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Permalink Reply by Rescue 2 Training on May 1, 2011 at 12:51pm

LUNAR isn't bad, but I've found that LUNCH works better for me...seriously.

When I sit down and eat lunch, I go over the mnemonic every time:

L Location
U Unit
N Name
C Conditions
H Help needed

Sounds like a joke, but it works for me and I get to run it through my head every day. It may never gain wide acceptance, but if I'm ever in trouble, I'll be spitting out my LUNCH.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Poznanski on May 1, 2011 at 5:08pm

LUNCH is also very good. I like it. We clearly don't want anyone to have a LUNAR LUNCH. Thanks for you insight and thoughts....another tool in the tool box!!! Be careful

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on May 1, 2011 at 5:12pm

While a MAYDAY is part of RIT, I would think this thread would be better worded as FF survival. While calling the MAYDAY is an important aspect of RIT, the role of RIT does differ and does entail quite a bit. Whereas FF survival is another topic which can entail its own focus.

Training on calling a MAYDAY is important and should be practiced often, but so is recognizing a condition in which to call a MAYDAY. Can you say for sure every member understand the difference between a MAYDAY situation and that of EMERGENCY TRAFFIC? Is losing water pressure on the line a MAYDAY situation or an EMERGENCY traffic? A ceiling collapse, is it an emergency traffic or is it a MAYDAY situation....could be either.

The acronyms like LUNAR, PLAN, and now LUNCH are all good ways to call a MAYDAY. However, if one goes to a dept and asks a FF, especially a newer FF, to call a MAYDAY, can you say for certain they would know what to do?

To incorporate the RIT aspect, a good training is having people call the MAYDAY and activate a RIT, be on air, use radios, etc.

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Permalink Reply by FETC on May 1, 2011 at 7:10pm

I totally agree John, a solid safety program is best suited to be a true "Firefighter Safety and Survival / RIT Program, for which encompasses basic firefighter survival skills, sheltering/protecting in place, self preservation skills, rope-ladder-hose bails, assisting your partner (solo moves), air management skills, buddy breathing through the EBSS, "when" and how to call a mayday, radio drills when buried, then you have RIT resources, deployment, and tactics that include moves, drags and carries, rescuing through the floor, RIT Pack Operations, Search line rope plus all of the other specialized technical drills that were developed from past line of duty death studies. Capping it off with Mayday Management for Incident Command.

Take and remove any "one" component from the puzzle and your "stand by" team is not fully prepared. If management thinks they are ok with some or half of that program, that is a shame, it is in essence a Lip Stick Policy.

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