BY RAUL A. ANGULO, BURTON A. CLARK, AND STEVEN AUCH
Look at the nationwide emphasis on rapid inter- vention team (RIT/RIC) and Saving Our Own training. Why? Because firefighters are still falling, getting injured, becoming trapped, and dying on the fireground at approximately 100 line-of-duty deaths (LODDs) per year! A recent article that gained national attention asked this question: With all the advancements made in personal protective clothing and equipment, why hasn’t this American LODD statistic declined in the past 30 years compared with firefighter fatalities in other foreign countries? One answer is that American firefighters still like fighting fires.
Is Dr. Burton Clark reaching by comparing Mayday protocols to pilot ejection protocols? (“You Must Call for a Mayday for RIT to Work: Will You?” Fire Engineering, June 2003). Hardly. On March 23, 1998, the Los Angeles City (CA) Fire Department lost four firefighters and their patient, a little girl, when their helicopter crashed in Griffith Park. On May 30, 2002, rescue crewmen were injured when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a rescue mission on Oregon’s Mount Hood. On June 17, 2002, in Walker, California, three firefighters were killed in a fiery crash when both wings of their C-130 aircraft tanker snapped off the fuselage after a water drop while fighting a wildland fire.
A spectacular video of two of the crashes emphasizes the urgency of Clark’s point. Although neither aircraft included the capability for pilot and crew to eject, the video graphically illustrates how a pilot has literally seconds to make the decision to eject or call for a Mayday. In every incident, the crashes were witnessed, and secondary rescue efforts were immediately deployed. However, had the crashes occurred in remote areas, secondary rescue efforts would depend on the pilot’s ability to transmit a Mayday; otherwise, rescue would be delayed until the plane was discovered missing.
What does this mean for firefighters? First, it means that we’ve put the cart before the horse. It doesn’t matter how well trained or equipped your RIT is; unless the incident is witnessed, RIT teams won’t be activated unless you or your partner call for a Mayday. And that is what Clark is talking about. The training emphasis has been on saving our own. It needs to include the decision to call for help. We would hate to speculate how many firefighters might have survived had they recognized early enough that they were in trouble and called for a Mayday. No firefighter likes to admit that he might be in trouble and in need of rescue. This is where the social “stigma” lies.
Second, firefighters don’t recognize when they are getting in trouble. This is where the emphasis of RIT and saving our own needs to begin.
RECOGNIZE AND IDENTIFY YOUR HAZARD AREA
This can start with downed power lines blocking your access to the structure. Since the Seattle Fire Department had members fall through front porches into burning basements, Seattle now considers the stairs and the front porch part of the hazard area “interior” firefighting operations (even though you are still on the exterior). When you are working in the hazard area, work in pairs.
INITIAL RIT TEAM IS YOUR BUDDY
Emphasize and adhere to “the buddy system.” Your first and best source of help will be your buddy. Stay close together by
- sight,
- touch, or
- voice (within earshot; not through radio contact).
Enter together, work together, exit together.
AIR MANAGEMENT
The window of survivability is very small, as is the window of opportunity for a successful rescue when a firefighter is down in a burning building. Most firefighters wait for the five-minute warning bell from their SCBA signaling it’s time to make a quick exit. That is not enough time.
We should be practicing air management much like a scuba diver watches his regulator underwater. The diver doesn’t wait for a warning bell before he begins to ascend to the surface. He is constantly monitoring his air supply. Belt-mounted regulators make this more difficult because of “donelap disease” (“my belly done lap over my belt!”). Seattle, along with many other fire departments, has recently changed over to the chest-strap regulator, so you can easily flip it up to your facepiece and see the air gauge similarly to how a diver checks his air supply. Seattle has used this style of regulator with a glow-in-the-dark air gauge. Even in smoky fire conditions, you can see the air gauge very clearly. It is also testing units that have air gauge indicator lights inside the face piece.
As in haz-mat incidents, we need to enter in only half as far as our air will allow. Anticipate and preplan your exit. But if your bell does start to ring, act without delay. Grab your buddy, and get out of the structure.
CALLING THE MAYDAY
Seattle Fire Department Captain James Hilliard and Captain Patrick Pavey, along with others, trail blazed with new “IF-THEN” Mayday protocols and procedures worth reviewing and perhaps implementing for your department.
IF you are trapped, injured, low on air, out of air, lost, separated, disoriented, or confused; have lost your sense of direction or bearings; are losing fine motor skills; or are becoming extremely tired, THEN do the following IMMEDIATELY:
- Call for Mayday, Mayday!
- Activate your emergency button or emergency channel.
- Activate your PASS device.
If your partner is in trouble and having difficulty pressing his portable radio emergency button, activate it for him, or activate your radio emergency button. The same goes for PASS devices. You can activate his, yours, or both. Don’t get into the mindset that you are not in trouble. You’re both in trouble. The point is to send the Mayday, call for help, and signal using the PASS devices and flashlights. Anybody can send the Mayday for another firefighter in trouble.
MAYDAY MESSAGE CONTENT
Calling for a Mayday is more than just saying “Mayday! Mayday! Here is the information the IC and the RIT team leader need:
- Who are you? Your name and unit ID.
- Where are you? Basement, room, floor, group, division, branch.
- Where were you last working? Roof operations? Fire attack?
