OCFA Strategy And Tactics – Truck Operations Practice Test

In a defensive approach for garden-style fires, the priority is to stop the fire from spreading and to protect exposures while keeping firefighters safe. The best way to achieve that is by coordinating with the engine company. When the engine crew is aligned with the truck crew, you secure a reliable water supply, establish the right flow path, and create a coordinated plan for exterior attack and exposure protection. This teamwork ensures suppression efforts don’t compete with other critical actions and that resources are used effectively, with ventilation and search happening in step with the available water and overall strategy. Other actions can be part of tactics, but they don’t define the defensive posture as clearly. For example, ventilation decisions, or using existing fire barriers, depend on the situation and timing and aren’t as universally central to a defensible posture as a well-coordinated engine support, which underpins safe, controlled flame containment and exposure protection.