How many of you here are certified firefighters but have still yet to be taught how to identify the limitations of your PPE? With gear becoming better and better each year, do you or your Chief really know what is the weakest link in your personal protective ensemble?
This past weekend I hosted a class on Thermal Insult Recognition. We were able in a controlled environment, to NOT only tell you about "heat" like many classes but show/feel thermal insult recognition while wearing some of the best gear on the market.
All firefighters who go "interior" deserve to be trained in thermal insult recognition. Otherwise... what are they going to base their decision making process from? Is it when the low air alarm rings.... or is it when they exinguish that small or simulated fire with very little heat in a firefighter 1 class? Thing is most newly certified firefighters are so eager to be banged out to a job, do you feel comfortable with there training, experience or exposure to the elements? When the non-controlled fire rapidly escalates to untenable for the trained firefighter.... are they going to react positively or wait just a few extra seconds and we are hanging the bunting...
Firefighters need a systematic approach to sizing up the interior conditions, what I like to call the
Interior Benchmarking model. (FETC exclusive training, which will be offered at FDIC-2011)
Training firefighters for real world situations is what it is all about...
So again I ask, when your gear is at 100% heat saturation, what is the weakest link on your firefighters PPE?
Take Care and Stay Safe Brothers...
FETC
Photo Credit: Sarah Whitney Property of FETC Services, all rights reserved. No use without written permission from FETC and/or the photographer.
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