Critical need for RIT teams

In southern Rhode Island there aren't really any thoroughly trained RIT teams that I am aware of. I think a neighboring department are calling themselves a RIT team I am just not sure the extent of their training. What does this department do when they get a working fire with the RIT team? Do you have a 2 in 2 out rule? Does the C/O stand by this rule? How is Rapid Intervention handled in your district?
I think there is a major need for these teams across America and world wide, it will give a faster jump when someone is in trouble. We all are human, and with that being said all can fall into harms way. What better way to get help than a team of professionals whom are there for that one purpose?

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on August 9, 2008 at 4:50pm

Green helmet? Now there's a serious Firefighter Nation cross-reference.

:-)

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on August 9, 2008 at 7:47pm

Plastic Stokes litters aren't fire-rated, either. We still use them if the situation calls for it. If you use a plastic rescue device (Stokes, SKED, etc) you'll need to sweep the floor with a hoseline (preferrably a narrow fog pattern) to cool it off enough so that it won't melt the rescue litter.

Lots of departments including mine issue nylon webbing - definately not fire-rated - for self-rescue and RIT. A fire rating isn't necessarily the most importent aspect of a tool for rescuing a downed firefighter.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on August 9, 2008 at 7:50pm

Now that's funny right there.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on August 9, 2008 at 7:55pm

I saw that photo of Snorkel 28, too. That sucks. I've worked on three different snorkel companies, and it's frustrating to see one of the rare ones still in service have an incident like this.

At least no one was hurt and the apparatus should be repairable.

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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on August 12, 2008 at 6:42am

The worst part of the whole dealing with this thread is apparently I am not following it anymore. (emails) I was completely in the dark that you all kept the thread going. Tonight when I get out of work, and then out of my side job, then out of training at the fd I will sit down and do more than skim read what you all have written. From what I see there is some great content here

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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on August 12, 2008 at 11:17am

What do you call a Truck company with a Engine guy filling in for a call out?

Gifted

First rule of truck company operations was missed on this one, must have been a long night

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Permalink Reply by catfish on August 12, 2008 at 2:10pm

we go 2 in 2 out and the rit team is on stand by all suited ur thats all they do

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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on August 16, 2008 at 7:20pm

If you haven't had a chance to read the July 2008 edition of Firehouse- do it! http://cms.firehouse.com/content/magazine/month.jsp?id=151

Vincent Dunn wrote a great article discussing RIT's.

It's titled, "Does Aggressive Firefighting Cause Firefighters to Become Caught and Trapped? Has the Fire Service Oversold the Rapid Intervention Team Concept?"

It's an interesting read and raises some good thoughts to ponder.

The author writes, "Reasons why firefighters cannot rescue a trapped firefighter include:
* They cannot pass the fire
* They cannot see through the blinding smoke
* They encounter the danger of a secondary collapse
The men and women assigned to rescue may be great firefighters, but they cannot perform superhuman feats."

The author also suggests that RIT's are behind the eight ball straight away- as soon as they are called, they have to enter the building from the street, learn the layout of the building as they go, know where the fire is, know where the dangers are, locate a disorinetated firefighter (who often will give the wrong location for many reasons- understandably so, me thinks!!!) and then locate the FF and rescue them.

While all of this is happening, the fire is still burning, still causing damage, still generating more heat and smoke and so on.

The author also explopres Aggresive versus Defensive firefighting which is worth a look at.

Vincent also explores the advances of PPE technology and how it may be a contributing cause to many problems faced now- that's an eye opener and food for thought if you read it objectively versus subjectively!

Finally, he closes the article with the statement, "If we really want to reduce firefighter deaths caused by being "caught and trapped" there are two options: take away some protective equipment, which is not a realistic option; or use more defensive firefighting."

I've really paraphrased the whole 6 page article here- get a hold of a copy and read it and think about the RIT's concept again and see if you look at it the same way....