How do you report to command?
Do report ready and looking for work? Is it obvious your COMBAT READY? What should you bring with you, when command simply says report to the command post/me? Have you confirmed what channel tactics will operate off of?
Reporting to Command
If you expect to be put to work by command, then you need to show up ready to work with the appropriate tools for a variety of possible tasks and have a clue what has been going on during the fire up to this point.
As Brian stated you need to show up expecting to work and have some clue as to whats been going on. should take your accountability system tags with you, should have a TIC, Irons, hook, charged portable radios on the correct channel, basically any tool you normally would get off the apparatus with plus what this specific incident might need. Its better to show up to command ready to work with more tools than you need, than to have to tell IC give my crew a second while we go back to our rig to get the tools we need.
I usually like to listen to the TAC channel on the way in so I can hear what is going on and try to gauge a potential need. With these new 800 radios you can clearly here the TAC channel from much farther away. It still surprises me at the apathy some company’s still display at being ready. It’s going to be a cultural change from the OIC down….Check out this article written a few years back on RIC preparedness http://mutualaidfire.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/rapid-intervention/