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Judge Not….

I’ve done it and you’ve done it. It is going to happen again and it’s going to happen soon. With every line of duty death the Monday morning quarterbacks come out and tell us all what they should have or should not have done. We preach and teach to learn from these tragedies by understanding the circumstances surrounding the incident. But, what are we doing to make sure that this doesn’t happen?

Our job is dangerous. Worcester Fire Department is a highly trained department and according to some reports I have gotten, fight these types of fires every year. There are some additional factors like high winds and possibly illegal renovations that compromised the structural integrity of the building. Neither of these two factors can be anticipated or controlled. We have a job to do and when we are told that someone is in a building, we do what we can to get to them. As I write this I have not heard confirmation that there was or was not a victim found.

I have no doubt that we could dissect and scrutinize what happened and we would have done this or that differently. We will hear how simplistic it should have been and others pounding the table that we don’t enter buildings that are compromised. Guess what? As soon as that building catches fire it is compromised!

What frustrates me more is that in the fire service many are real good at solving problems after the fact and few try to identify and solve them before they are actualized. It’s not just judging the YouTube video or a line of duty death, no, it’s many things. “That guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.” “That guideline is outdated and inefficient.” “That small time volunteer fire department doesn’t know what they’re doing.” Of course, most of these “kitchen table experts” have no desire to be proactive or to put themselves out there to take the lead on a project to make a positive change.

Sometimes, and I’m not saying this is the case yet, things are not preventable. Sometimes we are going to lose. We hope not, but we are running into burning, compromised buildings to save lives and property. When someone comes to us and is telling us someone is in the building, if we can make a push, we will and we should. This is what we do and why we are here. There is no time to run down a check list to determine if a certain profile is met. We don’t have time to switch our size up decision making. We have to consider the situation presented to us at the time and use our training and experience to do our best to attempt a rescue.

But, if we do want to be Monday morning quarterbacks I suggest a different approach. Take your expertise and knowledge to some less fortunate departments in regards to resources for training and teach. Share your experience and knowledge with these departments and individuals to keep bad decisions being made on the fire ground. I believe that this is the best way to honor those who have sacrificed their lives for others. Whether there were mistakes or not, we can help to prevent those who don’t have resources to perform appropriately on the fire ground.

We recently did a class in a remote part of our state and had two firefighters arrive with some hand-me down gear and SCBA. Neither had worn the gear before and neither had ever had on an SCBA. They stated they had been fighting fire with self purchased boots, gloves and helmets. That’s it. Nothing more. This is still happening. We had to pull these two firefighters aside and walk them through some basics about gear and SCBA operations. We took extra time with them just to teach them basic firefighter skills. They were more than willing to learn and were eager.

The point is this: let’s put our efforts into training and teaching firefighters to operate safely instead of beating up departments, officers and firefighters after the fact. Can we learn from these tragic events? Absolutely! We should learn lessons in a constructive manner from not just tragic events, but from every call we run. There is always something to learn whether things went well or not so well.

Train, be tolerant and make a difference in a positive way. Stay safe and thanks for reading.
Jason

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Posted by dc802 on December 11, 2011 • Filed under: administration-leadership, buildling construction, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, in-the-line-of-duty, line-of-duty, major-incidents, mayday, news, rescues, RIT, scba, search, self rescue, situational awareness, size up, Training, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, vacant building fires, ventilation, VES • Tagged: lodd, rescue, search, worcester, worcester 6

The Daily Drill 2: VES

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Here is a post from a very good friend and very wise fireman, Lance Peeples. Lance is a firefighter/paramedic with the Webster Groves Fire Department in St. Louis County. Check it out and give some feed back.

Review the following video and consider how YOUR fire department operates when answering the following questions:

1. Is VES indicated if PPV is used by your department? What safety precaution should the operator of a PPV fan perform before starting the fan?

2. Notice how the VES firefighter enters head first. Very experienced instructors often recommend grasping the window frame with the head and upper body protected by the wall and then entering with the opposite foot. This permits the firefighter to make an emergency ladder slide if necessary.

