Assistance is provided in good faith, without compensation or claim to any official authority, specialized legal immunity, or professional responder status.

Legal Notice: The Torchbearer Initiative is a civilian volunteer network. Members operate strictly under state Good Samaritan Laws and the Federal Volunteer Protection Act.

A whitepaper expounding on the information above and how to establish a Torchbearer Chapter is forthcoming. Please visit torchbearer.network to sign up and receive a copy when it is released.

Each member begins with FEMA CERT training, completes over 200 hours of training and a 90 day scenario test evaluation.

All members are cross-trained and certified in CPR/AED, Basic Life Support, First Aid, OSHA HazMat Awareness, TIM and NIMS ICS protocols.

The program is not for 'weekend warriors' but engaged citizens that want to expand their skills and help their entire community.

The Health and Safety Specialist (Orange): Establishes a safe perimeter according to DOT TIM and OSHA standards and monitors team safety and environmental hazards.They do not engage in active containment or cleanup.

The Medical Specialist (Red): Focuses on immediate triage and trauma care. They transfer care immediately to EMS personnel upon arrival, aiding only as directed.

The Communication Specialist (Yellow): Focuses on incident recording and documentation using industry data authentication standards (ISO 27037, FBI CJIS, NAIC, and NIST.)

FIRE teams consist of four specialist roles.
The Coordination Specialist (Green): Assumes Incident Command following NIMS protocols. They transfer command immediately to arriving professional responders.

FIRE teams unburden their local agencies from distant bureaucracies, unshackle them from the archaic chains of command and control, and focus on communication, coordination, and collaboration with their peers, their fellow citizens and residents of their community.

FIRE teams do not aim to 'burn them down', but to MELT those barriers, to support first responders, enable responsiveness and adaptability, rebuild community resilience, restore public oversight, and respect the integrity and professionalism of first responders to fully serve their communities.

Institutional Centralized Emergency management agencies have been frozen by unresponsive and nonadaptive hierarchies that leads to opaque and unaccountable operations.

FIRE MELTS ICE

Fast Incident Response Engagement Teams are autonomous citizen volunteers trained in first aid, safety, incident recording, and de-escalation techniques including nonviolent communication, conflict resolution, and trauma-informed care.