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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?
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?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Terry Lambert on
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I know that in the one department I run with, it is a 2 in 2 out rule. Usually the 4th due in engine becomes the RIT team.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Hoey on
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We bring in a RIT team on the second alarm they are set for RIT only and they also get a dedicated attack line. Some departments do it there own way but most use a 2 in 2 out we due to great man power we have 4 always ready and never less. One of the best tools we also have recently bought is a lighted rope it really does cut through smoke and has red and green showing egress and regress directions.
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Permalink Reply by Donnie Bathje on
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I work for a department that doesn't really practice any of the above due to manpower. We staff our engines with 3, but due to vacation and etc. we usually have 2 on each engine. We have four stations and send 2 engine to a fire. We still depend way to much on off-duty personnel and volunteers responding from home.
That being said 2 in 2out and RIT teams are really not very effective. Pheonix determined after Brett Tarver died in a grocery store fire that it would have been useless to send in 2 guys to get him out. Brett was about 220-250 if I remember right. They said that it would have taken 12 men to effectively bring him out. There is so much energy expended as well as adrenalin when one of our own is down.
We had a firefighter go down a couple of years ago. He was about 240 as well and it took 3 guys with him to get him 6 feet to the door which 2 more guys pulled him to the yard. Unless we mandate ALL firefighters to drop weight to 150 it is always going to be useless to have 2 guys standing by. I guess something is better than nothing.
If you doubt me, please feel free to put it to the test. I trust Chief Alan Bruincini (retired) PFD with my life. This is an issue that needs to be revisited. Maybe haing a rescue unit with 6 guys dedicated to just RIT would work, providing that we only have one firefighter down.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin King on
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If that theory stands up then a man would have to be down too 100lbs because of the gear weight being from 40-60 lbs.I think we still need RIT teams in every fire situation,yes the 2X2 works well or at least it has in the past.
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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In a true RIT setup, it sometimes makes it much easier to use a stokes if at all possible. It gives you more firm grippability for easier movement through the area of collapse, or injury. Dragging someone out by a handle on the tornout or the SCBA works, but in the real work is extremely difficult for the reasons you stated. If 2 EMT's weighting 160 pounds can lift someone 300 pounds on a backboard to a stretcher, imagine how easily someone on a stokes can be pushed/pulled/carried out of the fire scene.
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Do you train bottle changes air transfers or mask changes in smoke areas? Its great practice to teach but avoid buddy breathing
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Permalink Reply by Lawrence W on
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In a true emergency, a RIT Team is tasked with rescue. Every other firefighter on that scene is also tasked with the rescue at that point. I was trained from early on that everyone goes home and there is a priority for rescue:
1) ME - I am responsible for myself at all times.
2) My Partner - Other firefighters are my responsibility
3) Victims - The folks we ultimately serve.
This order was developed because an injured or dead firefighter cannot save a victim, provide aid or extinguish a fire. Taking care of your own is the responsibility of every firefighter on a scene. A RIT Team is essential, but often misunderstood. All operations should stop for the aid of a fallen firefighter.
I know that this is probably idealistic of me to say, but we have to take care of our own. Our ultimate goal cannot be attained if we are injured or killed in the process.
Everyone Goes Home!
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I do partially agree with your theory, but I don't entirely agree with you either. I think that firefighters in a RIT team should be deployed but I also think fire suppression should continue to a certain point. I say this only because fire supression should be maintained in the area of the downed firefighter to prevent a further unsafe atmosphere for the firefighters attempting to rescue their fallen brother or sister. Nothing is worse than losing an exit because supression has been stopped to locate and remove a firefighter. Now instead of 1 or 2 victims, you have numerous more. Most RIT teams I have seen have 4 per team. More manpower to handle the situation the better. If they work alongside a hoseline in a heavy fire atmosphere they can achieve the goal safer and faster
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I apologize if I was unclear - I agree with you, but I just see suppression as part of the overall picture of effecting the rescue. If fire conditions create an atmosphere that is unsafe for the rescue to be completed, then a suppression assignment must be dispatched by command or reassigned as appropriate to make the environment as safe as possible. That is why I said that every person on that fire ground is then tasked with rescue. Not necessarily with the direct rescue, but with making the rescue as safe and possible for the RIT team to do their part.
This includes moving your areal ladder for safety observations from the outside of the structure or for upper floor extrication, suppression teams to create a safer environment, EMS to prepare to treat the injured fire fighter and many others. All assignments are geared to making sure the down fire fighter is properly extricated, treated and transported, if appropriate.
Once that extrication is guaranteed, operations can return to "normal".
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That paints a much clearer picture, thank you very much for the elaboration :) Your right, everyone should have a task that directly or indirectly affects the rescue, and normal mode of operations should commense after
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Bumping this post to coincide with the other RIT posts currently on the forum. As stated in the other Post there is a trained RIT team just over the Connecticut border who provides RIT to the local departments in my area.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Hot zone cylinder changes are a poor choice compared to transfill operations. The new URC (Universal Rescue Connector) standard lets you use a spare SCBA as a portable single-cylinder cascade to fill the downed firefighter's cylinder while he's trapped or incapacitated. It doesn't require buddy breathing.
A point about transfills - put the downed firefighter in a stokes basket, leave him in his primary SCBA, and leave the transfill SCBA hooked up. That will give the downed firefighter at least the equivalent of one full cylinder instead of the max of 1/2 a cylinder he'll get if you disconnect the donor SCBA after the transfill operation equalized the pressure between the two cylinders.
RIT should have at least one complete SCBA with the transfill hose already connected as part of their gear cache. The donor SCBA can be a stripped-down RIT pack, but an extra one off an engine works just fine. In fact, sometimes using a regular SCBA is an advantage if your mutual aid uses a different type of SCBA than your department has. That way you can match the SCBA brand and model to whoever is interior...or have one of each brand if the two departments both have firefighters in the interior.
A complete SCBA is easier to carry inside compared to carrying loose cylinders with the oven mitts on, too.
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