- Where do you think you are? If you are not sure where you are, listen for the sounds of the building features—e.g., mechanical rooms, machinery rooms, refrigeration areas, and activated sprinkler heads; also listen for outside ambient sounds like trains, buses, a fire engine pumping, sirens, voices, PA systems, alarm bells ringing, or fans.
- What is the problem? Are you injured, burned, trapped, pinned, entangled, low on air, or disoriented? Is your partner unconscious? Is there any fire around you? Are you submerged?
Answering these questions will tell the IC and the RIT team what equipment is needed or not needed, how many additional firefighters are needed, and if any special resources are to be requested.
- Stay calm. Slow your breathing, and conserve your air supply. Depending on the situation, this may be the only action you should take. Once you’re out of air, you’re out.
- Attempt to locate a window, a doorway, or a hallway. Try to find an outside bearing wall vs. an interior partition wall. RIT teams should open all doors and windows. Any one of these may suddenly be used or required for entry/exit access points.
- Find an area of safe refuge and shelter from fire. RIT teams, remember that firefighters are going to move away from the fire. They will work their way toward the perimeter walls and to cooler areas.
- Eliminate unnecessary talking or physical activity.
- Move to a horizontal position. If your earflaps aren’t down, put them down, and turn up your collar.
- Maximize your PASS sound. Don’t lay on it. Make sure it is pointed up or in an open direction for maximum range detection.
- Use a tool to make tapping noises. Self-rescue is a good reason to carry a tool. If you don’t have a tool, look for an object to make noise with.
- Point your flashlight toward the ceiling, or wave it around to attract the attention of rescuers. This is a good reason to check the batteries in your flashlight at the beginning of each shift.
COMPANY OFFICERS
Stay oriented as to your position and location in the building. Teach your crews to do the same. One reason firefighters get disoriented is that they think it’s the officer’s job to know where they are. Again, all crew members need to pay attention to which floor they’re on and which room number they have entered. RIT rescue efforts were delayed in a Philadelphia high-rise fire because the firefighters needing assistance said they were on one floor when they were actually on another. The fire claimed their lives.
Are you constantly aware of your exits? Alternate escape routes? The way to practice is during inspections and prefire planning tours. Ask your crews at any given time, “Okay, if we had to get out right now, which way would we go?” When you’re on vacation staying in hotels and eating at restaurants, do you personally check out the routes of travel and emergency exits? We do. It’s a conscious decision and personal mindset that keeps you constantly aware of your surroundings. Like prefire planning, the way to practice is before the emergency happens.
No freelancing (by you or your company). Don’t self-dispatch or take on assignments without checking with or notifying the division supervisor or IC. They are the ones responsible for firefighter accountability at the incident. That job is hard enough. Don’t make it harder for them. Keep them informed of your actions. If you see something that needs to be done, just let them know. Prompting is okay. After all, you are their eyes and ears, but they need to be able to track the location and assignments of companies.
EFFECTS OF CARBON MONOXIDE (CO)
There’s a lot written on this subject, but remember this: CO is present at every fire. What Seattle firefighters experienced in their close-call incidents was decreased fine motor skills. Even the simple task of unscrewing a low-pressure SCBA hose from a regulator became undoable.
Reasoning and logic decreases. Sometimes the disoriented firefighter wants to go back into the same fire you’re trying to pull him from. This happened in Phoenix and Seattle.
Clarity of vision decreases and the respiratory drive decreases after exposure, which leads to unconsciousness.
CHIEF OFFICERS
The incident commander and chief officers need to have a clear and concise rescue plan in place before risking the lives of RIT firefighters. The temptation to rush in because your people are in trouble is tremendous. It will be extremely difficult to control firefighters wanting to help a downed colleague. It’s even more difficult when you have to pull them out. Just ask the chiefs in charge of the Mary Pang Fire in Seattle, Washington; the Worcester Cold Storage Fire in Worcester, Massachusetts; and the World Trade Center in New York. Remember your risk-benefit analysis questions. At some point you may have to make the decision to say, “I will not risk any more lives on firefighters who are already lost.”
TO THE FIREFIGHTERS
Don’t allow small problems to continue without taking immediate corrective action. Whether it is an equipment malfunction, a lack of firefighting progress, or disorientation in your surroundings, take decisive action, or call for help. Don’t wait. Each mistake is a step toward an accident, and every second counts. Choose to be safe.
RAUL A. ANGULO, a 25-year veteran of the fire service, is captain of Seattle (WA) Fire Department Engine Co. 18. He is on the educational advisory boards for FDIC and FDIC West. Angulo is an instructor in company officer and crew development, fire service leadership, and fireground strategy and tactics. He is president of the Fellowship of Christian Firefighters, Seattle-Puget Sound Chapter.
DR. BURTON A. CLARK, EFO, a 34-year veteran of the career and volunteer fire service, is assistant chief with the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department in Prince George’s County, Maryland. He is in charge of the Management Science Program at the National Fire Academy. Clark’s degrees are in administration, instruction, and adult education. He is an Executive Fire Officer graduate and a nationally certified fire officer IV. He writes and lectures on fire service professional development and research.
STEVEN AUCH, a 26-year veteran of the Indianapolis (IN) Fire Department, is currently serving as a battalion chief in charge of the EMS Division. Most recently, he served as captain of Engine 11, one of the busiest companies in the city.
