Firefighter training drill by Forest Reeder
This installment of the Survival Essentials Weekly Drill feature focuses on the conditions and actions firefighters must take when an incident area needs to be evacuated. Don’t just consider structural firefighting operation, consider all rescue and hazmat or other operations that may cause rescue personnel to be rapidly removed from the environment. List as many reasons or situations where crews or members may have to be evacuated from harm, include task level operations (from the roof, in a collapse zone, etc.) as part of your discussion.
- Mayday Monday: Evacuation
- HAVE WE LEARNED THE EVACUATION LESSONS? A COMMENTARY
- Minimizing Evacuation Response Times in Fires
Practice your communication message for requesting or calling an evacuation and then discuss the actions necessary for each member to do when the evacuation is called for. Don’t forget about each role–the driver/operator may activate air horns in a specified pattern or duration and others may begin to conduct company level PARs if they are not in the hazard zone.
Finish the discussion by defining what actions must be taken by the incident commander, ISO, and RIC in response to an emergency evacuation. 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 in order to get back home. 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 free firefighter training drill HERE as a PDF.
- Survival Essentials Drill Part 1: The Mayday
- Survival Essentials Drill Part 3: Do Not Enter
- Survival Essentials Drill Part 4: PAR
- Survival Essentials Drill Part 5: PASS
- Survival Essentials Drill Part 6: Progress Reports
MAD Training and Response Solutions
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.
