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Permalink Reply by SHAWN FORINGER on January 29, 2009 at 8:14pm

Jess ,just relax .At next drill or get one of your line officer tell them you want to put on the air pack and do some exercises and use a blacked out masked on .Your line officers might not let you use air all deptnde .for the blacked out mask put your nomex on backwards and that will help .Fellow advised of our fire fighters and humm a song or talk it works .

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Travis on April 9, 2009 at 12:50am

thanks for all the advice....
has any of this stuff changed since then? im so nervous....
Whats the best way to get the victim out? (lol and dont say through the door....lol)
HELP!!

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Permalink Reply by Keenan Mulvaney on April 9, 2009 at 1:55am

Always know where your buddy is, either by touch or sound. Try to "Map" your way in. Use your hands to get a feel for what your getting into. If you don't, you will get 20 feet in, loose your buddy and then what? Or a more likely scenario, you are number 3 or 4 on the team and after you grab the victim, your number one and you don't know how to get out. It's allot of work, but always try to be somewhat oriented.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Lintz on April 9, 2009 at 2:08am

Dont kill yourself rescuing your vic thats why you have a partner. If they are to heavy ask them to help. Also carry webbing with you, wrap it around the vic's chest and keep a loop in it that you can pull on or put over you head to pull them out. and remember dont start to panic once you find your vic you'll blow your bottle, and dont forget let your partner know and let IC what you have and were you found them (ie: 3rd room Delta side) That way if something happens they have a good idea of where you are in the structure.

Hope this helps
Mike Lintz

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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on April 9, 2009 at 2:10am

Jessica, most important is think about your breathing. If you actually think about your breathing and focuse on slow steady respirations you will actually remain calm and relaxed. Take some practice but it really works. That will help you to negotiate through the maze and complete the task. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Roy Walker on April 9, 2009 at 2:10am

It sounds like you haven't recieved any training and are going into this exercise cold. I hope this isn't the case all that does is prove what you need to know and that isn't the way to train. First you should have lectures on this procedure and become familiar with requirements and operations.
Next you need some dry runs , putting on taking off, operation of the b a and emergency procedures, plus a few exercises designed to make you familiar with your pack.
After you have been certified in these methods and hopefully medically cleared to handle this stress, and only then should you be involved in a smoke drill. Little steps not giant leaps should be the intent when training . You don't throw someone in the deep end of the pool to see if they can swim.
At first it will seem like a lot to handle but slowly you will relax and get familiar with this evolution . Everyone is right the key to sucess is in controling your breathing and achieving a level of confidence. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Travis on April 9, 2009 at 2:19am

well not completely cold...
we know the packs inside and out, we know our gear and how to use it correctly....
The part that i dont get is how to get the "victim" out... we were told the "victim" is going to be unconscious so no chance of getting them to help... whats the best way to get an unconscious victim out?
btw we wont have webbing

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Permalink Reply by Mike Lintz on April 9, 2009 at 2:45am

There are many different ways to get a unconscious victim out if they are in bed take the sheets off and drag that way or drag them by their shirt collar. another way is to grab them from under their arms and have your partner get under their legs and push as you pull

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Permalink Reply by matt on April 9, 2009 at 8:59am

just stay calm! it was unnerving for me the first time to but i have a good friend in the company who took me aside after he say how i reacted. he took me aside and showed me a great way to control my breathing. you can hum like caleb said which works good. my friend said you should go in threw the nose out threw the mouth very slowly. when you first get the pack on just take a few seconds to get use to it and get use to it i myself can make a 45 min pack last at least an hour by doing either the huming or the in threw the nose out threw the mouth i think i may have set the record for my firefighting 1 bootcamp when i did that and when i got my gear on pack in all in under a min. but most of all just stay calm and relax if you get worked up youll butn your tank up in 10 min so stay calm and stay safe kk
matt

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Permalink Reply by John on April 9, 2009 at 9:23am

Just try to relax and don't panic, Listen to the instructors. I am sure you will be fine.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Wright on April 9, 2009 at 9:30am

Jessica
I breath thought my nose, works for me. I've got a 6 foot long 1/2 rope with loops on both ends, you put one end on your hand your pal puts the other end on his. That way you can't get apart. And you can use it to drag a victim out if you have to. Like stated in other post, Listen to the instructor, stay calm, if you get in a pinch, stop and regain yourself. This training is the only way that you'll master the SCBA. Good Luck !

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Permalink Reply by Ben "Batman" Barry on April 18, 2009 at 4:59pm

dont panic it is the worst thing you can do.

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