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RIT operations
I'm hi jacking a thread a bit I appologise for that but an interesting side bar has popped up from discussions about a 360 check and that is how do RIT operations work in your area,is it a special group assignment with certain members trained or how does it work in your area. For our area most members are or soon will be trained to be a RITteam member and the OIC assigns individuals this task on site. How does this differ in your area and how does it work for you.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Moose on
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We have a county wide team. They are designated team numbers and use portable radios from their department to call enroute to the scene, when we get up to 5 members responding they stop toning them out. They respond to the scene with their turnouts and meet at the Fire Coordinators vehicle, he has air packs with FAST designations and a RIT pack with tools and what not. They do their 360 and throw ladders where needed and communicate with the IC. They stage near the fire but not in the ICP, we keep them separate so they do not get caught up in whats going on in the CP and not whats going on in the scene. They act as safety officers and communicate their observations to the FAST command located in the CP, he/she than passes it on to the IC. They train monthly together and with other departments.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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It all depends on your organizational structure. Some fire departments assign the task of RIT to a specific company. (Like Rescue 1) while others assign it to the first engine on the 3rd alarm card, or some may group together 3 or 4 individuals who are available at the time of the incident.
We assign RIT at every working fire. They are an incoming unit of (4) trained personnel, (entire department is RIT certified) from a non-manned Heavy Rescue. Off-duty personnel respond back on the first alarm and fill out the assignment with (4).
On arrival, the RIT Officer reports to the Command Post for accountability, while his crew is staging tools and equipment at his or her designated location. Once that is done, the crew as a unit does a 360 of the dwelling to perform a RIT Risk Assessment.
The SCBA condoms which say RIT on them, gives them free range to walk around and perform the assessment. That identification also gives them authority, (in policy) to act as does a Safety Officer and stop unsafe acts if need be.
Once the 360 is completed, the RIT Officer reports back to command with any findings, like locked doors, bulkheads, barred windows, lack of secondary means of egress (ladders) any structural integrity concerns with the building construction, hazards, etc. It also gets them familiar with the bulding layout. The 360 is completed on every 20 minute PAR check.
Bill
www.fetcservices.com
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Permalink Reply by Roy Walker on
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Its interesting how we got along before RIT and now it is a mandatory item at all fire calls. As Fetc mentions our RIT has become a welcome extension of the safety officer and cannot be assigned any other duties. The RIT team takes over our rescue unit as their headquartes and all the RITequipment is on board there. All the rit reports are given to the RIT officer who forwards them to the OIC.
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Also we are a volunteer department so is there a difference in the way we operate compared to a paid department. We can't wait on the third pumper for that assignment to be filled out as one example thats why OIC assigns that duty. Then there maybe further differences between how a low volumn full time depatments RIT SOPs are and a high volumn department like Capcity would have. I am truely interested in ideas that may improve my and maybe your operations.
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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
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we do not have RIT certifications, but all members have RIT training. Some departments are more agressive with training than others and therfore the level of competency on scene differs depending on which mutual aid departments are on scene and assigned to what tasks.
The IC will either assign a company as RIT when arriving on scene or while en route. Once on scene, the RIT Officer reports to the IC for a situational report while the other RIT members are completing a 360 walk around if possible of the structure. During the walk around, the RIT members will throw ladders where they are needed force doors for a 2nd point of egress, remove burglar bars, clear windows, etc...then reassemble on the "A" side of the structure a formulate a group plan as a team.
We do not have the SCBA condoms but we always work in teams of at least 2 members and we stay in contactwith the RIT Officer no matter what. Any significant findings in the RIT's 360 walk around are immediately reported to the RIT Officer.
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Permalink Reply by Adam Updegraff on
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In my area the IC will assign the task to the first avaliable members outside of the inital entry or vent crew. Sounds like the same setup you guys have. Some deparments will have a designated crew on a Rescue unit but it all depends on where the scene is located as to which rescue goes on the call.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Fey on
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We use another company who is assigned as the RIT team on our assignments. They are brought in to do nothing but RIT activities on scene. We are also a RIT team for several neighborging companies.
Upon arrival we set up on side a and c if deemed needed, the officer in charge of the RIT team does a complete 360 of the fireground. While the 360 is being done the rest of the crew are assigned to throwing ladders on all sides of the building.
Once this work has been accomplished the RIT team meets to discuss all means of entrence and egress should we be activated.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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All line firefighters in my department are trained in firefighter survival and self-rescue techniques (preventative RIT) and in RIT operations by the end of their first year of employment.
We carry a specific RIT SCBA in a bag with extra lights, rope, and tools on our only truck company, but every engine company can do the RIT basics with tools they carry - irons, hooks, search rope, flashlights, TIC, and the RIT engine driver's SCBA w/ transfill hose. All companies including RIT carry TICs.
We are working on adding RIT caches to our two quints, and are in the process of finishing a training-only RIT kit so that we don't tear up the operational one during training.
We have a month-long set of 7-hour MAYDAY and RIT drills set up for a couple of months in an old pre-K school building that will be demolished after we turn it into Swiss cheese.
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Wow Ben what a great opportunity to train.Imagine all the opportunities you can avail yourself of since you won't have to return the building in the same shape you got it in. I assume all shifts will get an opportunity to complete scenarios. Do you allow surrounding departments to participate or is it just available to your own department. The best thing you will be able to practice which in my department we lack the chance to complete properly would be wall breaching . TRAIN WELL BROTHER.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Everyone on the dept is trained in RIT operations. The third in engine company is the RIT team. However, even on the same fireground, the attack team could come out, rehab, and then relieve the RIT team and the RIT team would move to back-up, etc. So there really is no specialized companies and personally, I don't agree with a RIT being a specialty, this should be something anyone can be able to do.
Equipment wise, the trucks will carry most of the RIT cache and the RIT team gets the equipment off the truck. Also each pump carries a RIT SCBA air pack, rope, folding ladder, and TIC. (actually every rig has a TIC, so each crew should be using one).
When it comes to mutual aid, we have been requested several times to be a RIT team for neighboring depts. The other depts do have the same training, but many of the MA cards are written for us to do RIT. (not a fan of specializing teams). If we had MA come to us, typically RIT will be done by our dept and it really is rare for a neighboring dept to operate on one of our fire scenes.
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Roy, this training will be mandatory for all of our firefighters. We don't have any surrounding departments - we're on a barrier island in the Atlantic Ocean and only have one other department close. We train with them a lot, depending on both departments' schedules.
We have done similar training in an old hotel and one of our old fire stations that were torn down a few years ago and did a week-long USAR exercise in another one of our old fire stations torn down last December. We had MA training for some of those as well.
We are also using the intervening month to tune up our SOGs and to integrate our new countywide MAYDAY communications procedures.
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Ben I can't begin to relate to having to be self sufficient. We are in a situation of having a ring of mutual aide departments to call on and if things really went side ways we have three full time departments to call on. No wonder you train so thoroughly!! We do try to function independently and to date we have remained independent except to call for tankers to establish a water supply.
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