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Large Area Search Drill

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My department and my company were involved in a large area search drill our last shift. This was a multi- company, multi -department event in an old automotive plant in a neighboring district. I urge everyone reading this to go to Urban Firefighter Magazine, volume 1 for the whole background on this drill, the Brothers on the West side of my State came up with this after the loss of one of their own, there is your background, Drill Time!

Large area can even be the engine room, if needed. Two teams, a search and a rescue team, of two members. First team, Officer leads in both members tethered together. Tools needed, TIC, tool, and a rope bag. The rope is secure outside the door to the search area. The first guy in sweeps the area for a downed member. The officer needs to take a look at the ceiling to check the temperature of the ceiling, if it’s up about 600 degrees are we going in? In a large area, big box store, automotive plant, etc, are we dealing with a basement? Normally walking in is acceptable. Officer take your time with the camera, use it correctly.

Second in on the search team is the “mule” this member is carrying the RIT/RIC bag. the search is performed while always being aware of air management and situational awareness. Stay in constant contact with command advising your status. When the Search team finds the downed member, advise command, give a situation report, and request the second team.

When the Rescue team is activated and making their way in, the Officer moves to position the downed member for removal, the “mule” holds the downed member in a sitting position if possible.

When the rescue team arrives, the second on the rescue team moves to assist the “mule” each grabbing a shoulder strap of the downed member. The Rescue Officer, turns while maintaining contact with the rope. The #2′s of both search and rescue grab a strap of the rescue officers SCBA, with the Search officer following a keeping the rope tight, it’s time to get out. The rescue officer leads both crews out with the downed member.

This takes practice and research on preparing ourselves to do this. Please read the article on LAST in UFM. This is a taxing drill, our drill area was smoked up very well and tested our skills, it truly was a rewarding experience. Just to be clear, the rescue officer is responsible for the downed members air, obviously with his second team member. If anyone does this different or has questions, please don’t hesitate to comment. Be Safe Everyone!

Posted by drillmaster2 on August 23, 2010 • Filed under: Drills, Truck Tips

Truck Company Daily Checks

4 comments

Like always, I’m not here to tell you your job.  Do what’s in your SOP’s and what you’re told to do by your bosses.  I’ve been bouncing around the city in my half a$$ promotional status and I’ve had the pleasure and displeasure of working with a variety of crews.  I just want to review your apparatus operational checks that you do every day.  Again, this isn’t a safety check or anything else, just thoughts.

1.  Safety check, walk around, brakes etc…. DOCUMENT ALL ISSUES and send the report to the proper place.

2. Check the jacks for operation, and range of motion before setting them to throw the aerial.  Do you know any override procedures and how the override affects the aerial operation?  When you throw the aerial don’t just spin it and drop it in the bed.  Throw it to the roof and climb it, one fire house I was at had a garden on the roof and it was the truck operator’s job to water it.

3. Saws need to be warmed up or they will gum up and won’t run properly.  RUN them.  Run the generators and hook up a load, flood lights, fans, whatever they should be loaded to get to full operating temperature just like the saws.  If you’re allowed to, clean out the air filters.

4. Sharpen your tools.  “Salty” tools look pathetic and unprofessional.  Grind the burrs off, wire brush them smooth, and then a LIGHT coat of oil.  They don’t have to be super sharp or you’ll just damage them worse the first time you use it.  You’ll get the hang of it.

5.  Check the jaws and open and close them, don’t forget to leave them open just a little.  We have had issues where the motor ran fine but the pump wouldn’t work or a line was leaking.  Unless you have a new style tool that can be connected and disconnected under pressure make sure you go back after you shut it down and operate all the valves to balance/release pressure.

6. A quick look at the ladders to see if they look right and make sure to operate any pencil/little giant that you have, they get sticky.

7. Finally; check on all those odd ball tools that never get used.  They might be in that rusty compartment that no one knows about.  Give a quick look and identify their uses.  They all exist for a reason so make sure you know it.  You might get to use them once in your career but that one time you’ll be glad you had it.

Let me know what I missed and Be Safe

Posted by anchorpoint1 on August 19, 2010 • Filed under: Drills, Education/Training, Truck Tips

Water rescue Basics

5 comments

So, after another frustration round of training where everybody knows everything and the boss gets shouted to the back row,  I’ve come to a conclusion (again).  You need to have an SOP that outlines what companies should do at different incident types.  Lacking that there should at least be a list of minimum standards.

I’m going to start with water rescue because we just messed this up the other day, at a drill not an incident.   I’ll just list the minimums and you can go from there.

1. PFD, PFD, PFD.  Don’t go near the water without one.  Stay in the spectator area if you are only going to contribute to the crowd.  Otherwise you can/will  fall in and become part of the problem.

2.  If you have a dingy that you toss on top of your apparatus STRAP IT DOWN.  If it’s on a trailer take the extra second to make sure it’s attached correctly to whatever is pulling it.

3. If that dingy has a motor shut the motor off when near people or floaters or whatever.  Don’t operate the blender near flesh.   Send a rescuer to the victim and pull them to the boat together.  If you don’t need to get in the water DON’T.

4.  Don’t let the non-swimmer do a damn thing. Keep them away from the water or they will find a way to add to the problem.  Have them go get towels or something equally useful.

5. Remember water rescue in this order; Teach, Reach, Throw, Go.

Teach: “Hey, stand up!” or “Move that way”

Reach: “Grab the stick, Side of the boat, or That buoy”

Throw: “Grab the rope.” Grab the ring”  Etc..

Go: “Jump in there Jr. Man”  Make sure your guy has a rope on him.  We don’t play the maybe game.  If he goes out, we always have a way to get them back.

