Rapid Intervention for Volunteer and Other Nonurban Fire Departments

This article focuses on nonurban fire departments-volunteer, paid on call, combination, and small career departments. These departments are usually short staffed, especially in the early minutes of a working fire, making it difficult for them to staff a capable and well-trained rapid intervention team (RIT).

Further compounding this issue is that much of the RIT training out there was developed by the larger departments such as the Fire Department of New York and the Chicago (IL) Fire Department. Don’t get me wrong; these skills are great and pertinent. In fact, they are some of the basic skills I teach, but they were developed and supported by large departments that can put a first-alarm assignment of 25 to 35 members on scene in a matter of a few minutes and a second alarm of 10 to 15 members quickly. Getting that number of personnel on scene quickly is just a pipe dream for most of us, and many RIT training classes just assume that we have that supply of help available immediately.

We need RIT training programs that address the needs of smaller departments with respect to personnel, equipment, and skills and training. This article discusses teaching skills and training based on the number of members available and the job size.

A Change Is Needed

Does the following scenario sound familiar? You are the officer of the RIT, which is standing by. You have done this many times, and nothing has ever happened. Like most members of your department, you would rather be in on the fire attack. Based on this past history, therefore, you believe that the RIT is a waste of time and personnel.

One day, however, all of a sudden, a firefighter calls a Mayday; he is lost and dangerously low on air! As the RIT officer, you pause and look at the three others assigned as part of your RIT. What do you see? Capable members or members who are there just to fulfill the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) RIT requirements-in other words, no RIT skills, no RIT training, just “bodies” hanging around! Don’t fool yourself. Be honest. What do you really see? Now what do you do? Do you have time to find capable members to form a team? What about the down firefighter in a hot, toxic environment who is quickly running out of breathable air?

If this sounds like something that might happen in your area, it is time to step up and start taking care of your own. Rapid intervention is an important skill and discipline regardless of the size of your department.

Today’s volunteer and small nonurban departments, including career and combination, need to find ways to make sure that the RIT standing by is capable and ready to respond quickly to a Mayday. When I am out teaching RIT skills or doing a RIT overview with a group, I ask three questions:

1. How confident are you of your department members’ firefighter survival and rescue skills?
2. How confident are you that they will make a credible and gallant effort to save the life of one of your members if the need arises?
3. Would you, without hesitation, put the life of your son or daughter in their hands?

Usually these questions get people’s attention and make some a bit uncomfortable. I am not criticizing smaller, nonurban departments. I was an on-call or volunteer firefighter for more than 37 years. I am very proud of that and the service I provided. I believe that every fire department in the country, regardless of size, can excel. The difference between great and poor performers is training-the department’s and individuals’ attitudes toward training and how members embrace and learn new, more current skills. Regardless of the department’s size or type, training is what makes great firefighters! If you don’t train and keep your skills (all of them) sharp, how can you excel in your job?

Rapid intervention skills are important. Every day firefighters are injured or killed in the line of duty. What will you do if it becomes your job to rescue that firefighter? What will you do if you need to be rescued? So many of us have been lucky, but what if our luck runs out? All members of your department deserve and should expect a capable, competent RIT if they get in trouble.

We do have a choice when it comes to RIT. If you believe it is too hard, takes too many personnel, or will never be needed, you have a very limited choice. That choice is to keep your members out of the building! Never enter, and they will not be exposed to the great dangers within.

Moving to a More Competent RIT

If you believe in RIT and want to improve, you need to create a culture that recognizes the value of our lives, get your members to buy into this concept, and develop a training program that delivers a competent RIT to every fireground.

To move the RIT issue forward in a noncomplying department, the members must first understand and accept the following concepts:

1. A capable and competent RIT is attainable for your department.
2. Members must buy in and then step up to help make it happen.
3. Realize that sometimes the most important things are the most difficult to achieve.
4. Since we all rely heavily on mutual aid, we need consistency in training within our mutual-aid area. We can then build teams with members from different departments because all members are trained in the same RIT methods and techniques. This is key!
5. Training is ongoing and includes basic firefighting skills and RIT skills.
6. An initial rapid intervention crew (IRIC) staffed with two members will basically be useless if a Mayday occurs.
7. All of us deserve and should expect a competent RIT if we are in trouble. No excuses!

Members’ Buy-In

Having trained thousands of firefighters in rapid intervention has taught me to make it about the size of the organization they serve and make it personal (who’s going to save you if you get in trouble?) and realistically attainable for members. As small organizations, we are experienced with working with “a little help, a little water, and a lot of waiting for more of both.” This attitude cannot apply to RIT. We need to overcome our limited personnel issues. Why? Because our lives are not expendable, and we can, and do, die or suffer injuries.

Think of the service we provide our communities and the risks we take. Our organizations are unique. Many departments are “family affairs” – dads, moms, sons, daughters, and sometimes grandchildren-all serve and respond to the same alarms. Now think if it is your loved one who calls the Mayday and needs help fast or he will die; can your department do the job? This might sound like a hard sell, but the reality is that if our RIT skills are nonexistent or poor, we are turning our backs on ourselves.

