SURVIVAL TRAINING: FORCIBLE EGRESS TECHNIQUES

BY MICHAEL DALEY

Fire service statistics show that an average of 100 firefighters lose their lives in the line of duty each year. The National Fire Protection Association reported that 18 percent of line-of-duty deaths in 1999 were the result of firefighters not being able to find a secondary means of egress after they had become trapped. These are statistics no fire department wants to contribute to in any fashion. Our department decided to address this challenge before it might be too late.

AN IDEA IS BORN

When Chief James Beebe discovered that a local developer was putting up a major distribution complex in a northern area of our district and that a 21/2-story wood-frame dwelling was ready for the wrecking ball, he and his officers saw this as an unparalleled training opportunity for the 34-member department. Beebe convinced the developer to let the department use the structure for a training exercise before the building was demolished. As the department’s training officer, I was to recommend the type of training that would take place. It ultimately was agreed that the training would be in fireground survival techniques or ‘forcible egress.’

PREPARATION

Once we got permission to use the building and decided on the training curriculum, we turned our attention to evaluating the potential training facility. Our members’ safety was the number 1 priority, so it was imperative that the structure be able to withstand the planned training maneuvers. We found a few safety-related issues that needed to be addressed.

• The building’s outer perimeter needed to be cleaned. A lot of debris from the ongoing construction in the area surrounded the training site. All walking surfaces had to be leveled and cleared of tripping hazards, and we established a perimeter with fire-line tape.
• Utilities were still servicing the house. We disabled the pipes and drained them to ensure that no natural gas or heating oil would be released during the training evolutions. The electrical service also had to be discontinued.
• Since this structure was in an older section of our locality, there was concern about the presence of asbestos in the construction materials and pipe-insulating products. Tiny asbestos fibers are aerodynamic and can pose significant health risks when inhaled for extended periods of time. This material has been linked to diseases such as asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. Had we discovered any amount of asbestos, we would not have used the structure for our training.
• The integrity of the first floor was questionable. While inspecting the basement, we discovered that the supports for the first floor had been removed during earlier renovations and replaced with screw jacks. In some sections of the basement, structural supports were removed and not replaced at all.
• The building’s interior was open to vandalism and needed to be cleaned before the exercise.

We had to address the question of liability for all parties involved-coverage of any injury that might arise and any modifications that had to be made to the building for the training exercises. The department’s administration and the building owner resolved this issue. Each party agreed on its respective responsibilities. The department and developer developed a training contract, which specifically listed what the structure would be used for and who would be responsible for issues as they arose. The contract covered the scope of training, the activity requirements and safety guidelines that would be adhered to during the drill, liability issues, the fire department’s and the developer’s responsibilities toward the training site, any damages to the building that might result as a direct result of the training, a final walkthrough for the developer and department representative, and any publicity that might arise from the training evolution.

(1) Safety lines of 1/2-inch static kernmantle rescue rope, operated by a competent firefighter, were used for the ladder bail and emergency rappel evolutions. (Photos by Joe Kotora Sr.)

After the contract was agreed on, the building was prepared to ensure the highest degree of safety during the training evolution. Department instructors, chosen for their experience in the drill area, handled this function.

THE TRAINING PROGRAM

The training program was broken into the following components:

• A PowerPoint® slide presentation on entrapment prevention for the first part of the class, held at the fire station. The objective was to ensure that each member would have the knowledge and experience needed to keep out of a situation that would require drastic escape measures. The best way to make sure our firefighters make it out of these fires alive is to teach them the warning signs of conditions that may trap them by addressing building construction, flashover conditions, equipment needs, placing ground ladders for egress, FAST team responsibilities, and departmental guidelines for Mayday operations.

(2) A firefighter practices emergency bail out techniques. The red line is a safety line connected to the firefighter’s harness.

