Vincent Dunn

Chief Dunn declares that firefighting is a war and that buildings are the firefighter's battlespace. A battlespace is the total fire environment. It is both the inside and the outside and inside of the fire building. A battlespace is not just the room and the seat of the fire, it includes much more. It is the stair enclosures we use to get to the fire, the room configurations, rooftop hazards, structure framing, the fire escapes, ceilings, doors, windows, voids behind walls and floors and roof construction. The term battlespace is not the same as battleground or fireground, it is the firefighting surroundings that must be understood to combat fire, protect firefighters and complete our mission of protecting lives and property.

Chief Dunn also tells us about firefighting "game-changers" in this book. A "game-changer" is a notification of an event, construction feature, or fire growth that changes an incident commander's thinking, or strategy.