ROAD RALLYE
VOLUNTEERS CORNER
The Frankfort (IL) Fire Department, located about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, protects an area that is growing steadily in terms of homes, heavily populated subdivisions, light industry, and strip malls. As a result, many new streets have been added to our department’s 44-square-mile protection district, which also includes a small airport in addition to the village of Frankfort (population 25,000) and rural and industrial areas. The volunteer department has 37 firefighters, a full-time chief and fire marshal, six full-time paramedics, and a part-time fire inspector.
The fire protection district mapbook divides the district into onemile-square blocks. A diagram of each block is assigned a separate page in the mapbook. Blocks for the rural sections show roads, farms, homes, and commercial establishments. On pages depicting the village of Frankfort and the district’s more heavily populated areas, streets, address ranges, and many commercial establishments are diagrammed. If a block is heavily populated with subdivisions, industry, or commercial establishments, sections of the block are enlarged on a following page. All pages include details such as hydrant locations, water main sizes, other possible sources of water, pipelines, hightension electrical power lines, trails, locations of large amounts of hazardous materials, and other important fire-EMS information.
Since much information is contained in our mapbooks, our members must be trained to use them correctly. This information is incorporated in our training program for new department members, but our officers use the mapbooks most often. Firefighters’ lack of familiarity with the mapbooks coupled with the growth of our fire protection district lifts created some difficulties when responding to certain emergencies: Sometimes personnel had difficulty finding specific locations in the mapbook; others had problems determining the most efficient route.
Another problem we faced was the duplication of street names already in use in the newly added subdivisions. Forty street names are used two, three, and even four times in different areas of the fire protection district. Two intersections at opposite ends (east and west) of our fire protection district even have the same name (Sycamore and Magnolia). A few years ago we were dispatched to an accident at “Sycamore and Magnolia.” Since our dispatcher was not given a call back number, responding units initially were sent to both areas. The duplication of names is difficult for the county government to control because of the rapid development that recently has taken place throughout the 980-square-mile county.
Dead-end courts have added to the complexities. Most of these courts have a landscaped island in the middle of the turn-around area. The width of most of these turn-arounds makes it very difficult to turn engines and tankers around. The apparatus sometimes must be jockeyed back and forth to complete the turn-around. Fortunately this problem was eliminated in some courts, whose developers widened the turn-arounds in response to the fire inspector’s request.
Our department also must protect several long dead-end roads within unincorporated areas on which sit expensive homes housing many people. Most of our personnel are not familiar with these areas and may be hesitant about going down these gravel roads lined with dense vegetation.
We noticed, too, that a number of our newer drivers were losing some of their driving skills or were getting lax about following our standard operating procedures. Part of the difficulty was due to the unavailability of some of our drivers to respond to emergency calls, thereby missing opportunities to practice driving skills such as backing up. turning around, and driving in tight situations.
THE ROAD RALLYE SOLUTION
Rectifying these problems separately would have required two or three of our training nights. Instead, we initiated a Fire Department Road Rallye.
One week before the training session, every department member was given a sheet listing rallye objectives—improving mapbook skills, becoming familiar with the protection district, and practicing driving skills— and rules. The rallye could accommodate up to 30 people. Personnel were assigned to one of three teams. Each team was assigned an engine, a squad, an ambulance, and a special vehicle (tanker or grass fire truck) so that it could respond to emergencies occurring during the training session with all necessary apparatus. Up to 10 people could be assigned to one team: four on the engine, two on the squad, two on the ambulance, and two on the special vehicle. One chief officer assigned to each team acted as a judge and timekeeper. Personnel were assigned to teams as they reported for the session. Twenty individuals—two teams—participated in the first rallye.
ROAD RALLVE
DESTINATIONS
Each chief officer was given a sealed envelope containing numbered index cards, each listing one of .31 destinations. After all team personnel had arrived at their assigned positions in the vehicles, the chief officer gave the individual in the officer’s seat of the engine an index card with the first destination. Our standard operating procedures state that the individual in the officer’s seat must use the mapbook to find the location of the emergency call and must determine the most efficient route for getting to the site. The chief officer noted the time he gave the team the first index card, and the road rallye officially began.
Each team had a different set of the 31 destinations. The destinations were in relatively new’ areas throughout the district that might be difficult to locate and to which we had not yet been called out on emergencies. New subdivisions, industrial parks, and commercial areas were included. Some of the areas used to evoke firefighters’ questions such as “Where’s that?” or “Is that in our district?” when the tone came over the pager.
