By Daniel Folks
In 2019, I was appointed chief of the Hammond (LA) Fire Department. At the time, we had five two-member engine companies and one three-member rescue company. My focus quickly became learning how to maximize resources with minimum staffing. Protecting more than 50 square miles and a population that can be 70,000-plus with only 15 to 17 personnel, running between 5,000 and 6,000 calls per year, can be challenging. We see between 50 and 70 working fires on average.
- Enhancing Fireground Effectiveness Amid Staffing Challenges
- Making the Case for Search on the Modern Fireground
- Search Mission Prep: Size-Up, Methods, and Tools
Being a fully paid department with limited staffing and an increasing call volume, it sometimes gets difficult to ensure that fireground tasks are completed in a timely manner. I had to have a different outlook on how my department was training and functioning on the fireground. My question was, how do I prioritize the search with limited staffing and resources in my community? The answers came quickly and were very basic: Kill the fire by overwhelming force, get between the fire and victims, create survivable space, and search quickly and aggressively. The challenging part was how.
Kill the Fire and Support the Search
Before becoming chief, I was a captain in the rescue company. The department was vague on fireground operations, and there was little to no organization. As the rescue company, we arrived and usually went to work extinguishing the fire. Searches were only completed if there was mention of someone trapped. On a company level, we executed a primary search after fire knockdown, but the search was not a priority. Essentially, it was an afterthought.
I set out to change that mindset. I began by looking at ways to force multiply. We changed our attack packages to high-volume/low-pressure attack hoselines. This allowed two members to deploy on our average structure fire and completely overwhelm the fire within seconds, even if the fire had advanced beyond the room of origin. A company officer and firefighter would advance a single line flowing between 150 and 165 gallons per minute (gpm).
That attack line was backed up by an additional attack line of similar flow and pressure and was staffed at the door by an additional company officer from the second-due apparatus, who can operate it quickly to protect egress and who can monitor conditions with the help of a thermal imaging camera and help push hose in to the attack team. With four personnel on scene, we could flow more than 300 gpm out of two separate handlines very quickly. This allowed a fast fire attack and also allowed the primary search team to enter and perform a search under the protection of that backup line. Our goal is to support the search by killing the fire and getting in between the fire and potential victims as quickly as possible.
1. The chief conducts a 360º survey and begins incident operations at a cabinet shop fire. (Photo courtesy of author.)
The Five-Member Truck Company
The next focus was executing the search through different options. In 2020, we purchased a new ladder truck and placed it in service in early 2021. It took the place of our rescue company and was staffed with three members. I also took the engine that was housed with the rescue and turned it into a squad staffed with two members. These two companies, staffed by a minimum of five personnel, would essentially be the truck company at fires. The squad would do primary search and the truck would handle ventilation and searching above the ground floor if needed. This gave the incident commander (IC) options to meet the needs of the different types of residential building in our area. Engine companies get water on the fire and protect the search; the truck and squad execute the search and vent the building.
These tactics are still being worked on. My ultimate vision is for the truck to split with the driver taking the outside vent position and the officer and firefighter possibly executing vent-enter-search (VES) or a primary search with the squad. Developing a truck culture in an area where no truck culture existed before has proven challenging. However, members have stepped up to the task and are learning critical tasks and tactics to be able to use them when needed.
What About Two-Out/RIT?
Not counting the IC, this is a nine-member fireground. We have covered the basics: extinguishment, backup, search, and ventilation. So how do we meet the two-in/two-out recommendation? We manage risk through training, education, and tools. We overwhelm the fire with the proper flow rates, and we give every company officer a decision-making thermal imaging camera (TIC). We put situational awareness TICs in the hands of everyone else on the fireground.
We also understand that building construction is very important to know and began to focus on the different types of construction in our area. If we understand the building, we can predict how it will behave under fire conditions. When you look at the data from resources such as Project Mayday, you can see where the focus needs to be. According to Project Mayday, more than 86% of all Mayday rescues were made by crews other than the rapid intervention team (RIT).
On all working fires, an additional engine company is called to the scene. They can be assigned RIT and initiate “proactive RIT” operations such as securing secondary egress, softening the building, and removing hazards. This can be beneficial for not only a down firefighter rescue but victim rescue as well. Simply staging RIT equipment in the yard does not prepare us for the worst scenario. Achieve safety and risk management through training and execution, not policies and procedures.
The Motivation
The motivation of the concepts outlined here is simply to give a potential victim every chance available even when staffing is limited. Tactics such as searching off the handline, VES, and oriented searches give our members flexibility to accomplish the mission. Our training program has been tailored to fit these tactics.
We moved away from training hours to training standards. Instead of simply meeting the hour requirement for training to check the “Insurance Services Office” box, we now focus on the tactics we use on the fireground. Often, we see sessions that were scheduled for an hour go as long as four hours because members are pushing each other to be better.
In 2022, our fire department recorded five victim rescues, three of which had a positive outcome. Our organization now expects to do a primary search at every fire instead of waiting to see the need. Even with limited staffing, we still can accomplish the basic fireground tasks that the citizens expect us to perform. Currently, we can get five personnel on a fire scene dedicated to victim rescue. Prior to this new vision, the primary focus was fire attack and extinguishment. Search was an afterthought because we were not proficient in it.
Understand Focus
It is important to note that this intelligently aggressive mindset is used at our residential buildings that are not 100% involved. A different mindset is used for commercial, high-occupancy, and multistory operations as well as residential structures totally involved with fire. For a department with low staffing, we have to know when to slow down and be more systematic in our approach. The key takeaway is that the majority of fire rescues come from single-family and multifamily dwellings (90%, according to the Firefighter Rescue Survey). This is where we need to be sharp, speedy, and competent. We should expect victims and search every space that we can occupy with our protective equipment. If we can get into it, then we should search it without question.
As chief, I have to balance the needs and safety of the members against the needs and well-being of the community. It is my vision that the fire service ensures we are putting our citizens first in everything we do.
Daniel Folks is chief of the Hammond (LA) Fire Department. He has been in the fire service for 24 years as a volunteer and career firefighter. He is also an adjunct instructor for the Fire and Emergency Training Academy of Louisiana and the task force leader of the Regional USAR Task Force 9 of Louisiana.
