Everything in the fire service is based on safety. Every day, firefighters train and operate in the hopes of greatly reducing the chance of personal injury or death from fires and various other emergencies. It’s their reason to be.
The question arises: Are we being too safe, especially with respect to occupant rescue from residential structure fires and putting water on the fire? This question is not meant to imply a rejection of issues pertaining to firefighter safety, but rather it is meant provoke you to wonder: Am I doing this job for the right reasons?
- So Afraid We Make It Unsafe
- Firefighting: Why We Do This Job
- Safety First vs. High Performance: What Is Too Safe?
Rescuing civilians from their homes is the number one priority for the fire service, no matter what type of department, size, or makeup. Every person who finds themselves trapped inside a structure that is on fire wants the fire department to get there now, get to them, and get them out.
Data on Grabs
When we look at the statistics that have been collected by Firefighter Rescue Survey, we can see an emerging picture that portrays the fire service doing their job and making the rescues. For example, in looking at the Time vs. Survival percentage, in two minutes or less, the search was able to be conducted 81% of the time with the occupant rescued about 67% of the time. When we look at the two-to-four-minute timeframe, the search was able to be conducted 69% of the time and the rescue was accomplished 73% of the time. As the time to respond and arrive on scene increases, the percentages for both the search and rescue starts to decrease.
Another area to consider is the Total Rescue Time vs Survival Percentage. From the four-minute mark and below, we have the highest survival rates, with 73-79% compared to 62% from the eight- to 15-minute mark.
Given the two previously mentioned facts, the fire service hopefully realizes that the quicker we get on scene and the quicker that we begin the search operation, the quicker we will be able to accomplish the rescue and removal—with high success.
In considering the number of firefighters required to rescue the occupant, it only takes one firefighter 77% of the time compared to two firefighters at 65% of the time. As the working crew increased in size, the time percentage of the rescue starts to decrease. Even though there is only a 5% difference between those two numbers, it still strengthens the argument of what just one well-trained firefighter can accomplish when he or she is competent and full of confidence.
High Risk, High Reward
We should pause here for a moment and point out that I am not advocating for completely unsafe actions to be conducted by the firefighter—but in the case of rescuing a viable person from their home, there are going to be times when one firefighter will find themselves working by themselves to search, drag, and remove the occupant. The other firefighters assigned to the same crew as the first firefighter may be nearby in the structure, leading the one firefighter out to the exit point, or may be on the nozzle protecting and suppressing the fire. Otherwise, they may also be rescuing another occupant in the same structure!
The risk-benefit of rescuing a person from inside a structure versus our safety and well-being is high risk, but with a very high reward! The victims rescued will be thanking the fire department for the rest of their lives for doing so.
The arrival order of the responding trucks also shows the effectiveness for the rescue, with the first-arriving unit accounting for 76% of the rescues and survival rate. The second- and third-arriving trucks only account for 64-66%, with the fourth-arriving at 29%. What this tells us is that the first-arriving crew will be the most effective crew to get inside the structure and rescue the occupant.
The Appetite for Risk
When the first unit arrives on scene, members need to make a critical decision based on their size-up. Affecting their decisions will be the fire department’s allowance for risk taking. Is there an allowance to take great risk for high reward, or are they going to be handcuffed by policy, procedure, and legislated requirements? Must they wait until the required number of personnel are on scene before making entry? All these procedures, policies, and legislated requirements are designed to ensure the safety of the firefighter, but what about the safety of the occupant waiting for the fire department to do their job?
When we look at the operation that was undertaken to make the rescue, before fire suppression or at the same time, it is a tie between the two notions of safety and should allay some fears. Whether a hoseline is or is not initially brought in to search and make the rescue while at the same time suppressing or controlling fire, the same result is produced
The key with bringing in a handline will be to train on searching off the line, as opposed to bringing the handline everywhere for the search. The benefit to having a hoseline inside is a reduction in heat release rates, energy production, and fuel loads; it also provides protection for the interior crews as well as a lifeline out.
Returning to my initial question: Is your fire department putting more emphasis on safety of the firefighter over the rescuing of the occupant with respect to safeguards having to be in place prior to the search can be initiated? Safeguards can include another fire unit on scene with backup personnel, rapid intervention team use, establishing a water supply prior to the rescue, having a senior/chief officer on scene, and having he latter make those decisions instead of the first-arriving officer or firefighter.
Some fire departments have established safeguards in place that are so restrictive and inflexible that it severely handicaps the responding units and personnel. They are micromanaged on purpose to ensure the safety of the firefighter, to ensure the reduction of risk being taken by the fire department, and to ensure the reduction of liability to the organization or municipality. All these safety factors are great in concept for the corporate vision and purpose, but they do little for the occupant who needs to be rescued now!
Sometimes, being too safe results in delayed actions by the firefighter, and that can result in catastrophe for the civilians we serve. Ask yourself: What’s the approach of my fire department, and is it worth it?
Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is a firefighter with the Fort Gratiot (MI) Fire Department. He is an international instructor teaching in Canada, the United States, and India, and at FDIC. He is also the lead author of Residential Fire Rescue (Fire Engineering Books & Video). He can be contacted at Mark@FireStarTraining.com.