The hands-on session of the class were focused on four stations at the site:

• Combination wall-breaching and emergency bail out rappels: The firefighter breached a wall and entered a simulated room of safe refuge. Once in the room, the firefighter had to find a suitable anchor for the emergency bail out and rappel out the second-floor window to safety. For this evolution, gypsum board and all nails and screws that might injure firefighters were removed from a common wall area separating the two rooms. This created an area in which firefighters could breach a wall and enter the room by taking their SCBA off their backs while maintaining mask integrity. Walls were opened up in the ‘safe room’ so the firefighter could find a suitable anchor, including the window area, for placing a suitable tool that could serve as an anchor at the lower corner of the window. The window out of which the firefighter was to rappel was removed completely and taken down to the wood that held the window in place. Edge protection material was applied to the sill area and the low part of the sides to avoid chafing on the escape ropes. An overhead safety belay was set up in the ceiling after inspection of the overhead rafters. The safety line, operated by qualified personnel assigned to this station for the duration of the training exercise, consisted of 1/2 -inch life safety rope.
• Emergency ladder bail. This station was conducted on the side of the structure opposite from the emergency rappels, to avoid congestion on the second-floor and outside landing areas. Preparation of this station included removing debris from the surrounding outside area to allow for safe deployment of a ladder for the bail. Also, an overhead safety belay line consisting of 1/2-inch life safety rope was used as the safety line, as in the emergency rappel station. A suitable ground-level anchor was also placed at the base of the ladder and tied off during the actual ladder bails.

(3) After the firefighter makes his way out onto the ladder, he spins around on it so he can climb down to safety.

• Firefighter fallen through the floor; moving a downed firefighter up a flight of stairs. This station simulated a firefighter falling through a floor and into the basement. Two methods of removal were performed: removing the firefighter through the hole in the floor by using the handcuff knot and carrying the firefighter up the basement stairs to safety.

In preparation for this exercise, a hole was cut in the first-floor area over an open area of the basement. We also had to consider how to make the evolution safe considering that the original floor bracing had been replaced with screw jacks during building renovations. To secure the flooring areas, dead shores were constructed in the basement areas in which the original floor bracing had once existed; supplemental dead shores also were installed in the area where the floor had been removed. Once the shoring was in place, the hole was cut through the flooring and the floor joists while allowing all the utility lines and pipes to remain in place. This was done to make entering the hole to perform the rescue more challenging. All exposed utilities in the affected areas were secured and verified as dead prior to setup and during the training exercise.

Firefighter entanglement maze/follow the hoseline to safety. In this station, firefighters donning all PPE and SCBA were brought into the middle of a room, and their masks were covered by reversing their protective hoods. Once in the middle of the room, they were told they must find their way out by locating a hoseline and using the hose coupling’s direction. The hose was run through a maze consisting of a makeshift corridor constructed from wood that was around the area; twine, rope, and old garden hoses were woven through the maze to ensnare the firefighters, who had to untangle themselves. To prepare this station, we constructed a corridor and nailed twine and hoses through the floor and the corridor’s upper planks to ensnare the firefighters. Once it was constructed, a handline was fed through the corridor and charged with water. The hose was run so that no matter where the firefighters started in the room, they would have to crawl through the corridor at least once.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

On the day of the training exercise, the classroom session started at 0800 hours. The majority of the instructors headed down to the site to make final modifications. At the completion of the classroom session, the members reported to the training site, where the firefighters were divided into four groups. Once in groups, the members were given a safety briefing, which covered all the topics necessary to prevent firefighter injuries, such as minimum requirements for PPE in the ‘hot zone,’ uneven/hazardous terrain, accountability, radio communications and assigned radio frequencies, evacuation signals, and the STOP! rule. The STOP! rule is used during all department training exercises. Anyone on the training ground, firefighters and instructors, can yell STOP! if they see something that may appear unsafe. At the time STOP! is declared, all operations at all stations cease until the unsafe situation is investigated and abated. Training will continue only when the lead instructor declares the unsafe situation to have been corrected and orders that training operations be resumed.