Mutual Aid

When it comes to rapid intervention and mutual aid, we need to send and receive qualified, competent firefighters trained in like RIT skills, not just bodies to fill the slots and meet the NFPA standard requirements. This can be controversial, but we are trying to build capable RITs that can make a credible and gallant effort to save a firefighter.

As smaller organizations, the only way most of us can staff a RIT quickly is to use mutual aid with an automatic response to all structure fires. To support this, your department needs to take a strong posture on RIT. Total commitment is needed. This means all interior firefighters, all firefighters responding in mutual aid, and all officers must be trained in RIT. Remember, what you send as mutual aid might be what you will get in return. Set the bar where it needs to be.

Training

The goal is to develop a training program that delivers a competent RIT to every fireground. To begin this process, first look at your department’s training in general. If I walked into one of your training sessions, what would I see? Is it organized? Does it start on time? Do the instructors know the materials, and can they do the skills? Are the students actively participating? If I asked your members what they thought of the training, what would I hear? Objectively, what do you think of the training? Is there room for improvement? Always remember: What others see in your training and on your fireground ultimately reflects on your department’s abilities and professionalism.

If there is room for improvement, become a change agent. It’s easy to say and hard to do, but step up and lead. Help to make your department’s training pertinent, as realistic as possible, safe, and fun-yes fun, because we are all sick of boring classes with little to do.

Firefighters seem to be most happy in training when they are doing something challenging that requires some skill. Use this new training platform to build a core of good capable firefighters. Shun ignorance. You will always have distracters. It always seems that those who don’t want to train think that training is a waste of time. Those who belong to the “that’s not the way we do it here” group have traits in common, including the inability to do the skill (in fact, they have very few skills), they don’t go into burning buildings, and they should have retired years ago. This may be tough talk, but it is time for change. Being bullied into accepting the way we were is not acceptable.

RIT Instructor Qualifications

Not everyone is well-suited to or capable of being a RIT instructor. Instructors should be well trained to the level of Firefighter II; certified is better. Are they fire service instructors? They need to understand how to properly teach and train firefighters. Again, certified is better. There are many great firefighters who are not very good teachers.

The instructor should be passionate about RIT, should have physically participated in RIT training (not just read a book or watched a video on YouTube), and should be physically able to perform the skills and drills.

The RIT Skills Training Program Outline

The RIT training program should have the following components:

• Basic skills (Firefighter I/II skills). I put these basic skills first for a reason: How can we train our members in RIT if they are still struggling with the basics of firefighting? Not all firefighters may be capable of mastering RIT skills; their size, age, or physical capabilities may preclude them from participating. Basic RIT is a step up in skill level. The secret to having a good RIT is to have team members solid in their basic skills. This message needs to be hammered into our membership. Rapid intervention skills need to have a solid footing. A firefighter’s ability to search, use self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) properly, understand fire behavior, read smoke, raise ladders quickly, climb and descend ladders with a victim, and so on, can make or break a RIT rescue.
• RIT basic skills. The skills should be those contained in NFPA 1407, Standard for Training Fire Service Rapid Intervention Crews. More importantly, members should be able to operate as a capable, competent RIT to save a fellow firefighter. A great RIT training program must be very physical and must be done while wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE), including SCBA. Members must be on air, and the exercises must be as realistic as possible. While out training, I have seen three or four adjacent fire departments each choose a different set of RIT skills training and then have zero interoperability. Numerous training programs and outlines are available. Choose one that is consistent with NFPA 1407, train with it with your mutual-aid departments, and have enough teaching materials available to support it. Many programs offer textbooks, slide presentations, class outlines, and skill sheets. This will ensure consistency.

Tips for Success

• The instructors should be able to do the drills.
• Start with the more simple drills (like the drags), and move on to the more complex.
• Start on time, have all the equipment ready before you begin, and don’t waste people’s time
• No “one and done.” Drill on all skills numerous times. Repetition in drills leads to proficiency.
• Train realistically in full PPE; after a few times, go “on air,” and increase the realism.
• Have numerous qualified instructors; a five-to-one student/instructor ratio is ideal.
• Save the “exciting” skills (bailout) until the back end of the training program.
• Complete all the other skills before the “exciting” skills.
• Don’t invent skills. Stick with nationally accepted techniques, which are consistent across the fire service.
• Use the right props! No make believe.
• At all times, make sure that the training and the training environment are safe. It has been an issue in the past. Instructors must be made accountable for safe practice. When doing elevated drills, use belay lines, and make sure the instructor is trained on how to use and operate them. Monitor the students for health issues. Don’t wait until they tell you about a problem or they collapse. Make hydration and rest part of all training programs.

JOE NEDDER was an on-call firefighter in various departments for more than 36 years and has served in various ranks. He retired from the Uxbridge (MA) Fire Department in 2013. He has been involved in training for more than 27 years and instructed for the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy for 16 years and at FDIC from 2010 to 2016. He has written for Fire Engineering. He is the founder and lead instructor of Cross St. Associates, a fire service training company. He is the author of Rapid Intervention Crews (Jones and Bartlett).

Rapid Intervention Teams: Saving Their Own
Rapid Intervention : Separating Fact from “Friction”
Regional RIT: the Suburban Response to Rapid Intervention