The Ultimate Test!

RIT DEPLOYMENT

Firefighters rescue civilians daily from the interior of a working structure fire and SAVE many lives by going interior to suppress and search for trapped occupants. Civilians have incredible respect for firefighters because saving lives is our top priority. Respect is enormous and not to be taken lightly. However, we can quickly lose it. Generally, most civilians respect the average firefighter and place them on a pedestal compared to other occupations. Firefighters should respect this and work to continue this admiration that is placed on our calling. I appreciate the admiration and respect that most civilians give us. Still, it is not what I’m looking for concerning earning respect/admiration. The civilian is very high on my priority list.

Still, the firefighters I’m responsible for are VERY high on this same list, and they frequently RISK their lives to save others. I want to feel confident I can command a Firefighter Rescue Operation “Mayday.” A Mayday and RIT operations is the ultimate test I may face one day as a Fire Ground Commander. I think about it every single day. I study previous Maydays and RIT OPERATIONS. I also do a lot of WHAT IFs. What if this happens, What if that happens, and how would I/we deal with that? We cannot do too much “What If Thinking.”

Recently I notified my battalion that we would be performing a RIT DRILL and gave them some details. I explained it would involve a down firefighter trapped in a collapse that required them to use airbags in a low visibility environment under challenging conditions. They had a few weeks to prepare/ train however they deemed necessary.

The drill involved two firefighters trapped in a basement under a simulated collapse. We used couches with bags of concrete as the weight to simulate a floor on top of rescue dummies. One of the dummies/downed firefighters only wore an SCBA mask and no airpack. Another dummy/downed firefighter with an airpack and SCBA mask in place was ten feet away. The low-air alarm bell had just run out once the RIT entered the basement. We also had smoke detectors and pass devices sounding. Distracting noises are critical for firefighters to learn the difference between a pass and a smoke detector. Smoke detectors can cause a false attraction and delay air/rescue to a trapped firefighter. Once the RIT locates the down firefighter, they must ID, check the air supply, and silence the pass. The three initial actions must occur in unison, and the RIT must report the findings to the incident commander. History tells us that we could find additional firefighters other than the one or ones that called a mayday. Historically, many firefighters located by a RIT never transmitted a call for HELP” MayDay.”

During the drill, each RIT found the firefighter with strictly a mask on first. They did the above priorities the best they could. They could not ID the firefighter because the firefighter was not adequately marked, YES, adequately marked. All firefighters operating on the fire ground should have their name on the bottom of the mask, front piece, and lower part of the bunker coat. In addition, the air pack’s bottle band and front shoulder strap must have the company designation. With these markings, IDing a down firefighter and confirming their assigned company is easy. Many fire departments still need to properly ID their firefighters, which amazes me. I have operated on the fire ground with well-identified and poorly-identified firefighters, which is a huge difference when firefighters are visibly marked.

Now back to the RIT drill.

Once the RIT gets the first firefighter on air and silences the pass, they hear a second pass alarm ten feet away. This downed firefighter has a fully operational airpack that is very low on air or has just run out. Now the RIT has a serious decision to make. Do they try and get RIT PACK between the two and provide a regulator to the mask of the first firefighter and trans-fill the second firefighter? Doing so would be a great option, but in this scenario, I purposely spread the two just enough that the RIT hoses would not reach. I wanted them to decide, YES, downed firefighter TRIAGE. Nobody wants to talk about it.

Yes, everyone goes home, but they might not go home alive. With this reality’s obvious nature, we must train to save those that can be saved. We do it with civilians, and it is a probability to be faced with the same situation during a RIT operation. I placed Worcester District Chief Mike McNamee’s picture on my screen saver in December 1999 and left it up for almost a year. I looked at his picture daily and thought about the decisions he faced and the ones he made that night. I have never met him, but he has impacted my career and voyage to prepare for the ULTIMATE test. So do we disconnect the first firefighter, trans-fill the second, then return to the first and re-hook up the regulator? I don’t know; each situation is different. Consider the downed Firefighters’ location, previous radio communications, signs of injuries, firefighter age, and other considerations we would prefer not to discuss openly.

DOWNED FIREFIGHTER TRIAGE.

Once you have established air to the down firefighter, the extrication process begins. What tools will you need, and have you trained to use them in this environment? Are the tools set up for RIT operations? Airbags used in a RIT operation must be set up correctly by the RIT Team with ropes or webbing to assist in dragging and operating in a hostile environment. They also need to be marked appropriately with isolation valves already pre-connected. The hoses need to be marked so you can identify them in low visibility. The setup of the control box and hose needs to be streamlined. When operating two bags, you should have three different colors, something to help manage the hoses during deployment and while setting up on arrival at the downed firefighter. It can be frustrating if you have not trained and thought out your airbag operation.

Back to the top.

The civilian respects you, but do your fellow firefighters RESPECT YOU?
Have you genuinely worked at preparing yourself for the Ultimate Rescue, a Firefighter Rescue?

I want the civilians I swore to protect to respect what I do and how seriously I take my calling. But more importantly, I want my fellow firefighters to feel confident that I have done and will do whatever is necessary to save them if they get caught or trapped in a fire. I hope to fulfill my calling.

Every day must be a Training Day!

Curt Isakson

Additional Note!
Do not run out of air as a RIT TEAM member with a FULL RIT AIR PACK in your hands or available. The RIT TEAM may need to share the RIT PACK. Practice trans-filling yourself. It takes practice..