As a long time RIT instructor, I have a number of observations to pass along. In no way are they meant to offend or to provide negative criticism so please don’t take them that way. First, Firefighters should avoid (in my opinion only, never) removing their SCBA. At most, they should train to reduce their profile by loosening the waist and shoulder straps and rotating the SCBA to their side combined with their body positioning to fit through the opening. The loss of control of a member’s SCBA can have deadly consequences. Members should be discouraged from utilizing openings that would require them to remove any of their equipment and should train to use their tools to enlarge the opening or find another way in. If members have difficulty accessing an area, they certainly do not want the same difficulties in the event they have to evacuate quickly. Also, as proven in the video, the first team member made it through the initial obstacle with little effort however the second member struggled a bit with returning his SCBA to its properly worn position, again reinforcing the fact that removing the SCBA should be avoided. After making it through the initial obstacle, the first firefighter continued on without realizing that his partner was having difficulties with the SCBA. Members need to discipline themselves to stay together and not assume their partners will all have equal abilities. This also created a division in which either member could have experienced an emergency of their own without the others knowledge, therefore creating an entirely separate firefighter emergency. Tools. As described through your narration the drill was meant to simulate conditions that may be present after a collapse. Not only would members need those tools to assist with their progression through the collapse debris, they may, and possibly more importantly, need them to exit through that same debris. The downed firefighter may not fit through the same opening(s) the rescuers did, requiring an opening to be enlarged. Both members left their tools at the location where they located the downed firefighter. It is difficult but members should find ways that work for them to keep their tools during their retreat. It is good practice to turn PASS alerts off as soon as the downed firefighter is located. This could signal to other members of the RIT or other firefighters that might be searching that the downed firefighter has been located. More importantly it will also allow for greater communication between the team members and the downed firefighter provided he/she is conscious. And it will of course enhance the ability to communicate via portable radio. Again as I stated, just some observations of mine that will hopefully be taken as nothing more than some thoughts to take into consideration.
This is right on the spot I agree only thing is if it was me I would leave my tool behind the reasoning for that is someone's life is more important than that tool but only reason I would take ofc in cert scenario's I would or my back up partner have it or have a fresh crew in there with me to assist us on getting that down firefighter out if that resource is available and I'm disagreeing with anything your saying at all. Maybe you could fill me in on some more information.
As someone from overseas (Germany) I can't agree more with everything said. Just a small insight into our tactics: we operate in buddy teams, never alone. We have the manpower (standard crew per truck is 6 to 9) and if something happens you already have someone with you at the nozzle. Our packs also have a connector and you can get an air supply without removing any gear whatsoever. We could actually daisy-chain people up if we wanted to. Our PASS devices are built in to the radio and they actually transmit a network wide distress calls for a man down situation. A rescuing team takes a bottle with said connector with them in case the problem is in fact lack of air. The rest is pretty much the same, only we have different turnout gear and as you americans love to mock, full helmets, which are pretty good in all honesty.
He should come up with a strategy for his escape room to keep it from falling out and his door chocks from coming off his helmet and they need so slow down. Smooth is Slow is Fast
I was volunteer fireman for at least 6 years. We used to do a lot of live smoke house training. One day we had a new captain with our fire department and we were doing this type of exercise without a blindfold and without the oxygen on on our scba my scba mask started to fog up and I couldn't breathe. So I moved my mask partially open to get some outside air and our captain got angry and made a big issue about it. I defended myself because we didn't have our scba on. After that I resigned and left the department because an inexperienced firefighter wiggled his way to the Captain position quickly. I had lots of certifications and lots of firefighting experience despite that the fire chief at the time sided with the Captain and I totally thought it was all about politics. But that aside I done a lot of Wildland Firefightind which I was getting paid for for 6 seasons. If there was ever an opening at the fire department I would apply for chief position. And I would have these types of training for the young firefighters. I would not push it on the volunteers to do live smokehouse training because it's very hazardous. I've been to real structure fires and I was an interior guy and because I was certified firefighter 2 the chief always told me and a fellow fireman to search the interior but it was very unpredictable and scary thankfully we never got injured. To tell you the truth from my experience from fighting real structure fires there were so much clutter in people's homes that it was unpredictable what would be in your way. It was very dark and smokie it was like going into hell's gate 😱. The structures we had were only one story buildings and if the residents were all accounted for we didn't have to do search and rescue going interior. I overcame a lot of fear. Our fire department is in a rural part of Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation.... We never had to rescue trapped victims thankfully. Only one time in my tenure with the fire department we had three victims burn to death, we got there too late because the fire was reported late by the family members. We just did a search and recovery of three bodies. That memory still in my head, but somehow I never had nightmares about it. I hope you all read my comments be careful out there current firefighters be safe, training is vital. In real fires there's no time to panic. If you can purchase thermal imaging for your departments it's very dark in real fires and very hot.
As a long time RIT instructor, I have a number of observations to pass along.
In no way are they meant to offend or to provide negative criticism so please don’t take them that way.
