Firefighter Rescue And Survival PDF
Preview Firefighter Rescue And Survival
CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page I CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page II CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page III CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/31/03 7:47 AM Page IV Disclaimer The recommendations, advice, descriptions, and the methods in this book are presented solely for educational purposes. The author and publisher assume no liability whatsoever for any loss or damage that results from the use of any of the material in this book. Use of the material in this book is solely at the risk of the user. Copyright© 2003 by PennWell Corporation 1421 South Sheridan Road Tulsa, Oklahoma 74112-6600 USA 800.752.9764 +1.918.831.9421 [email protected] www.FireEngineeringBooks.com www.pennwellbooks.com www.pennwell.com Marketing Manager: Julie Simmons National Account Executive: Francie Halcomb Director: Mary McGee Managing Editor: Jared Wicklund Production / Operations Manager: Traci Huntsman Production Editor: Sue Rhodes Dodd Cover Designer: Clark Bell Book Designer: Amy Spehar Author: Kolomay, Richard Book Title: Firefighter rescue & survival / by Richard Kolomay and Robert Hoff.--1st ed. p. cm. ISBN13 978-0-87814-829-5 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America 2 3 4 5 09 08 07 CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page V ontents C FOREWORD _____________________________________________VIII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS_____________________________________XI INTRODUCTION_________________________________________ XV chapter one Proactive Firefighting Tactics and Training__________________1 Injury and Death Statistics _____________________________________1 Proactive Fire Service Leadership _______________________________4 Proactive Company Officer Training____________________________13 chapter two Rapid Intervention Operations ____________________________19 Combat Ready______________________________________________19 Risk vs. Benefit _____________________________________________20 RIT Staging_________________________________________________24 Rapid Intervention Size-Up Operations_________________________26 Rapid Intervention Checklist __________________________________44 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ____________________________46 chapter three Rapid Intervention Deployment Operations________________49 The Recon Team ____________________________________________49 The RIT Sector Officer and the RIT Rescue Sector ________________51 Firefighter and RIT Accountability______________________________58 Rapid Intervention Radio Communications______________________61 Rapid Intervention Tool Selection______________________________62 chapter four Firefighter Survival Rules_________________________________71 Rule 1: Know when and how to call for help: “Mayday!”_________71 Rule 2: Never give up! ______________________________________81 Rule 3: Think outside of the box.______________________________82 Rule 4: It is advised not to share your SCBA air._________________83 Rule 5: Keep control of the fire if at all possible. ________________84 |V| CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page VI | | Firefighter Rescue and Survival TABLE OF CONTENTS chapter five Firefighter Survival Emergencies__________________________87 Entanglement Emergencies____________________________________87 SCBA Basic Training for Disentanglement Survival Training ________88 SCBA Self-Removal Techniques for Disentanglement______________94 SCBA Shared-Air Emergency Methods__________________________96 RIT Shared-Air Methods for Rescue___________________________100 Forcible Exit – Wall Breach__________________________________101 Hang-Drop Method ________________________________________102 Emergency Ladder Escape___________________________________103 Emergency Rappel Methods _________________________________110 chapter six Search Operations for Missing and Lost Firefighters_____117 Basic Search Operations ____________________________________118 Thermal Imaging Camera ___________________________________126 Wide-Area Search Operations _______________________________127 chapter seven Firefighter Rescue Removal Methods ____________________149 A Case Study in Frustration__________________________________151 Initial Firefighter Rescue Steps _______________________________154 Communication among Firefighter Rescuers ___________________160 Firefighter Rescue Drag Methods_____________________________160 Unconscious Firefighter SCBA Removal _______________________169 chapter eight Upper- and Lower-level and Confined-Space Rescue Methods_________________________173 Narrow-Staircase Firefighter Rescues__________________________175 Wide-Staircase Firefighter Rescues____________________________181 Ground Ladders and Firefighter Rescues_______________________184 