BY ERIC SCHMIDT
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We have all experienced the training session of timed donning: the evaluation of a trainee’s speed and proficiency to go from normal street clothes to a fully encapsulated thermally and respiratory protected firefighter ready to battle heat, smoke, and toxic gases. Completion time with no deficiencies is usually expected to be under two minutes. I ask you, When has anyone ever seen or done this on a fireground?
When the bell sounds in the station, do personnel fully don personal protective clothing (PPC) and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) to go on air prior to departing? Arriving in a personal vehicle at the scene, do personnel hop out of the car and breathe air from an SCBA two minutes later? Both of these scenarios seem nonsensical, yet that is the way we are trained. Another imperfection of the two-minute donning drill is that the sequence sometimes is allowed to have no particular structure as long as there is a transformation from civilian to a firefighter on air in the allotted time. I have seen it perfectly acceptable to don a face mask as the very first piece of PPC in a donning drill or to be on air while adjusting helmet straps or putting on gloves.
To more closely resemble the actual change into a fully functional firefighter entering a hazardous atmosphere, I suggest the following four stages:
Stage 1: PPC only or exterior firefighter-turnout gear.
Stage 2: Interior assigned-SCBA put on back, no mask.
Stage 3: At entry point to immediately dangerous to life or health atmosphere (IDLH)-masking up, ready to go except for regulator.
Stage 4: Entry-clicking in as a team.
Each of these stages would be done as individual steps with individual time constraints. I have found that time allotments of 60 seconds for Stage 1, 15 to 30 seconds for Stage 2, 45 to 60 seconds for Stage 3, and no more than five seconds for Stage 4 work adequately.
Let’s take a look at a more realistic scenario where donning PPC occurs in stages. Whether in the firehouse or just pulling up to a scene in your car, the first stage of donning includes PPC only. These two situations differ somewhat in sequence yet should both yield a Stage 2 interior assigned firefighter.
The bell rings in the station. A firefighter puts his hood on, steps into boots, pulls up pants, straps up suspenders, throws on a coat, and climbs onto the apparatus. With SCBAs in the seats, the firefighter should be able to exit the rig on arrival at the scene in a Stage 2 or interior assigned condition, tools in hand or hoseline assigned, ready to go to a point of entry (photos 1-4).
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Another firefighter in a personal vehicle would arrive on location, don his turnout gear at his car, and report to command for an assignment. In Stage 1 PPC or as an exterior firefighter, he can hit a hydrant or set up a ladder, and so on. Since most firefighters don’t carry a personal SCBA in their vehicle, he needs to obtain SCBA from the apparatus on scene along with tools or a hoseline for going interior (photos 5-8). Once SCBAs are secured on their backs, each firefighter proceeds to a point of entry.
Since firefighters don’t wander around outside or throughout a massive commercial building on air until reaching an IDLH, they do not yet don their masks. This allows for visibility, communication, and conservation of the limited air supply. At the point that a firefighter anticipates heat, smoke, and toxic gases, he will take a knee and mask up. It is preferable to do this with gloves on, but if he does remove any equipment-i.e., helmet or gloves-he needs to secure it under a knee or an armpit so it does not get knocked aside by an exiting firefighter, an exiting civilian, or a moving hoseline (photos 9 and 10).
During training evolutions, for students who have practiced only a two-minute donning drill, this Stage 3 point of entry masking up often takes the most time. Their entire practiced donning routine is muddled and out of sequence. This is a most critical time period. We are in the immediate vicinity of danger, and speed and efficiency are paramount to our safety and getting inside to do the job. By training in stages of donning, the student will already have developed good habits at this point. Once each member of a team is ready to enter and hoselines are bled of air and so on, with a simple click-in of the regulator, they enter as a unit. No one is wasting valuable air waiting for a member to complete his mask up (photos 11 and 12).
The Stages of Timed Donning (photo 13)
Stage 1, “Exterior Firefighter,” 60 seconds: boots, pants, hood in place under coat (coat does not need to be fully closed at neck at this time), helmet with chin strap, and gloves (photos 14 and 15).
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Stage 2,”Interior Assigned,” 30 seconds: cylinder pressure read aloud, cylinder turned on, NO loss of air, SCBA placed on back with straps adjusted properly, buckle in center, weight on waist straps (photos 16 and 17).
(Note: Depending on department equipment and an individual’s personal equipment, a radio turned on to the proper channel and operating, a working hand-light, and accessible door chocks must be included at some stage of the donning sequence and checked prior to Stage 3.
DISCLAIMER: This article does not discuss the merits of SCBA donning methods or radio, handlight, and equipment placement-merely that such equipment needs to be incorporated into the donning sequence as the individual would do for an actual incident.)
Stage 3,”At Point of Entry,” 60 seconds: kneeling, mask on, seal checked, hood over mask (gloves and helmet secured if removed while performing this step), coat fully closed up to neck and storm flap secured, gloves and helmet, no skin showing (photos 18-20).
Stage 4,”Entering IDLH,” five seconds: regulator attached and breathing air (photo 21).
By creating good habits at the proper times at an incident, basic skill sets such as donning PPC will become second nature, like reaching for the light switch when entering a room even though the light is already on. This allows the body to perform on autopilot while you initiate other processes. During Stage 1 or 2, you can size up a building, note activities currently in progress, and so on. During Stage 3, you can give last-minute team instructions, initiate right-hand search, remind of egress point, turn on handlights, and so on.
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The more we can incorporate realistic situations into our training procedures based on how we actually operate vs. an arbitrary two-minute timed drill that will never happen on a fire scene, the more prepared and proficient our firefighters will be, ultimately leading to improved levels of safety and situational awareness.
ERIC SCHMIDT is a member of the City of Beacon (NY) Fire Department. He was a volunteer for five years and has been a career firefighter for 19 years, a municipal fire instructor for six years, and a state fire instructor for 11 years.
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