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Five Minutes in the Street: RIT Deployment Strategies & Safety
Your the Commanding Officer of an eight (8) member staffed Rapid Intervention Team (RIT). The composition of the team consists of all highly trained and experienced firefighters. You have an additional four (4) staffed engine co. crew and a five (5) staffed truck co. crew “on-deck” and available.
Companies are operating at an “All Hands” fire at a three (3) story Type III (Ordinary Construction) Commercial occupancy. Operating companies have good staffing, with a robust alarm assignment either working or staged. The building is windowless, with all window openings covered and secured with plywood (HUD) sheathing systems.
The building is unoccupied since early last year. Companies have been operating for over twenty minutes with heavy fire conditions on the number two (2) floor. They’re making progress, but are encountering heavy heat and fire conditions. The fire appears to be extending vertically and horizontally to the Charlie side.
A mayday is transmitted to Command. It’s initially unclear who or which company has made the transmission, however, Command determines it to be an engine company that was assigned support in stretching a 2.5 inch handline from the first floor to the second via a centrally located interior stairwell. Multiple engine and truck company units are operating within the interior. Initial reports indicate its being transmitted by one firefighter..but unconfirmed at the present time....
As the Commanding Officer of RIT, What are your initial IAP and strategies?
What did or should you have done: prior to the mayday as part of your assigned duties?
What needs to be done, who’s going to do it, why are you going to do it?
How does time affect your operations?
What's the fire conditions looking like to you...?
What does Command and the general staff need to do..?
What else are you going to need to consider or are going to need confirmation on?
Risk and Safety…what are your biggest concerns?
What else are you going to need?
You’ve been given the assignment by Command, Get your assignments out, you’ve got five minutes to brief and deploy….now get goin’……
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by matt foro on
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Well ill throw my 2 cents worth in,
As the Commanding Officer of RIT, What are your initial IAP and strategies? Rit team walk around and establish exit areas.
What did or should you have done: prior to the mayday as part of your assigned duties? Establish ladders and exit routes on all 4 sides, have the truck company make windows to exit and inform all personal of there locations. Establish a Ventilation team to vent the roof and also keep an eye out. Appoint someone on all 4 sides of the building to let command know of any changes they see.
What needs to be done, who’s going to do it, why are you going to do it? Establish 4 teams of 2, Rit Team 1,2,3,4. I would send Rit 1 to level 2 and start a search and Rit 2 start a search on level 1. Have Rit 3&4 as back teams for Rit 1&2
How does time affect your operations? Since its been 20 mins into the operation the mayday was sounded by a firefighter that has less then 10 mins of air Time is not on your side and you need to deploy the teams quickly.
What's the fire conditions looking like to you...? The interior structure has become un-safe and also the smoke is indicating that is showing signs of possible delayed flashover
What does Command and the general staff need to do..? Request all truck and engine companies report in with how many guys they had per responding unit. Have 1 member of each rit team on a private channel with command and the other partner requesting on a detail account of all personnel on scene and if possible have each engine/truck company have there men report in.
What else are you going to need to consider or are going to need confirmation on?
Risk and Safety…what are your biggest concerns? Utility lines, gas lines, hidden obstacles
What else are you going to need? Utility Companies to the scene and also blue prints of any and all changes made to the building recently
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Permalink Reply by Rob on
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As the Commanding Officer of RIT, What are your initial IAP and strategies?
Identify the FF in distress and his/her location and then locate and rescue.
Also determine if there is adequate fire supression lines in place in the area of the intended rescue. If no, take a line with you.
What did or should you have done: prior to the mayday as part of your assigned duties?
360 of building to determine risk factors to your crew and crews operating and alternative means of ingress and egress.
Stage your tools
In gear with packs on your back ready to mask up
Listen to radio traffic and try to keep up on fire conditions, what crews are where, and how things are going
Attempt to gather intel from other crews or building occupant/owner as to layout of building (ie are all the floors laid out the same or not, can someone draw out a quick sketch of the floor plan(s), ect)
What needs to be done, who’s going to do it, why are you going to do it?
As the mayday is called request an additional assignment (second alarm or whatever you call it where you are) because anyone who knows RIT knows a rescue will where you out quick and if it is more than a guy tripped and twisted his ankle next to the stairs you will probably only locate the victim, if that, with your on scene RIT assignment.
Ensure that supression crews keep putting water on the fire!
Mask up and make entry (once you have decided your route), notify command where you are entering and with how many, take with you what you think you will need...time is of the essence!
How does time affect your operations?
Every minute is critical! The trapped FF is needing out, you need to get to him/her, and fire is not getting smaller on its own!
What's the fire conditions looking like to you...?
Conditions do not look to good. If we do not locate the victim quick this may turn to a recovery! Keep an ear to the radio for updates from outside and watch & listen closely to your surroundings inside.
What does Command and the general staff need to do..?
Keep calm, maintain accoutability, get adequate resources to back you up and keep supression going, and keep folks from dropping lines to help the rescue and let the fire grow. If you have the capability move on OPS to a different channel and keep the existing channel for RIT and the down FF to communicate. The down FF does not need the stress of trying to switch channels and you do not need extra chatter while you are trying to orchestrate a rescue!
