Part Two
By Tom Kiurski
We should train regularly. Firefighters enjoy a good, properly planned training session that has a minimum of wasted time. With some instructions from the training coordinator, seeing how the skills we practice can be applied to the job should be easy. Some evolutions we do regularly (e.g., donning self-contained breathing apparatus [SCBA]); others rarely (e.g., Mayday procedures). From my participation at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) and my involvement with several Michigan training academies, I took some of what I learned and put together a drill. Although this is not new information, I hope to show that it’s easy to put together a good training day. With a little forethought and some help along the way, your firefighters will get some additional training to help them do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.
For this drill day, I wanted to build on a SCBA skill that is not used often. In the “low profile” maneuver, firefighters take off their SCBA packs while still on air and negotiate a confining prop that is 22 inches wide at its widest point. I also wanted to throw in a few other goodies to make the most of our time together.
Firefighters were first walked through the entire drill from beginning to end prior to starting the training evolutions. This reduces anxiety and allows firefighters to know there will be no surprises this time. They were also told that they will not be observed by anyone but the training coordinator, so there would be no teasing or jokes and nobody’s pictures would end up on the Internet. Trainees would go through the evolutions twice, first with full visibility and a second time with a medium smoke level, simulated with a face piece insert that limits but does not totally obstruct visibility. These are available commercially to fit any face piece on the market.
First, firefighters encountered a commercial lock. Although not practical for the house in which we were training, this lock represents a common type found in our fire district. Firefighters took tools and negotiated unlocking a door with a rim (or mortise) lock, found on many strip malls in the country. The lock prop includes the lock on one side (for visual reference) and the other side has the lock “spun” off. All that the firefighter has to do is practice turning of the lock from the 5 o’clock to the 7 o’clock position, or from the 7 o’clock to the 5 o’clock position to gain entry.
Some participants had some trouble swinging the lock with their vision obstructed. If a trainee was unsuccessful after 30 seconds, he was told to move on to the interior door station. Spinning a lock with obstructed vision is not a skill that would probably be useful, so not much importance was placed on it. Generally, this is done outside of the building where lights could be used to provide illumination in darkness.
After swinging the lock, the firefighter moved to the first door inside the house. Although most times a standard interior door gives firefighters few problems, this one did (at least according to this training scenario). Firefighters had to use a portable hydraulic tool to force open the door, giving participants some hands-on time with a tool we don’t use regularly.
Once they were inside the bedroom and almost to the far wall, I had firefighters practice sounding a distress signal on their PASS devices as if in response to a partial ceiling/structural collapse. This was another chance to use a feature available to us but not employed at every incident. The trainees were then instructed to turn around as if trying to find the exit. They moved to the other wall and faced our low-profile maneuver prop. This consisted of two sets of two standard wooden pallets. Each pallet in a set of two was placed 22 inches apart from its mate at the bottom, and then the top of one was leaned against the top of other to form an “A.” The other pallet set was set up similarly and placed end to end with the first to extend the prop.
Firefighters removed their air tanks by loosening the SCBA straps and taking the pack off their backs. The regulator shoulder strap is the last one to be removed, and the first strap to be replaced on the body at the other end of the low-profile prop. Firefighters were told they could “belly crawl” through the prop (this works great on smaller-framed firefighters) or do the “shoulder-slide” (this works better for larger firefighters). After the SCBA pack has passed the obstruction, the firefighters were encouraged to move it away from the exit path to give others room to exit. They then were instructed to put the SCBA assembly back on their shoulders.
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Tom Kiurski is training coordinator, a paramedic, and the director of fire safety education for Livonia (MI) Fire & Rescue. His book, Creating a Fire-Safe Community: A Guide for Fire Safety Educators (Fire Engineering, 1999), is a guide for bringing the safety message to all segments of the community efficiently and economically. |