(4) The firefighter rescue scenario: One rescuer enters the hole in the floor using a folding ladder. He applies the handcuff knot to the “victim’s’ wrists; two firefighters pull the “victim” up to safety.

The briefing included also a walkthrough to the building, during which firefighters were shown any existing safety hazards. After the walkthrough, all training station activities were demonstrated so all firefighters understood what was expected of them at each station. At the emergency rappel station, the firefighters practiced how to operate the escape pack friction device, to ensure that they had a thorough understanding of how the device works prior to going out the window.

(5) A hole was cut in the floor; flooring and rafters were removed after the appropriate shoring was in place. The utilities were turned off and purged before the drill but were left in place to make entering the hold more challenging. The 220-pound manikin, the “victim,” can be seen in the lower left corner of the hole. Note the shoring at the north end of the hole.

During the training exercise, the instructor assigned as an overall safety observer traveled from station to station watching the operation and serving as an extra pair of hands when needed or as an extra pair of eyes to catch any safety hazards. Rehab stations were set up for firefighter rest and rehydration. Lunch was brought out to the firefighters to allow them to refuel during the training exercise. Apparatus was staged at the training site so firefighters could escape the weather conditions, a concern since the training took place the weekend after Thanksgiving. A free-standing garage on the property provided another area for escaping the elements and for rehab.

(6) Firefighters’ masks are covered by their hoods during the entanglement maze evolution, preparing them for working in dark, smoky areas. If the firefighter cannot free himself from the entanglement by backing out of the area, he will have to remove his SCBA.

The scheduled rotation for the four groups was as follows: Station 1, Wall Breach and Emergency Rappels; Station 2, Emergency Ladder Bails; Station 3, Firefighter Rescue Through the Floor and Up a Flight of Stairs; and Station 4, Firefighter Maze/Follow the Hoseline. Durations at the training stations were kept to 30 minutes each; lunch was kept to 45 minutes. The remaining time left after all firefighters cycled through the four stations was spent allowing firefighters to practice any of the escape techniques shown to them that day, to maximize their effectiveness in these operations. By 1600 hours, more than 90 percent of the departments’ members had participated in the forcible egress training.

FORCIBLE EGRESS TRAINING GENERAL SAFETY BRIEFING

Although every effort-such as inspections, physical removal, barricading, shoring, and demarcating hazard-was made to minimize the concerns outlined below and all interior surfaces were swept clean with a broom, participants still had to be made aware of the following:

• Walking surfaces-tripping hazards, vines, vegetation, glass, nails, lumber, uneven surfaces, steps.
• Fall hazards-the open hole in the living room, stairways and handrails, firefighters on rope.
• Entanglement-wires, pipes, and rope.
• Overhead hazards-helmets and PPE in perimeter, falling objects (tools and debris), firefighter on rope, low head room (basement, light fixtures, stairways).
• Lacerations and puncture wounds (PPE at all times)-glass. nails, splinters, and metal window frames.
• Utilities-gas off, water off, and electrical circuits shut down; exposed wires.
• Station flow-floor rescue, emergency wall breach/rappel, ladder bail, entanglement maze.
• Stop! rule in effect.
• Accountability-evacuation signal review, personnel accountability reports at each station.
• Walkthrough.
• Identify exits and egresses, perform station demonstrations.

The next time you notice buildings in your district slated for demolition that can be made safe for a challenging training program, make every attempt to procure them to augment your training programs. These buildings can be used for various types of training: forcible entry and egress, ventilation, search and rescue, overhaul, emergency shoring, and any other program you can imagine.

MICHAEL DALEY, a 15-year veteran of the fire service, is a lieutenant in charge of training in Monroe Township (NJ) Fire District #3 and an instructor at the Middlesex County Fire Academy in Sayreville, New Jersey. He previously served as a chief officer in two departments in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, and as the director of the Woodbridge Township Fire Academy. He has served as an instructor at the Fire Department Instructors Conference.