Also included was an equivalent number of areas presenting challenges to the drivers: congested roads, narrow roads, turn-arounds, and deadend roads.
The teams were operating throughout the fire protection district so that companies would be able to respond to emergencies occurring during the rallyes within a reasonable amount of time. The chief officer determined which team and which apparatus would respond. The other teams were to continue with the road rallye unless the incident was a major one; then all teams would respond. Destination groupings allowed the teams to move in a circular manner throughout the area and were chosen so that the distances covered by each team would be approximately equal.
When a team reached its first destination, personnel on each piece of apparatus rotated positions, allowing crews to take turns driving, using the mapbook, and performing other duties. The team then set out for the destination on the index card held by the member in the officer’s seat. Team members rotated vehicles as well as positions after every’ fourth destination. Personnel from the enginemoved to the ambulance and squad, the ambulance and squad crews moved to the engine, and the two people assigned to the special vehicle moved to the engine during the next vehicle rotation.
Driving. Only qualified fire apparatus engineers/operators were allowed to drive—and only the vehicles for which they were qualified. Personnel not qualified to drive a piece of apparatus rotated past the driver’s seat. Speed limits were not to be exceeded. Although time was a factor in the road rallye, teams saved time by using the mapbook and choosing the most efficient routes—not by speeding! A oneminute penalty was added to the finish time for each time they exceeded the speed limit by more than five miles per hour. All other rules of the road and our SOPs pertaining to driving were to be obeyed. Drivers also were advised to watch for children and to use a spotter when backing up the apparatus.
Radio communications were madeover a seldom-used frequency in the area. All unnecessary radio traffic was to be avoided.
AFTER THE RALLYE
Frankfort Fire Station was the final destination. The chief officer’s clock was stopped when the tailboard of the engine passed onto the driveway, and the finish time was recorded. Timepenalties for speeding were added to the finish time. All teams were instructed to refuel, w-ash their vehicles, and sign the training attendancesheet
Members of thewinning team received a T-shirt with an imprinted Frankfort Fire Department Road Rallye logo designed by Lt. Brian Massatt, a department paramedic.
Results. Department members’ enthusiasm increased as the training session progressed. Personnel began to work more as a team. They hustled when positions and vehicles were rotated. Although there were no accidents and the speed limits and other rules of the road were obeyed, a few problems regarding driving were noticed. Several members who do not normally have the opportunity to drive all of the various apparatus needed a little time to refamiliarize themselves with the apparatus. Lack of experience also led to “forgetting” some procedures. In one case, the gear shift lever of an engine was left in reverse rather than in neutral as the driver moved from the driver’s seat to the officer’s seat. Fortunately, the parking brake was on.
ROAD RALLVE
Mapbooks. Personnel were forced to use the mapbooks in a different manner when responding from one destination to the next. Usually when responding to an incident, they determine the route from one of our two fire stations. During the road rallye, the routes had to be determined from the destination at which the team had just arrived. Skill was needed to use the mapbooks to arrive at the destination via the most efficient route. In most cases, the most efficient route was used. The firefighters who had not used a mapbook since their recruit class took a little longer to locate a particular destination.
Each team passed up one of the designated courts, and we found one court that was not entered in the mapbook.
Other benefits. Unexpected outcomes from the training sessions included positive public relations. Residents at some destinations did not know until that evening who would provide them with fire protection and ambulance service. They walked up to talk to team members during the rotation of positions. Many children and adults outside on this pleasant evening waved and walked down the street to “watch the fire trucks.”
Another unexpected outcome was that all personnel had fun. Team members already were talking about next year’s road rallye, which will be held every year on the evening of the third Monday in June (one of our regular nights) so that we can take advantage of the extra daylight. Procedures and rules will remain basically the same.
Among the few modifications being considered for next year’s road rallye is adding onto each card an assignment to be performed by the team or one of its members, such as laying hose, hooking up to a hydrant, or packaging a training dummy for patient removal. One disadvantage to performing tasks is that teams will cover fewer destinations—only 14 could be covered in the allotted time this year. We hope that each team can cover 18 destinations next year, especially since it will take less time to explain the procedures to personnel. We also could take to the road earlier to have more time.
Overall, the Frankfort Fire Department Road Rallye was a success. With adaptations, this road rallye can help departments sharpen their driving skills, demonstrate knowledge of their protection district, and increase response time in an emergency.
