Training for Bangor (Station 30) and Roseto (Station 34), Fire Departments, Northampton County, Sunday 10 October 2010

Mark C. Oswald

There’s days when 0400 in the morning is just too early to wake up at all, and with my windows in my room being left open the night before (did the foot temperature test and grumbled as it was freezing), it was harder to start the day than usual at this ungodly hour.  The shower was refreshing though setting my snooze alarm was a bad idea, any instructor who does this is due to suffer through the day trying to teach or reset a course scenario for students.  Since coming back from Afghanistan I’ve been looking forward to teaching on the Mobile Building Collapse Simulator (patent pending) and allowing a new crop of firefighters to have more education into an art form (don’t be mistaken, this is an art form to be mastered) that most don’t think they need to know, or think they know well.  This unit, as I’d heard, had a way of crushing those hopes and dreams of most RIT teams, or USAR teams who laughed at it as it pulled in, and who hated it when it pulled out.  I figured this was a talk up a bit, more of a story and a bit of bravado from the designer, inventor and manufacturer…  Later I learned to call this old heavyset fellow “sadist!”

It took a few hours to get to the location and “bitching betty” my relative unaffectionate name for the GPS unit from Tom Tom that I use daily (since I’ve been away for so long I am constantly geographically embarrassed in America) to zero in on the location to where we were headed.  I was greeted when embarrassed by the GPS, per usual, telling me I was where I needed to be with not a red truck in sight…  A guy pulled up next to our truck and said he’d guide us into the location to setup, so all said and done, we got to the location right on time, we were just on the street next to the location.  Setup with the help of my nephew was a relative breeze and we had a start with an air pack confidence course when the simulator claimed it’s first victim on when a “Mayday” was called for a firefighter who was about to vomit in his mask.  From the operations briefing in the morning before starting, Mayday’s were to be responded to as a real incident and all attending did exactly as taught and briefed.  It buoyed me as an instructor to see that all involved knew exactly how to react and how there was no panic on anyone’s face as it unfolded into a swift extrication from the trailer through the escape door and off to the medics. After a quick debrief from that the major scenario was set up for the pain to begin.

The major scenario involved a third floor collapse onto the second floor trapping a single firefighter on the second in a void space.  It was considered that the first floor was also compromised and needed shoring into the second floor.  Included in the second floor scenario was a wall breach of durarock, and on the first floor there was number 6 rebar blocking the path of firefighters of the RIT team in gaining access to the second floor.  To add to the difficulty there was also numerous lumps of timber that was fashioned into truss like construction, beams that weigh closer to a ton than not, and some other obstacles that would frustrate the most patient Christian person on the planet.  Numerous tools were used to include TnT cutters which did cut the rebar, though as it was seen did cause a bit of consternation to myself watching them trying to cut through two pieces of rebar…  The rescue was affected in an hour and forty five minutes, which to anyone who has been through the simulator before is no mean feat.  Crews of four  had almost three cycles through the unit, they were worn out, but all up in really good spirits.  I was scribbling notes the whole time, though as it was seen by myself there were no real safety breaches that would cause serious injury or death.

Lunch was put on by one of the other adjoining fire companies, which especially to myself was an absolute feast, especially in comparison to what I was served in Afghanistan.  I guess when you get into the mountains everything does get larger, even the pickles for lunch were more like pickled cucumbers, again my compliments to the chef for the feed!  It was decided that during this we would set up in the afternoon for something that was really going to take me back, and really discover what the simulator was built for and how it can really train someone to do something that nobody really seems to practice.

For those companies that have RIT bags for your air packs, it’s time to have the brutal slap to the face and pay attention to the words written here.  We all know, especially the old breed, how to do things by Braille in a fire, tying knots, trace hose out when things get really bad, use our heads to accomplish things that most people wouldn’t even think possible.  This simulator threw at this crew something I never even thought it could do and kudos to the Chief Mike Goffredo who decided to run the scenario in the first place, and Todd Albert who set it all up.  We all know we train for the worst situations possible, that situation for most would be having a mate who’s gone down in a fire and is trapped and unresponsive to radio calls.  The scenario was that a hose team has advanced into a fire on the second floor, there was some sort of collapse and the lead hoseman has fallen through the floor and the second has called the “mayday” and become incapacitated.  The scenario was set as realistic as possible and the radio call did actually cause confusion on the scene to lead into a feeling of something has really gone wrong.  To add to the confusion inside the simulator, doors were closed changing the inside of the building to something different than before and there was a heavy smoke condition.  The firefighters inside were both on air and had a limited supply available to them, plus to make matters worse there was debris on the fallen hoseman. 

