Fire Training Drill: The Survival Essentials – The Mayday

Firefighter training drill by Forest Reeder

Firefighter survival essentials the Mayday

Every fire service member must know how to prevent getting into hostile situations or environments. If something goes wrong or we end up in a bad place, we also must know how to react to them. Know when you will use these essentials, what you will say, and what to do to get back home.

More Training Ideas on Firefighter Survival: The Survival Essentials

This series will walk through one survival situation per week and provide a worksheet for discussions and training scenarios to be created. Work toward formalizing your departments training on these techniques and development of a survival training manual and policy. Consult applicable NFPA and training references for possible solutions to each situation.

Download this firefighter training drill as a PDF HERE.

MAD Training and Response Solutions

Forest Reeder

Forest Reeder began his fire service career in 1978 and retired as fire chief of the Tinley Park (IL) Fire Department in 2021. He has worked extensively in the areas of instruction, firefighter safety, and officer development and earned his Master of Science Degree in Public Safety Administration in 2004.  He is the author of Fire Department Incident Safety Officer 4th edition (2025) and co-author of Fire Service Instructor Principles and Practices, now in its 3rd edition.  Forest presents nationally on fire service leadership, safety, and instructor development. He was inducted into the Moraine Valley Community College Alumni Hall of Fame in 2020 and awarded the Distinguished Alumnus award in 2021. In 2008, he received the ISFSI George D. Post Instructor of the Year, considered to be the highest recognition for fire service instructors in the nation.

Hand entrapped in rope gripper

Elevator Rescue: Rope Gripper Entrapment

Mike Dragonetti discusses operating safely while around a Rope Gripper and two methods of mitigating an entrapment situation.
Delta explosion

Two Workers Killed, Another Injured in Explosion at Atlanta Delta Air Lines Facility

Two workers were killed and another seriously injured in an explosion Tuesday at a Delta Air Lines maintenance facility near the Atlanta airport.