depending on travel and meetings; however, I am usually available 8am – 3 pm. You can email me any time.

**Course Website: http://lss.at.ufl.edu

** Course Communications:  Send me an email through the course email. 

 

Required Text: Strategic & Tactical Considerations on the Fireground 4th Edition  Smith, J.P.   Brady Fire Series

Publication of the APA, APA 2020 7th edition 

 

**Additional Resources:  None

**Course Description: The course covers incident command at multiple-alarm incidents, stressing rapid fireground decision-making, safety, personnel accountability, and communications.

Purpose of Course: The course design is centered around the eight modules and their respective assignments. Each module will require readings and/or assignments that will help the student learn the information. The course also includes a final project.

 

** How This Course Relates to the Student Learning Outcomes in the FIRe emergency services program:
  1. Identify and evaluate organizational problems associated with fire and  emergency services (Reinforces)

3. Illustrate knowledge and legal application of safety, health and environmental regulations at state and federal levels (Reinforces)

6. Demonstrate strong verbal and written communication skills for leadership in fire and emergency services (Introduces/Reinforces)

 

 

**Teaching Philosophy:  I am looking for students to demonstrate a working knowledge of the subject. You need to be creative when you complete your assignments but maintain a professional appearance of your work. Your work needs to be complete and in such a manner that someone can pick up your document and understand what you are trying to convey. And most of all your work needs to be supported with research and cited in properly in APA format.

 

**Instructional Methods: The course is designed for individual and group interactivity. It is important to post and respond to discussion questions in the course within the time frame allotted. This provides a learning environment by networking with other students in the course. The assignments are individual base to give you the opportunity to do a variety of activities, in many cases, similar to what you will be doing in role as a leader in the emergency services profession.

 

Attendance Policy:  The course is designed in module format. You should check the site at least once a week. You are required to complete the assignments including discussion questions within the time period designated on the module. There will be meetings set up throughout the course. Requirements for class attendance and make-up exams, assignments, and other work in this course are consistent with university policies that can be found in the online catalog at: https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/attendance.aspx.

**Quiz/Exam Policy:  There is a final project for this course. There are no exams or quizzes.

Make-up Policy:  You must contact me if you are going to be late on any assignment to receive credit.

**Assignment Policy:  All assignments have a due date. Please be sure to check the date and time it is due in each module.

**Course Technology:  Class meetings if held will require a web camera and mic/audio. If you are not able to use a web camera you will need to at least provide audio/mic, you can call in on a phone also.

** UF’s honesty policy    

UF students are bound by The Honor Pledge which states, “We, the members of the University of Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honor and integrity by abiding by the Honor Code.  On all work submitted for credit by students at the University of Florida, the following pledge is either required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.” The Honor Code http://regulations.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/4.040.pdf specifies a number of behaviors that are in violation of this code and the possible sanctions.  Furthermore, you are obliged to report any condition that facilitates academic misconduct to appropriate personnel. If you have any questions or concerns, please consult with the instructor of in this class. Go to https://sccr.dso.ufl.edu/policies/student-honor-code-student-conduct-code/ for the Handbook. Keep in mind you CANNOT reuse work you already submitted for another class. You can ONLY submit work once for credit otherwise you will receive a zero for your grade.

 

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) 

Any and all use of machines that emulate human capabilities (ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, DALLE, etc.) to perform assignments or other works in the course should be disclosed as it can border on plagiarism. AI-generated information, as long as this use is properly documented in the references and will need to include the prompt and the significant parts of the response. The use of generative AI tools is not permitted in this course for the following activities: 

1. Completing group work that your group has assigned to you. 
2. Writing a draft of a writing assignment. 
3. Writing entire sentences, paragraphs or papers to complete class assignments. 

University Policy on Accommodating Students with Disabilities: Students requesting accommodation for disabilities must first register with the Dean of Students Office (http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/). The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation. You must submit this documentation prior to submitting assignments or taking the quizzes or exams. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the office as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations.

University Policy on Academic Misconduct:  Academic honesty and integrity are fundamental values of the University community. Students should be sure that they understand the UF Student Honor Code at http://www.dso.ufl.edu/students.php.

**Netiquette: Communication Courtesy:  All members of the class are expected to follow rules of common courtesy in all email messages, threaded discussions and chats.  [Describe what is expected and what will occur as a result of improper behavior] http://teach.ufl.edu/docs/NetiquetteGuideforOnlineCourses.pdf

 

 

For issues with technical difficulties for E-learning in Sakai, please contact the UF Help Desk at:

• Learning-support@ufl.edu
• (352) 392-HELP - select option 2
• https://lss.at.ufl.edu/help.shtml

** Any requests for make-ups due to technical issues MUST be accompanied by the ticket number received from LSS when the problem was reported to them. The ticket number will document the time and date of the problem. You MUST e-mail your instructor within 24 hours of the technical difficulty if you wish to request a make-up.