At training there should be a safety boat or another dingy that stays out in the water and does nothing but keep an eye on everyone in the water.

I only say these things because we messed most of them up.  How do you do this all the time and still be clueless?  And every time we go out and play in the water someone gets run over by the front of the boat and everybody laughs, me included, because if reinforces so many points

Be Safe

Posted by anchorpoint1 on August 18, 2010 • Filed under: Drills, Education/Training

Fire Alarm activation drill

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Ok Brothers and Sisters, we all run these things regularly. The drill portion of this is quick and easy, well maybe. We all have policies for AFA’s do we follow them the same at 2 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning? We all need a refresher from time to time.

1. get out the policy for responding to AFA’s see how many members know the policy as they should, Bosses you are not exempt.

2.Next pull a target hazard out, they normally have a slightly different SOP, SOG, whatever, do you know the policy for the target hazard or hazards.

3. Take the time to discuss with the members, probie or veteran, why these policies are in place and why they need to be followed religiously on every alarm. Answer questions about what you know to be fact Bosses. If you don’t know for sure find out, so your folks are safe!

4. Lastly, everyone, bosses included, reflect on enforcement of the policy. Do we follow this all the time even in 99 degree heat or do we slack off and what can happen if we throw caution to the wind.

5. This drill can be used in house, or while you are on the street, but, use it. It has worked for me, it will work for all of you! Enjoy!

Posted by drillmaster2 on August 16, 2010 • Filed under: Drills

Building hazard identification

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Let’s take a look at identifying hazards in different structures. This drill is great because it can be used in-house or on the street and really should be used by officers and firefighters alike. This drill is gaged to make us think and use our common sense, yes I said it, Common Sense! Since this has the ability and should be expanded to meet everyone own first due and then some, I’ll give you ten occupancy types, identify a minimum of 3 a maximum of whatever your company wants, of construction, entrapment, fire spread, etc, hazards for each. These examples are out of my own town of 4 square miles. Enjoy!

1. Single family residential

2.  Bowling alley

3. Occupied multiple dwelling

4.  Auto repair Center

5.  Big Box Store

6. Fast Food Resturant

7. Strip Mall

8. Car Dealership

9. High- Rise Structure

10. Large Shopping Mall

Posted by drillmaster2 on August 12, 2010 • Filed under: Building Construction, Education/Training

Tactics Tuesday

2 comments

Double House Fire. Give your Size up and Incident Operations.1. Any Special Considerations you would make.2. How many alarms?

Tactics Tuesday, posted with vodpod

Posted by firestudent1 on August 10, 2010 • Filed under: Drills

Dumpster Fire To go along with Drill

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Please see drill below

Posted by firestudent1 on August 9, 2010 • Filed under: Drills, Education/Training, videos

Dumpster fire

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Ok, while I’m not great at getting all the pretty visuals in here yet, this is another good drill for everyone, boss to probie.

Your company is dispatched to a dumpster fire at 01:30 in your apartment complex, your dispatcher notifies you that PD is on the scene with a dumpster fully involved at the location. As your company turns onto the street you pass the closest hydrant, you can see a glow from around the last building in the complex. You arrive to find a commercial dumpster going from end to end, with exposures on the B, C, and D sides of the dumpster. Vehicles on the B and D side and a wooden privacy fence, and electrical pole well involved on the C side. Dumpsters are a cake walk right, wrong! Here’s some questions to jumpstart the mind.

1. What level of PPE is required on this job?

2. Where should your apparatus be positioned?

3. What size line are you going to stretch?

4. What hazards present themselves with the dumpster?

5. Overall hazards of this fire?

6. Do you have procedures in place at your FD for overhaul?

7.  What safety considerations are needed for your crew?

8. Trash line attack, or do you have other option?

9. Are bystanders or PD a reliable source of information?

10.Oh yeah, you have 500 gallons of water, now what?

Enjoy guys!

Posted by drillmaster2 on August 9, 2010 • Filed under: Drills, Education/Training

South Carolina Low Country Firefighters you have been Challenged to a Bowl Off For MDA by The St. Andrews Fire Department

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1st Annual St. Andrews Fire Department Bowl-A-Thon to Benefit MDA

August 20th &21st

1963 Savannah Highway

Name_____________________________________________________________________

Company__________________________________________________________________

Address___________________________________________________________________

Phone ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­__________________Fax _________________Email _________________________

Want to play or be a sponsor? Teams or individuals may sign up to play, or your company may do even more by choosing to be a sponsor.  Some options include:

Team Registration Teams of four may sign up to play together.  Don’t have a foursome?

Don’t worry, we will match you with other players for your convenience.   $ 30 per person

Strike Sponsor Your company name/logo will be displayed on a sign at one lane for only:   $50/one day or $ 75/two

# of people to register: __________                       August 20th (Circle 1) 6PM-10PM or August 21st 12PM-4PM

Register one team of 4 players __________

My check will follow this fax via mail, made payable MDA.

_______ I will not be able to attend but please accept my donation of $ ______________ to follow by mail.

_______ I would like to sponsor a Lane. My check will follow via mail.  Please contact me for sign information.

Deadline: August 13th.

Fax Your Fast entry form to (843)556-7826

Mail your check to:

Muscular Dystrophy Association

29 Leinbach Drive, Suite D-5

Charleston, SC 29407

To pay by Credit Card or to make a donation please call (843)556-3654.

Posted by firestudent1 on August 9, 2010 • Filed under: Uncategorized

Join some of the crew from Firefighter Basics in Class Colleton Fire, Task Force 1

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Colleton Fire, Task Force 1 Join for trainingPlease Click the above link to learn more information for this great training opportunity.

Posted by firestudent1 on August 6, 2010 • Filed under: Drills, Education/Training, Scenarios