First, Firefighters should avoid (in my opinion only, never) removing their SCBA. At most, they should train to reduce their profile by loosening the waist and shoulder straps and rotating the SCBA to their side combined with their body positioning to fit through the opening. The loss of control of a member’s SCBA can have deadly consequences.
Members should be discouraged from utilizing openings that would require them to remove any of their equipment and should train to use their tools to enlarge the opening or find another way in.
If members have difficulty accessing an area, they certainly do not want the same difficulties in the event they have to evacuate quickly.
Also, as proven in the video, the first team member made it through the initial obstacle with little effort however the second member struggled a bit with returning his SCBA to its properly worn position, again reinforcing the fact that removing the SCBA should be avoided.
After making it through the initial obstacle, the first firefighter continued on without realizing that his partner was having difficulties with the SCBA. Members need to discipline themselves to stay together and not assume their partners will all have equal abilities.
This also created a division in which either member could have experienced an emergency of their own without the others knowledge, therefore creating an entirely separate firefighter emergency.
Tools. As described through your narration the drill was meant to simulate conditions that may be present after a collapse.
Not only would members need those tools to assist with their progression through the collapse debris, they may, and possibly more importantly, need them to exit through that same debris.
The downed firefighter may not fit through the same opening(s) the rescuers did, requiring an opening to be enlarged.
Both members left their tools at the location where they located the downed firefighter. It is difficult but members should find ways that work for them to keep their tools during their retreat.
It is good practice to turn PASS alerts off as soon as the downed firefighter is located. This could signal to other members of the RIT or other firefighters that might be searching that the downed firefighter has been located.
More importantly it will also allow for greater communication between the team members and the downed firefighter provided he/she is conscious. And it will of course enhance the ability to communicate via portable radio.
Again as I stated, just some observations of mine that will hopefully be taken as nothing more than some thoughts to take into consideration.
I couldn’t agree more with literally everything you said. Very well put. Thank you for passing on your trade!
Valid points, all. Good drill, BTW...
This is right on the spot I agree only thing is if it was me I would leave my tool behind the reasoning for that is someone's life is more important than that tool but only reason I would take ofc in cert scenario's I would or my back up partner have it or have a fresh crew in there with me to assist us on getting that down firefighter out if that resource is available and I'm disagreeing with anything your saying at all. Maybe you could fill me in on some more information.
Was about to make same observation write up..thank you
As someone from overseas (Germany) I can't agree more with everything said.
Just a small insight into our tactics: we operate in buddy teams, never alone. We have the manpower (standard crew per truck is 6 to 9) and if something happens you already have someone with you at the nozzle.
Our packs also have a connector and you can get an air supply without removing any gear whatsoever. We could actually daisy-chain people up if we wanted to.
Our PASS devices are built in to the radio and they actually transmit a network wide distress calls for a man down situation.
A rescuing team takes a bottle with said connector with them in case the problem is in fact lack of air.
The rest is pretty much the same, only we have different turnout gear and as you americans love to mock, full helmets, which are pretty good in all honesty.
He should come up with a strategy for his escape room to keep it from falling out and his door chocks from coming off his helmet and they need so slow down. Smooth is Slow is Fast
In the UK we teach to never put your BA set through the opening before yourself and always go through feet first.
I was volunteer fireman for at least 6 years. We used to do a lot of live smoke house training. One day we had a new captain with our fire department and we were doing this type of exercise without a blindfold and without the oxygen on on our scba my scba mask started to fog up and I couldn't breathe. So I moved my mask partially open to get some outside air and our captain got angry and made a big issue about it. I defended myself because we didn't have our scba on. After that I resigned and left the department because an inexperienced firefighter wiggled his way to the Captain position quickly. I had lots of certifications and lots of firefighting experience despite that the fire chief at the time sided with the Captain and I totally thought it was all about politics. But that aside I done a lot of Wildland Firefightind which I was getting paid for for 6 seasons. If there was ever an opening at the fire department I would apply for chief position. And I would have these types of training for the young firefighters. I would not push it on the volunteers to do live smokehouse training because it's very hazardous. I've been to real structure fires and I was an interior guy and because I was certified firefighter 2 the chief always told me and a fellow fireman to search the interior but it was very unpredictable and scary thankfully we never got injured. To tell you the truth from my experience from fighting real structure fires there were so much clutter in people's homes that it was unpredictable what would be in your way. It was very dark and smokie it was like going into hell's gate 😱. The structures we had were only one story buildings and if the residents were all accounted for we didn't have to do search and rescue going interior. I overcame a lot of fear. Our fire department is in a rural part of Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation.... We never had to rescue trapped victims thankfully. Only one time in my tenure with the fire department we had three victims burn to death, we got there too late because the fire was reported late by the family members. We just did a search and recovery of three bodies. That memory still in my head, but somehow I never had nightmares about it. I hope you all read my comments be careful out there current firefighters be safe, training is vital. In real fires there's no time to panic. If you can purchase thermal imaging for your departments it's very dark in real fires and very hot.
The dummy looks completely different from UK fire dummies. I wondered why he had no lower legs, or hands.