What is another advantage of this technique?

3. On your first alarm assignment who is the firefighter assigned the responsibility for VES. Who is the firefighter that will assist him in this technique?

4. If the assisting firefighter ascends the ladder to orient the searching firefighter how can the ladder be butted? Does it always need to be butted? Could a tool be driven into the grounds at the butt of the ladder to prevent it from sliding?

5. Are the tools (hook and halligan) needed for VES mounted near the riding position of the member who is responsible for this function or are they mounted on the other side of the apparatus underneath the water rescue rope and drinking cups?

6. Notice how the roof ladder projects into the window slightly. However, the ladder is already at a very low angle that could result in the butt kicking out. Should the ladder tip be removed from the window to allow for easier emergency exit/victim removal or does the angle of the ladder preclude this? What are possible solutions?

7. Some of the commentators below the video are critical of opening the door upon preparing to leave the room…what say you?

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Posted by dc802 on July 12, 2011 • Filed under: RIT, search, self rescue, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, VES • Tagged: enter, Lance Peeples, rescue, search, serach, vent, vent enter search, VES

Release the Ladder Rack!

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As with most departments, and mine is no different, trying to get guys in the habit of throwing ground ladders takes a lot of work. We know the benefits of doing this and there is a great article in the most current issue of Urban Firefighter Magazine that gives some great direction on how and when to use these valuable tools.

Typically, those throwing the ladders are the firefighters and officers riding on the trucks and not those that are driving them. There are some exceptions to this rule depending on how your department operates. In the area that I work, the apparatus driver is tasked with water supply and support.

Any time we have multiple stories we want ladders thrown. Any time we have people on the roof, we want ladders thrown. It is an important task and one that must be trained on and made a permanent part of your operations. However, this post is not about the actual act of throwing the ladder, but how we can make this job easier for those that do.

As apparatus drivers when we pull up to the scene of a working fire we are thinking about charging the appropriate line, getting the right gallons per minute to your interior crews and finding a water supply source before the tank water is exhausted. That is a lot to do and you normally do it all on your own. Well, there is one more thing I would like you to add to your list.

Depending on what type of configuration you have on your apparatus, the ladders on today’s engines and trucks are not convenient to get to. We have them on the top of the truck so that they have to be lowered to get to them. They are placed “through the tank” with an access panel on the rear of the apparatus which if you lay line can make them impossible to remove because they are blocked by charged lines coming off of the truck from a rear discharge. There aren’t many traditional stowed ladder configurations on apparatus anymore.

As operators we have to keep this mind. The photo I have posted shows the lowering arm that the ladders are stowed on. This arm is lowered for firefighters to gain access. One of the downfalls to this is that the access to compartment space is limited, but not entirely blocked.

Once we get water to our crew and have established a water supply, take a second to check overhead and on the side for obstructions and lower the ladder arm. If ladders are needed they are ready for deployment and easy to get to. The RIT crew can use them for preventative measures by throwing ladders to create an egress point for firefighters and rescue teams can use them to make quick access to upper floors for search and rescue.

What about the compartments? Before you lower the rack, take out the equipment that is most commonly used that must be deployed fast and have it ready to go. On this particular truck, the PPV fan, the RIT bag and some spare SCBA bottles would be removed prior to lowering the rack.

Get familiar with your ladders and how they are removed. Know what obstacles you might face in placing the ladders in operation based on your apparatus configuration. Be prepared and train on these facts.

As always, follow your local guidelines for operating on the fireground. We must continue to train and do the simple things perfect. Master the basics and don’t forget to use your ground ladders.

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Posted by dc802 on March 6, 2011 • Filed under: fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, ladder truck/aerial devices, ladders, rescues, RIT, search, self rescue, situational awareness, size up, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Uncategorized, vent, ventilation, VES • Tagged: apparatus driver, enter, ground ladders, ladder racks, ladders, rescue, RIT, rit prevention, search, throw ladders, urban firefighter magazine, vent, VES

Through the Floor Rescue

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Here is a video from our friend Dale Pekel that shows a technique for rescuing a firefighter through a floor. Everyone has their own thoughts and methods for different types of rescues and this one is no different. It is not applicable for all downed firefighters but has a place in your tool box.

