At his FDIC 2011 classroom Wednesday, George K. Healy of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) drew on his personal experiences to relate the challenges that an incident commander (IC) faces at an operation where firefighters are seriously injured or trapped.
Healy discussed the necessary resources an IC may need to bring a Mayday operation to a successful conclusion. He stressed the need for radio discipline and how the IC must take control of the radio to eliminate spurious communication. Healy discussed the need to communicate the Mayday situation with everyone on the fireground, and how rapid intervention team (RIT)/firefighter assist and search team (FAST) deployment needs to be communicated with dispatch.
Healy enumerated the ways firefighters can get into trouble on the fireground, whether by becoming injured or trapped, running out of air, etc. He also talked about how firefighters are sometimes unwilling to call a formal Mayday on the fireground, although a proactive IC can sometimes sense a member is having difficulty by a member’s tone over the radio.
Healy is a 20-year veteran of the FDNY, where he is chief of Battalion 51 in the 13th Division, Queens, New York, and the Operations Section chief, Governor’s Island burn-testing alternate strategies for combating wind-driven fires.