The lead team of four left off with the RIT bag to affect a rescue and try an immediate pull to extricate both firefighters by use of the DRD’s in their gear.  As usual the confined space inside made movement difficult for the team, and moreover the smoke condition make goings almost impossible except for the most experienced of crews.  They made their way quickly to the second floor and found themselves faced with debris replaced inside the simulator, proceeded down a narrow hallway where they had to doff and don the air packs and pass equipment through to each other by daisy chain.  When they finally made it to the floor collapse they found the first firefighter and established that the hoseman was unconscious and running low on air.  During this time the RIT team who found they running low on air and were due a change of cylinders.  This was done quickly and efficiently, but the crew found it hard going to get the RIC fitting onto the downed hoseman. 

After a difficult amount of time a halt was called to the scenario and there was a bit of a briefing held for all who were involved.  During my time in the Australian Army, we found it best to debrief immediately after the run and figure out where we went wrong, this is an ethos used by the Special Air Service (SAS) which the Army adopted for itself, it is one of the best tools used to allow us to learn from our mistakes quickly and put the tools in place to keep this from happening again.  The Chief on site called everyone in and started to go over the scenario from the teams take inside, and broke it down completely to the point of even asking the actors playing victim what they felt went right and wrong.  It was an impressive sight to me to see such an objective approach from a conglomerate of fire departments in an area that I would have considered rather more quiet than most.  The major factor was that the hoseman never received air from the RIT bag, it was found that the fittings, while with gloved hands, reaching through a space that the hoseman had fallen through, with debris piled up, was too difficult to hook up, it wasn’t impossible, though the scenario made it near impossible.  Retraining was offered to everyone at the scenario and a second attempt was made in easier conditions, with air service being supplied to the downed hoseman in very little time at all.

By this point the teams were well and truly beaten on, and myself, well I was definitely feeling worse for wear as well as my carpel tunnel had set in from writing so many notes, both good and bad of the day’s events.  Part of the highlight as well was getting the chance to talk to one of the firefighters parents who had served in the US Navy during WWII who recounted some of his stories of the Battle for Lete Gulf and the Marianas Turkey Shoot.  It’s always a thrill for me to get the chance to see someone former military who can relate to my experiences and even share the similarities in hardships that I faced so many years later on dry land versus the shark infested waters.  The day ended for us all, and gladly I had the chance to see a very crack crew at RIT give the simulator a bit of a beating and the simulator bite back at them as well.  It’s a good chance to be reminded that no matter how good you think you are, there’s always things that you can work on, though with this crew I’m positive the next time it will take something different to bite them scenario wise, seems it’s back to the drawing board at PPES to give them something different.

Having been involved in the Fire Service for so many years I find it hard at times to feel as though I need to rehash my skills, I am for the most part, very confident of what I do on the fire ground and more confident in my rescue skills.  I had to do a very serious gut check there, and thankfully the instructor became the student for awhile thanks to this crew.  I would like to say thanks very much for your hospitality and look forward to coming back in the spring, with the Sadist in tow as well, so that we can have another crack at having a run through the simulator where we all can learn that we need to have a look at ourselves from time to time and have a good practice at things that we may take for granted.  To you, the reader, if you think you’re pretty confident at these skills, give us a call, we’ll come out to you, you don’t have to leave your firehouse, and we’ll run you through some scenarios, and see if you don’t come out having that gut check like I did.  To all who have taken the time to read this, please stay safe out there, and best of luck at your next call, hopefully you won’t have to do this simulation for real, but never say that you were never offered it if it does come up!

This can and will aid in your department training for the future.