What else are you going to need to consider or are going to need confirmation on?
Who, Where, How Long has he/she been in, conscious?, air?, fire progression?
Risk and Safety…what are your biggest concerns?
Fire conditions, potential collapse (or further collapse if that is what prompted the MAYDAY), can we get him/her out quick enough to effect a rescue without killing 9 FF's?
What else are you going to need?
Like I said before, more manpower! If this FF is trapped you will most likely get to him in 1 bottle, but your probably will not get him/her out in 1 bottle. Plus if your RIT assignemnt is in there, who is the RIT assignment for them and the other crews still working the fire?
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Permalink Reply by Dustin J. Millis on
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Okay... as commanding officer of RIT, what are your initial IAP and strategies-- My first priority is to immeaditly establish my specific RIT teams. I've determined that the mayday is coming from a team assigned to be working somewhere between the first floor and the second floor via a central stairwell. I send in one RIT team of two to search the first floor and a second team to advance straight to the stairwell in question. I also will try and confirm that it is the engine company that issued the mayday and how many FF's are in distress.
What did or should have been done, prior to the mayday as part of my assigned duties-- As RIT team officer, it is my responsibility to establish emergency exits by doing a 360 of the entire structure and setting up the proper means of egress.
I already told you what I was going to do so lets move to the next one---
How does time affect your operations-- I know that the engine company has been working the structure for twenty minutes, therefore; depending on their breathing and the size of their bottle, they could have anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes of air left. I obviously heir to the side of caution and assume they have no air left. I also know that the crews inside are now battling heavy fire and extreme heat.
What's the fire condition looking like to you-- I know from interior reports that the fire is growing stronger and hotter and appears to be moving to side C, Therefore; I will attempt to establish an exit route on any side except C
What does command need to do-- Command should recieve progress reports from all working companies including how many FF's they entered the structure with and how many they now have with them. Contact dispatch and acquire two emergency mayday channels. One channel to try and reach the downed FF and one channel for your RIT teams.
What else to consider and confirmation?-- Continue to attempt to make contact with the downed FF. If contact is made, determine where the FF is by having the FF identify what is around them. Determine how much air the FF has left, if the FF has any injuries.
What are your biggest concerns-- The downed FF is my biggest concern and I am looking constantly looking for any problems before they happen
What else am I going to need?-- I have backup RIT teams for my interior RIT teams already, so now I need all standard RIT tools, Medics on standby waiting for the downed FF, any blueprints/drawings of the building.
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Permalink Reply by Spartacus on
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As a firefighter with almost NO experience (we don't get many fires out here, knock on wood....) I must ask what I'm afraid might be a stupid question, so I beg your pardon in advance.
The bldg is an unoccupied commercial structure, vacant for a year and boarded up.
On the 360, what was the condition of the doors? Were they secure? Were there any indications (footprints or etc) that suggested that somebody was inside, or MIGHT be inside?
If there is NOT a life-safety issue, then why send guys inside? Why not cover the exposures and try to contain/control the fire with an exterior op, maybe busting through some of those boarded up windows to admit hoselines.
An aggressive interior attack seems like an unnecessary risk to me.
Am I missing something?
Thanks.
S
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Would love to comment on this subject/thread. I have developed and teach a class called Managing a Mayday - Strategic Considerations Unfolded but I do not use or teach the PFD on-deck concept as indicated in the original post.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Owens on
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FIrst I realize that this wasn't one of the questions but I have to say it....What were my firefighters doing in an unoccupied commercial occupancy anyway? No benfit to an interior operation in this occupancy but I digress.
As the Commanding Officer of RIT, What are your initial IAP and strategies?
My intial strategies are for a fire groun recon and to make the building as safe as possible for firefighting operations. This means throwing ladders opening up all the windows and doors, removing the HUD systems or any other egress impeding devices. The I would split the teams in half and stage them on opposite sides of the building to keep eyes on the structure and for radpid deployment of resources no matter were the mayday will occur.
What did or should you have done: prior to the mayday as part of your assigned duties?
everything I listed above and made sure I had the appropriate tool compliment for the occupancy type.
What needs to be done, who’s going to do it, why are you going to do it?
Well we have determined were our emergency is so we need to deploy to the area of the emergency with the first 4 member team the next team needs to be on standby. Ths first team should be a plant the flag type team. They need to deploy a tag line and find the firefighter and give him air and begin the removal process once this is done deploy the second team for removal. While I dont feel interiro operations are warranted in this occupancy the guys went in so we have to try and rescue them even at the risk of our own lives
How does time affect your operations?
time affects our operations on multiple levels. Fire spread, time to the down firefighter, removal time, etc.
What's the fire conditions looking like to you...?
You have an extreme flashover potential. You have turbulent smoke coming out of multiple openings wich indicates heat pushed and that the box is no longer absorbing heat. This is a highly dangerous time to be entering the occupancy.
What does Command and the general staff need to do..?