Take this and train and use it for your department. Thanks to Dale for making these videos and stay safe out there.

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Posted by dc802 on December 19, 2010 • Filed under: fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, rescues, RIT • Tagged: basement rescue, dale pekel, downed firefighter rescue, mayday, rescue, rescue techniques, RIT, through the floor rescue

VES Video

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Here is a pretty good, basic video on VES (vent, enter and search). It has good demonstration points from the beginning of the operation to the complete search of one room. The thing I like about this video is the use of two persons for the VES.

Although this can be done with one person, you must weigh the risk vs. benefit, it is ideal to do this with two people. However your department chooses to perform this function, you must train regularly.

One thing that is not mentioned in the video is the fact that personnel performing VES must be highly trained and experienced. Knowing how to read changing conditions, fire behavior and building construction is a must.

Keep on training and stay safe out there.

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Posted by dc802 on October 19, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, enter, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, forcible entry, rescues, search, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics, vent, VES, videos • Tagged: enter, enter search, fire behavior, ladder placement, rescue, search, vent, vent enter search, video

Airbags in the Dark

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How often do you practice with these?

So, we all have these on some piece of our fleet. Most places will have a set of these on every truck.

The questions that I want to pose are these: How often do you drill with them? What are the instances that you would use them? Do you every practice with gloves and low/zero visibility?

I know that where I am we don’t use these very often but the potential certainly is there. I have seen many drills where they get aired up and then put away. It is also important to understand where they are useful other than vehicle rescues.

The main area I am pointing to here is RIT or FAST activities. If you include this in your RIT cache, do you regularly drill in zero or low visibility. Let me tell you, it is a totally different experience.

You must understand leverage points and counter points or balances. Whatever terminology you want to use, if you lift from one side, you have to expect the opposite to move as well.

So, when you drill for these, lift something, anything, like pallets with full visibility. Watch what happens to the opposite side of the lift and make notes. When you get into the dark you will have to crib, raise, and lower all by feel. Oh, and up on red and down on blue is difficult at best.

After training, let us know how you identify the difference and how you communicate those instructions.

Keep up the good work and train hard.

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Posted by dc802 on August 30, 2010 • Filed under: fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, mayday, rescues, RIT, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: air bag training, air bags, airbag, balance, cribbing, FAST, rapid intervention crew, rescue, RIT

So Many Decisions

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Decision Time!

This is an incident that could turn out to be very interesting.

This is going to address the use of back up lines and when they are deployed.

I had an interesting conversation about assignments, as you could tell from the previous post.

This discussion circled around the deployment of the second apparatus on the scene. This is not a metro response where engines do engine work and so on. Rather, this is where the second in unit is assigned upon arrival.

With this picture in mind, what does your second in unit do? Does it backup the first in crew with a hand line? Does it perform ventilation? Just where do you order this second in crew and what are the tactical priorities?

I believe that there is a time and situation for using the second in unit for a back up line, but not automatically just because they are the second unit there.

What do you think and why? You gave some great insight into run procedures, so I know there will be some great conversation on this one.

Stay low and be safe.

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Posted by dc802 on June 8, 2010 • Filed under: command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, fires, funding-staffing, rescues, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, ventilation, VES • Tagged: assignments, back up, back up line, fire attack, operations, rescue, second in, tactical priorities, tactics, unit response, ventilation

Technical Rescue/Special Ops

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Okay, will it teeter or totter?

Here is one for all of you technical rescue folks.

This was emailed to me and I admit that I don’t know the origins or circumstances.

However, as you can see we have two problems with this scenario: the piece of equipment tilted and the boom in the house.

Let’s for the sake of a good drill say that the reason that the boom did this is because the operator had a medical emergency and is still in the cab. In addition, there are folks in the house trapped.

I know its a lot to think about, but hey, have fun with it. This is not my forte, but the picture was just too good not to use.

Let us know what you would do and how.

Thanks and stay safe.

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