What must happen to the member's PAT when entering the hazard zone with a partial crew?

• A. The member's PAT will be removed from the company passport and placed on the Velcro where the company passport is kept
• B. The PAT is assigned to a new member
• C. The PAT is deactivated
• D. The PAT is stored in the logbook

Answer: (A)

PATs are the physical accountability tags used to track who is in the hazard zone. When a crew enters with a partial crew, you need to keep the person’s status visible and current. Moving the member’s PAT from their company passport to the Velcro area keeps the tag with the team’s on-scene accounting display, clearly showing that this person is inside the hazard zone. This setup provides immediate, real-time visibility for incident commanders and crews, helping ensure safety and coordination as the team composition changes.

The other options don’t fit the real-time accountability flow: you don’t reassign the tag to someone else by default, you don’t deactivate a tag during operations, and you don’t simply store it in a logbook for on-scene tracking.