Rapid Intervention Roles & Responsibilities
Happy Holidays, after a short break for vacation we’re back… A while ago Brian Rayner asked about some thoughts on RIT responsibilities, so while it took me a while – I usually come through.
I’m going to share with you the recently revised policies for the DCFD on this topic. Let me start off by saying that I don’t think this “the light”, or the only way. I do think it’s a good idea, and that they work well. But ultimately I’m just sharing what we do. Hopefully you guys have some better ideas to share back, or maybe you’ll pick up something to take back and make work for your department….
To bring you up to speed:
- Our engines are staffed with FOUR (driver, officer, lineman, layout) and truck have FIVE (driver, tiller, officer, barman, hookman).
- Our box alarms get 5 engines and 2 trucks. The 5th due engine has the “initial” RIT responsibilities. They lay a separate supply line (the 3rd supply line BTW) from an independent source and report to side A with a independent attack line.
- When an incident is discovered to be a “working fire”, that brings (among other things) a 3rd truck company which is teamed up with the 5th engine to be the “RIT Group”.
So in summary, if that bored you, we have 1 engine & 1 truck with a total of 9 FF’s as our RIT group.
Truck Company Responsibility
The truck company’s role is to locate the downed firefighter, get them on air, package the downed-FF and begin removal, if possible. Let me interject my own thought here: locating the downed-FF and keeping them on fresh air is critical. If that FF runs out of air before you find them, or because we can’t get fresh air on them, the rest is a recovery…
Another personal point on this – companies should prepare for the fact that they may not complete the extrication. As firefighters, we train & learn to complete our tasks: you start forcing the door, YOU finish it… Your first due? YOU put the fire out, etc… In RIT, situations can be so complicated and STRENUOUS that it is likely that the first team to put their hands on the downed FF may not complete the removal process. That’s not to say we shouldn’t TRY, but we need to accept this, put down our egos, and work together to do what’s necessary…
So back on track – our 5 person truck splits into two teams. This mimics our regular fireground operations where we have an entry team (OIC, bar, hook) and roof team (driver, tiller).
Reconnaissance Team (OIC, Bar, Hook):
The primary goal of these FF’s is to locate the downed-FF as quickly as possible. They use a tag-line as orientation to themselves and to provide rapid access to the downed-FF, once located, for those coming to assist. This team must be LIGHT, FAST, AND MOBILE.
- Officer: search line bag & TIC, out front of the group.
- Hook: RIT SCBA pack
- Bar: Halligan & Axe, Hydra-Ram.
Equipment Team (Driver, Tiller):
These guys are on the “ready 5″ (Top Gun reference, BTW). They are outside, STAYING FRESH. They may be gathering additional tools dicataed as the situation unfolds, establishing egress to the specific area where the FF is thought to be, etc…
Their BIG role is to be FRESH BODIES that can scurry in on that tag line once the downed-FF is located and start removing the downed-FF. Again, more than likely that Recon team is going to be whopped and out of air after they accomplish their goals (if not, great!) so the Equipment team has to be fresh so they can keep the operation going as additional resources are gathered.
- Assemble tools in staging area.
- Place lighting, ladders.
- Open up means of egress.
- Be in a rested, ready state to head in and assist the recon team as needed.
Engine Company Responsibility
The engine has a simple, straightforward, yet CRITICAL mission: create a “defendable space” (translation: KEEP THE FIRE OFF US). Their job is pretty much to make sure the truck can do theirs. In most situations, if week keep the downed FF on air and keep the fire off them, we can take as long as we want (figuratively) to remove them.
- Engine Driver: insures the team has water. Ideally, the RIT Engine’s line should come off their OWN rig (redundancy in pump, supply, etc). However if, for some reason, it CAN’T, the driver will physically stand at the pump panel of the rig that line does come off of to make sure it has water when needed.
- OIC, Lineman, Layout – advance & operate line to protect the RIT operation.
This has been a really quick overview of our operations – most things here could of course be pages & pages on their own, so go easy on me if I over looked something 
A lot of our policies were revised over the spring & summer and were part of the Department’s “Back to Basics” program, which I was fortunate enough to be a part off… Taking 1200 of our personnel through this program certainly allowed the instructors to see a lot of pro’s & con’s and how things really played out.
Again – this isn’t the only way, it’s just our way (currently). I think it shows a lot of pro-active thinking for RIT though, and I’d hope everyone would take away the concept of having SOME plan for your Department’s operations. As always just make sure it fits your typical staffing & operations. If you don’t have enough manpower on the 1st alarm to handle these duties, you probably need to beef up that 1st alarm assignment…
Take Care & Happy Holidays,
-Nick
Related posts:
- Intro to RIT with West Hempfield, PA This past weekend we conducted a “Intro to RIT” (Rapid...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Upcoming Classes
- Sat 9/18/2010: Officer Development School (OPEN)
- Sat 10/9/2010: Engine Company Operations