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Permalink Reply by Jeff Cole on May 9, 2009 at 8:29pm

If you aren't already in reasonable physical condition, your not going to have enough time to cram it in now. But providing you are in firefighter-ready shape, the best thing you can do is to increase your endurance level with respect to air consumption, as well as the ability to tolerate heat stress while working in your PPE .

Think out of the box, so to speak. What is involved with RIT/RIC? Gaining access, securing, and removing a downed, trapped, or incapacitated firefighter, right? Practice your donning and doffing, reduced profile manuevers, with zero visibility. Make sure you can identify, and operate every piece of your equipment with eyes closed, and gloved hands.

Have someone take an SCBA, and lay it on the floor. Entangle the straps, as well as pull some of them taught. Open the bypass, or purge valve, and loosen the cyliner threads a few turns. Now, with your vision obscured, and your mask on, have someone guide you to the SCBA location, and turn on the cylinder, and begin to correct the problems, until you can don the unit. Then proceed down a stretched , winding, crossed-over hoseline to an air cylinder. Dof your SCBA, and make the cylinder swap.

If you can, make use of a local playground or park. If there is a childrens obstacle course, with covered tubes and slides and such, have someone place a rope as a guidleine through it, and then have you approach it, again with visibility restricted, and proceed through the maze. Practice donning and doffing. Have a 'victim', like a manikin, witan CSBA and FF PPE placed on one end of the obstacle course/playground thing, and make your way to him, pulling a spare SCBA/RIT bag, practice preparring him for removal.

Rememebr, there is only so much you can do alone. Anything further, and even the above mentioned, will require assistence from other trained firefighters. And this is assuming you are in excellent physical condition, becouse this is the type of work you will be doing. It's not so much for the proceedures, as it is for getting used to operating in this mannor with your equipment, and pushing yourself further each time.

Work on your physical endurance, grip strength, and cardio. Actually this is the condition ALLline firefighters should be required to maintain.

Now start throwing rotten fruit at me for suggesting that...

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Permalink Reply by Brett Smith on May 9, 2009 at 8:40pm

I am verry thankful for the advice. I know its going to be verry hard,but it i know its worth it.
Thanks and BE SAFE!

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