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Probies (Ways to test them on air)
Im currently taking a FireFighter 1 & 2 Course. And last nights class was all bout getting people on air, and see what their limitations are, while on air. Many of them were new to firefighting, and hadn't done many, or strenuous, activity's while on air. The evolution involved this:
Carry a Fire Extinguisher and set of Irons aprox 30 yards around a cone and back
Pull a inch and three quarters hose, charged, out its full length and spray water. (Aprox 250-350 feet of line)
Use a axe on a 2x4 and hit it 25 times to simulate Force-able entry. Then walk to the back of the building and pull a rope that was tied around 2 100 shots of inch and a half line, aprox 40-50 yards.
Climb under a blue tarp suspended on top of metal chairs. Was very difficult for the larger fireman, me included (Haha)
Then pull a non charged two and a half its full length around a cone, and back.
There was no time limit, and I thought it was great to see what people could do.
(All with full gear, and air pack of course..)
Any comments? What sounds good, what doesn't sound good, what you would like to have done rather than that?
Open Discussion! Just wanted to share.
Stay Safe
Mac
Carry a Fire Extinguisher and set of Irons aprox 30 yards around a cone and back
Pull a inch and three quarters hose, charged, out its full length and spray water. (Aprox 250-350 feet of line)
Use a axe on a 2x4 and hit it 25 times to simulate Force-able entry. Then walk to the back of the building and pull a rope that was tied around 2 100 shots of inch and a half line, aprox 40-50 yards.
Climb under a blue tarp suspended on top of metal chairs. Was very difficult for the larger fireman, me included (Haha)
Then pull a non charged two and a half its full length around a cone, and back.
There was no time limit, and I thought it was great to see what people could do.
(All with full gear, and air pack of course..)
Any comments? What sounds good, what doesn't sound good, what you would like to have done rather than that?
Open Discussion! Just wanted to share.
Stay Safe
Mac
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Sounds like a good course to do while in gear and on air. You should get sweaty, which may affect a facepiece seal and can be a learning lesson in itself. I think it looks good.
We also did an extensive SCBA familiarity training for the entire dept. Everyone had to take their pack off and put it back on while on air. We did buddy breathing, changed out a partners SCBA bottle, find and refill through the RIT connection, use the purge valve to breathe, activate your PASS and so on. This all done while blindfolded to so you had to do things by feel. It was great training and one became much more familiar with the SCBA, more so than just seeing how long you can last on a bottle.
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Permalink Reply by Rick K. on
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Sounds like a very good training idea ! You can never get enough scba training !!!
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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on
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I absolutely love scba training. There are so many things you can do. What you are doing sounds great, I may use some of these ideas myself.
One thing that we do(as regular as we can), is set up an obstacle course inside the apparatus bays and extending outside. We lay uncharged hose throughout the course and the whole objective is to go from the beginning to the end fallowing the hoseline. Simulating finding your way out of a building. We also have distraction hose lines as well weaving around the true hoseline. So you need to be thinking as well. Gotta know the hose and connections. This course involves crawling under the apparatus....up stairs.....under tables...over tables.....under a tarp with a mesh net inside to get cought up in....outside.....we also have knots of a couple hoses and you have to untie them and fallow the correct hoseline. Oh, by the way,,,,this is all done while on air and with a blackened out facepiece, and carrying and axe or pole, and its a constant crawling exercise. And no time limit except that you gotta be out before you run out of air. We've had some new members come to the realization that interior may not be for them.
The imagination is and endless supply of tools. Hope this helps or gives you ideas.
Stay safe out there.
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Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on
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Hey Mac,
Looks like you've got some pretty good drills set up. I only have a couple of comments. The first one is, if it took me 25 shots with an axe to open ANY door, I think I would have to stop and make sure I was using the METAL end of the tool!
Also, I would suggest a lot more time on hands and knees. When dragging the 1-3/4 line, do it either bear-walking, or on their knees. There is a good bit of difference in packing an SCBA while working standing up as opposed to crawling.
And if possible, involve more stair climbing. That can really get them huffing and puffing.
TCSS
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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on
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We have found that just starting the new people out by putting them in a SCBA and have them sit in the duty room wearing the SCBA and watching training videos. Or have them walk around the bays and familiarizing themselves in the departments of the trucks. Gets them comfortable in just wearing the SCBA and then move on to physical activity latter.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dill on
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We do something real similar to this. We start out by having 4x4 sitting on buckets that you have to step over. If you knock it off you have to put it back on and start over, the a ladder laying on the ground and you have to bear crawl across it, next chopping a log 10 times, carry a water extinguisher around the station, then onto pulling a 2 1/2 30 yds around a cone and back, back into the station climbing the stairs then pulling a rope bag up hand over hand then lowering it back down hand over hand. Next is raising a 24' ladder up climbing it and back down. Next is a simulated ceiling pull (an old pike handle connected to a excersize hand spring connected to our basketball hoop) pulling on it 20 times. Then dragging a hose dummy 30 yards around a cane and back. We call this our "TIN MAN" training.
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Permalink Reply by H.M."Andy" Anderson on
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We had a problem with a fire outside our town. The home had an indoor swimming pool. Two firefighters went into the room and one of them found the pool, the hard way. I am not saying he held on to the line, but he stopped the flow of water with his grip.
We now have a drill every year about going into a pool. We are located on the Gulf Coast and have a lot of boat fires. This drilll has helped us a lot.
We also have "Mayday" drills, complete with a drop box. (Collapsted floor)
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Permalink Reply by Dustin J. Millis on
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Sounds like a real good training for everyone. When we get new people on our dept. we make em wear an airpack alot!!! Alot of guys get mad and consider it a hazing which in some respects, it is lol. But like all hazing in the fire service, there is a real point to it. Probies get treated like crap so that they eventually learn how to trust others, in turn allowing us to trust them once in a fire. Same goes for this SCBA thing, the new probie may think its crap that he has to go shovel snow, or cut the grass with an airpack on but you can bet he/she is learning valuable lessons on controlling their breathing while doing it.
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