Firefighter Victim Lifts_______________________________________187 Lower-Level Firefighter Rescues______________________________195 Confined-Space Firefighter Rescues___________________________204 |VI| CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page VII | | TABLE OF CONTENTS Firefighter Rescue and Survival chapter nine Firefighter Rescue and Survival Training Methods__211 Instructor Credibility and Relevance ____________________211 Eight Essential Instruction Points for Firefighter Rescue and Survival Training_______________212 Preparing Firefighters for Rescue and Survival Training_____217 Training Scenarios ___________________________________225 Training Scenario #1: Search and disentanglement of a conscious firefighter victim__________________________225 Training Scenario #2: Search, disentanglement, and window rescue (boots first) of an unconscious firefighter victim __226 Training Scenario #3: Search and rescue of an unconscious firefighter victim who fell into a basement._227 Training Scenario #4: Search and rescue of a lost and unconscious firefighter victim in a large warehouse fire__228 Training Scenario #5: Window rescue of an unconscious firefighter victim in a second floor window ____________229 Training Scenario #6: Wide-staircase rescue of an unconscious victim and a conscious victim from the second floor of an apartment building ________________230 Training Scenario #7: Narrow-staircase rescue of two unconscious firefighter victims from a basement fire ____231 Firefighter Rescue and Survival Training Safety Points______232 EPILOGUE—THE CALL_________________________________233 NOTES__________________________________________________235 GLOSSARY_____________________________________________237 BIBLIOGRAPHY________________________________________241 INDEX __________________________________________________243 |VII| CH00 frontfm(i-xviii) 3/18/03 5:13 PM Page VIII | | Firefighter Rescue and Survival FOREWORD Foreword When Rick Kolomay and Bob Hoff first asked me to write this foreword for their book, I was moved to consider the state of firefighter rescue and survival training today…and reflect on how we’ve adjusted in the more than 32 years I’ve spent in the fire service. Indeed, we’ve made great strides. I remember the first working fire I ever fought, which was a serious cellar fire in a house in my hometown. During the course of the fire, a good friend of mine, Andy, was overcome with smoke while advancing the attack hoseline. Some hot wiring had melted through the low pressure breathing tube on his facepiece and cut off his air supply. The neg- ative pressure mask was useless and he was now sucking in a lot of hot, nasty smoke. He made it as far as the base of the staircase before losing consciousness. Several chaotic min- utes later, he was removed, unconscious but still alive, to the safety of the front lawn, where he was joined by several injured rescuers. “So, this is part of the job too?” I thought. “Besides rescuing civilians, we also rescue firemen. OK, if that’s all there is to it, we can do that!” How simple those thoughts were in hindsight. It was almost 20 years later, after having been involved in several more removals of unconscious firefighters, before the magnitude and nature of the skills required began to be recognized for what they are: among the most difficult tasks one can ever encounter on the fireground. I was working as a lieutenant in Rescue Company 2 in Brooklyn. We had removed unconscious firefighters up from cellars of factories and supermarkets, down from the floors above the fire in tenements, and out the window of a feather factory. All of these resulted in the survival of the unconscious members, but they all could have gone smoother. In one case, two of the rescuers were injured in the process. During our critiques of the oper- ations, the members made many useful suggestions, then we went down into the firehouse cellar or to a vacant building and tried them out, with full gear, live victims, and blacked out facepieces. Most of the ideas worked, some did not. After a while, I began to think we were ready for anything. Then someone sent me a magazine article that is responsible for a tremendous change in the way firefighter rescue is approached today. It is not always a suc- cessful, almost routine effort as many of us were approaching the task. Instead, “The Murder of John Nance” showed the true nature of the task as a brutal, heart-wrenching affair, that may or may not be successful. The article was first printed in The Columbus (Ohio) Monthly in December 1987, and was over two years old when I first read it in 1990. The description of the heroic rescue attempts at extreme personal risk by the members of the Columbus Fire Department sends chills up and down my spine every time I read it. Here was a group of men who went through |VIII|
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