They need to strike out extra alarms, they need to replace the RIT function ASAP,they need to consuct a PAR for everyone on the fireground. once the rescue is made or determined that it can not be made a transition to a defensive operation would be appropriate
What else are you going to need to consider or are going to need confirmation on?
time, fire spread, egress, exit points, how many guys are in trouble and how many will be in trouble
Risk and Safety…what are your biggest concerns?
The building is going to flashover, once we find the down firefighter how will we get him out, what is the affect of the fire on the building, How far are we going to go befor we say we can not get him out.
What else are you going to need?
PEOPLE
You’ve been given the assignment by Command, Get your assignments out, you’ve got five minutes to brief and deploy….now get goin’……
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I agree with you even if someone is in there can we effectively search this occupancy and rescue them? NO!
Are they going to be alive if we do find them? NO the smoke will have killed them long befor we ever get to them.
Unfortunatly around this country to many TOUGH GUYS try and make an impact and risk lives on buildings that don't matter. These guys that are in trouble in this scenario did just that and now we do have a life safety issue....US and we have to at least attempt to bring them home.
Homeless people don't stick around when things go bad, Its not my fault they are homeless, even if they are in there they are dead.
Open this building up and utilize big lines and fill it up.best way to handle this fire.
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Permalink Reply by morris washburn on
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In The County I live in , we dont have time for that and we really dont have the personal either. We are a small community here and we do the best we can with what we have . The community Iam at we have no large 2 or 4 story buildings , which I feel is a good thing .This county might have about 150 - 200 personel on the roster but only a 1/3 show up over all,day time and night . Sorry I cant give my thoughts on this.
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Permalink Reply by firekiller on
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In my fire district we have many 3 to 4 story structures some even 5 stories and now in a year or so we will have an 8 story multi use structure. we try to pre-plan some of these buildings, we have some buildings that are vacant for many years now . We try to go into these buildings 2 to 3 times a month. We look for signs of any homeless people, bedding of any type or clothing. If we find any signs of anyone living there we report it to the police. so when an alarm comes in for one of these buildings we do an exteior attack, so that we don,t send our guys in to dangers. yeh there is the chance that they may be a homeless person in there, but with a heavy load their chance of living is 0 to non. thats the risk to benifit we must deal with.
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Permalink Reply by Keith Buckmiller on
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I agree, in 2006 two out of five times in 2006 where a firefighter died by collapse, entrapment and lost (as opposed to heart attack etc. ) were in buildings reported to be unoccupied. When will recognize the value of life versus property and realize that the day after we extinguish the fire the bull dozers will level the building anyway. What are we "saving"? Keith
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I do not believe you are digressing, but instead hitting the real issue directly, "What were my firefighters doing in an unoccupied commercial occupancy anyway?" Keith
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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The basic theory is - identify the Mayday through the LUNAR system - Location, Unit, Needs, Air, Resources needed system. (UCAN - Unit, Condition, Air, Needs is an alternative) Move all radio traffic except for the Mayday to an alternate channel. The Mayday, the RIT Group Leader and RIT stay on the Mayday channel.
Command should have the basic location and assignment IF the Mayday unit can be identified and IF that unit is where they're supposed to be and IF the pre-plan is accurate and IF a collapse or heavy fire condition haven't obliterated the Mayday unit's location and orientation.
All other units stay on task to fight the fire, vent, and otherwise keep the fight going. The RIT team enters with tools, a RIT bag with spare SCBA/regulator/facepiece/transfill hose, an attic ladder, a Stokes or other slick-bottom drag device, rope, carabiners, extra lights, and at least one TIC. They go to the last reported location and start the transfill/stabilization/rescue. RIT calls for extra resources as needed.
IC immediately calls for an additional alarm, additional EMS, and an extra heavy rescue, if one is available.
The On-Deck truck moves up to staff an additional RIT, since we just deployed the only one we had.
The On-Deck engine stays On Deck if there's no additional immediate need, or they go take the Mayday unit's assignment if that assignment isn't being completed and if it's critical to protecting the Mayday or another company.
The next-due rescue fills the other 4 spots on RIT Team 2. The next-due engine and truck move to On Deck.
Once RIT gets to the Mayday, they identify the problem and fix it if they can. This can be something as simple as an out-of-air problem, in which case a transfill and assist to fresh air may be all that's required. It might be a heart attack with an unconscious firefighter. It may be a partial collapse with a hopeless entrapment. RIT needs to identify and communicate this to the RIT Leader, who should stay outside.
If you have a RIT Leader manage the Mayday, the IC can manage the rest of the incident and keep everyone else on task.
Now for a reality check...
Chris, your RIT and On Deck manpower for this scenario is our entire first alarm (high value) assignment except for the first-due engine and the battalion chief. If we're committed this deep on this fire and we have that Mayday, either someone better be able to orient and self-rescue, or we're going to likely have a LODD funeral or three.
This is a great scenario, but it's out of reach of the manpower that would be available in a lot of places.
More importantly, it's apparently abandoned and boarded up, and the Black Fire on Side D tells us that this one is getting ready to flash over. This would likely be defensive (URBC) if the IC was smart.
URBC = Urban Renewal By Combustion
Ben
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