Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Continuing with yesterdays story I'd like to have a quick discussion on how
well prepared your RIT is to go to work. Hopefully by now most of us know the
importance of having RIT on scene EARLY. To take a proactive approach a RIT
company should be on the initial dispatch of all reported structural fires. If
you're going to be a RIT company you need to walk the walk in every way. People
are calling you with the expectation that you will do everything in your teams
power to affect rescues of downed firefighters. Like the "starters" on a
professional sports team, your crew must have earned the right to ride on the
rig that's responding as the RIT company and like a "starter" you must be able
to perform under pressure. Just because you have a pulse does not make you a
qualified RIT responder. Training on RIT techniques until they are mastered as
well as knowing your equipment and it's capabilities are key. To top that, you
better know how to use them in a adverse conditions and how to quickly modify
things on the fly and skip to plan B, C, and D as seamlessly as possible. I
know not every RIT deployment will be the firefighter partially through the
floor or trapped under a collapse and that is where the basics of pushes, pulls,
drags, and carries will come into
play, but you need to be just as fluent in the operations for the big events.
You are expected to show up on scene with a total "Can Do" attitude. Check out
the pictures and read the captions for some helpful tips.
Thank you to Lt. Joe
Shapiro for sharing some of his street smart systems with us.
| Go Bag (The Go Bag is taken in along
with the secondary air supply / RIT Pack
for initial assessment and operations.
You can see it holds only minimal small
hand tools and a battery powered
recipricating saw. If you carry the saw
you should be able to changes blades in
reduced visibity) |
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| RIT Pack (have your bag set up so you
can easily identify various section of
the bag such as the high and low
pressure sides of the bag) |
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| 67 RIT (Pre rigged bags for rapid
deployment) |
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| 3 to 1 (this picture shows a pre-rigged
3:1 systems that can be quickly deployed
to aid in removing a downed firefighter.
Notice the webbing attached to the
carribiner to allow for quickly hooking
up a firefighter through their SCBA
straps) |
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| high point anchor (using a ladder as a
high point above a window to quickly
place the pre-rigged 3:1 in service) |
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| Lowering using ladder (Here is the 3:1
in place with the high point anchor
system. This is extremely helpful in
removing firefighters from windows as
you can use the rungs of the ladder to
act as a rack brake. Be sure your
system is stowed in a bag that is small
enough to pass through the ladder
rungs.) |
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| anchor wrap (Here you see a ladder belt
used as part of the anchor to deploy
this 3:1. The belt adds some extra
weight rating by distributing the weight
over multiple rungs of the ladder and
could be used for a firefighter through
the floor or below grade rescue by
wrapping a few ceiling joists) |
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| webbing through straps (extra webbing
attached to the systems allows for easy
rigging) |
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| SCBA conversion (Converting the SCBA
waist belt is a must have skill for any
RIT) |
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| Easy straps (With any bag or carrier
you may have as part of your RIT tool
cache, be sure the straps are easy to
unbuckle with a gloved hand. Take the
extra time and search out easy to use
equipment ahead of time to avoid delays
when time is crucial) |
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| Search lines (Always be sure you have a
decent anchor point for any search lines
you deploy. Using near by apparatus is
always a great option) |
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| Sledges (Cutting down a sledge handle
for RIT applications is a useful tool
when operating in tight spaces) |
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