Other resources are available at http://www.distance.ufl.edu/getting-help for:

• Counseling and Wellness resources
• Disability resources
• Resources for handling student concerns and complaints
• Library Help Desk support

Should you have any complaints with your experience in this course please visit http://www.distance.ufl.edu/student-complaints to submit a complaint.

 

Week 1	Introduction – online post Read Syllabus and review course content Management Tools Assign Module One – Discussion and Assignment Assign Final Project
Week 2	Decision making Module One assignment and discussion due Module Two discussion and assignment
Week 3	Building Collapse and Scene Safety Part I Module two Discussion and Assignment due Assignment Module Three – Discussion and Assignment
Week 4	Building Collapse and Scene Safety Part II Assignment Module Three – Discussion and Assignment due
Week 5	Special Situations and Occupancies Part I Module Four discussion and assignment
Week 6	Special Situations and Occupancies Part II Module Four discussion and assignment due
Week 7	Health Care and High-Risk Populations Part I Assign Module Five discussion and assignment
Week 8	Health Care and High-Risk Populations Part II Assign Module Five discussion and assignment due
Week 9	Commercial and Industrial Part I Module Six discussion and assignment
Week 10	Commercial and Industrial Part II Assign Module Six discussion and assignment due
Week 11	Technical Operations Part I Module Seven discussion and assignment
Week 12	Technical Operations Part II Module Seven discussion and assignment due
Week 13	After the Incident Part I Assign Module Eight discussion and assignment
Week 14	After the Incident Part I Module Five discussion and assignment due
Week 15	Final Project due

 

The grade is based on a point system. You divide the total number of earned points into the total amount of points available to determine your grade. A grading rubric for the final project is under the Resource Tab on the course.

 

Grading for Discussion Posts

Initial posts submitted per syllabus timeline	1 point deducted for each day late
Respond with meaningful post to two other students	5 points total
Grammar and Spelling	2 points
All citations formatted per APA	2 points
Content accurate and at least 100 words	4 points
Total	20 points

 

Please see Grading rubric for assignments in Canvas assignments. 

 

 

 

Assignment	Points or percentage
Grading Discussion Participation – 20 points each discussion	160 points 30%final grade
Assignments – 15 points each assignment	120 points  30%final grade
Final Project - comprehensive and applied	100 points  40% final grade
Total Grade	250 points

 

See https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/grades.aspx regarding current UF grading policies.

 

Grading Scale

 A   = 93.0 to 100%     C   = 73.0 to 76.9
A-  = 90.0 to 92.9       C-  = 70.0 to 72.9
B+ = 87.0 to 89.9       D+ = 67.0 to 69.9
B   = 83.0 to 86.9       D   = 63.0 to 66.9
B-  = 80.0 to 82.9       D-  = 60.0 to 62.9
C+ = 77.0 to 79.9       F   = below 60  

 

 

 

Late Assignments and Discussion Posts

Assignments

Assignments 48 hours late will receive a 10% deduction in their grade.

Assignments more than 48 hours but less than 30 days late will receive a 20% deduction in their grade.

Assignments more than 30 days late but submitted during the semester will receive a 50% deduction in their grade. 

Discussions

 Initial posts are due one week before the due date or if there is only a week between due dates, the Thursday before the due date. You must respond to two other students by the due date. Discussions are like being in class, it should be a back and forth discussion. You will lose 1 point per day of being late with initial post and 1 point per day lost for not responding to other student posts. You need to respond to any post that is replied to on your post. 

 

Please note that any student have less than 75% of their work complete for the semester cannot earn an “I” contract. If you have 75% of the work complete, you can propose an I contract to the instructor.

 

It is your responsibility to keep your instructor informed at all times. The instructor does have the right under extenuating circumstances with proper notification to assist the student by extending the above time requirements.

“Students are expected to provide professional and respectful feedback on the quality of instruction in this course by completing course evaluations online via GatorEvals. Guidance on how to give feedback in a professional and respectful manner is available at https://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/students/. Students will be notified when the evaluation period opens, and can complete evaluations through the email they receive from GatorEvals, in their Canvas course menu under GatorEvals, or via https://ufl.bluera.com/ufl/. Summaries of course evaluation results are available to students at https://gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/public-results/.”