I'm not a fireman either, but pay close attention to the radio traffic when he first gets on scene. He's the captain on the Rescue 24 rig, and assumes IC (Incident Commander). His job is to stand outside and give responding units arriving at scene their assignments. The engine company which was first on scene does go initial attack as soon as he gets there and takes over IC. Then he goes inside himself and does the primary and secondary searches upstairs once a Battalion Chief gets there and takes over IC.
I could feel his frustration watching that video, knowing that there are people still trapped inside but not being able to go in and get them yet. But such is the ICS system - you need an IC, and RIC (Rapid Intervention Crew - firefighters outside ready to rescue the firefighters inside if necessary), and rehab, etc etc.
Yeah, that looked like a crappy hose lay, but I think ultimately they did a fine job. It's also cool to see handheld thermal imaging FLIR cameras have gotten cheap enough for firefighters to carry with them (I think they're still ~$10,000 each), because you can see how much it helps with searching a house full of smoke.