The ongoing evaluation of an incident is:

• A. Strategy
• B. Size-up
• C. Personnel accountability
• D. Prefire planning

Answer: (B)

Size-up is the ongoing process of gathering and interpreting information at an incident to determine current conditions, hazards, and resource needs. This continuous assessment drives decisions about tactics and safety, and it is updated as new information comes in or conditions change. Practically, firefighters keep rechecking fire behavior, building conditions, air supply, visibility, occupant risk, and progress toward objectives, adjusting the incident action plan as needed. Strategy is the overall plan to achieve objectives and can be revised, but the real-time evaluation described here is size-up. Personnel accountability focuses on tracking who is inside and around the scene, while prefire planning involves preparing in advance for anticipated hazards, not the live, on-scene evaluation.