HEATHER CASEY
Firehouse.Com News
In a recent testing exercise at Chesterfield County Fire and EMS in Virginia, 17 firefighters went through a scenario where they were lost in a burning building with a limited air supply and zero visibility.
"While you could debate the pros and cons of each, some of the actions of our participants were pretty interesting to watch," said Capt. Dave Daniels, the department safety officer. "All of the facilitators learned a great deal just observing the various behaviors."
The exercise was part of a test for promotion to lieutenant. For the past several years, the assessors have been putting the candidates through different scenarios where they have to think and perform at the same time, instead of just having them answer questions, Daniels said.
The participants knew nothing in advance about the scenario or location. "They didn't know anything other than it's something involving my turnout gear," Daniels said. The firefighters had an average of 10 years of experience.
The candidates were taken to an unfamiliar building and were dressed in full PPE, with the nomex hood on backwards to cover the face piece, and an SCBA with 700 psi remaining. "Most all inspected their SCBA pretty thoroughly and picked up on [the low air supply], but they didn't know if that was part of the assessment," Daniels said.
They also received the following information:
"You are the OIC of the first engine operating at a fire in a Shopping Mall. You and your crew are stretching a 1 3/4" hand line at the top of the escalator on the second floor and you encounter "cold" smoke and zero visibility. While maintaining voice contact with your crew, you begin searching for the fire. You no longer have voice contact with your crew and are now lost and disoriented. This is not a training scenario, your life depends upon your actions!"
One at a time, the candidates were then taken to the same place inside the building, walked in circles to get them disoriented, and assisted to the floor. "That's where the scenario began," Daniels said. "Then, they were on their own to use their own training and experience." They had only their handheld radio, and now 650 pounds of air left.
This took place at a warehouse type structure about a mile from the department's training facility. It was about 80 ft. by 120 ft. with an open floor plan. "The doors were locked and blocked so even if they found one, they couldn't use it to get out," Daniels said.
In addition, Command initially ignored transmissions from participants calling on the handheld radio, and told them to stand by or walked over their transmissions with conversation directed at the radio room, Daniels said.
The intent of this was to prompt the lost firefighters to use the emergency button on the handheld radio and announce "MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, EMERGENCY TRAFFIC."
This is what happened, in the words of Safety Officer Dave Daniels:
- The first firefighter removed items from his pockets and threw them different directions while listening for the object to strike a wall. This in theory would allow him to identify the direction of the closest wall. However, being in the center of the building, none struck a wall.
- Most of them turned the PASS device "ON" early in the exercise, some waited until late, and one kept disarming it when the device began falsing.
- Another firefighter felt an expansion joint on the concrete floor, and knowing it would be a straight path to an outside wall, he followed it. Other participants crawled in circles (large and small), often ending up (after expending their air) back in the starting location.
- Several firefighters found the outside wall and followed it while feeling for doors and windows for escape. One radioed command that he knew it was an outside wall when he felt a rigid steel frame column (good information for Command to know).
- Several were unfamiliar with the handheld radio. Some were unable to readily locate the emergency button, one turned the radio off then tried activating the button, and one even spent the entire time talking into the back of the radio (verbal traffic cannot be heard by anyone, other than the mike keying up). One attempted to push the button (Even though this is tough, it can be done with gloves on), then kept on crawling without issuing a MAYDAY or declaring an emergency.
- When the low air alarm activated a firefighter from the Rapid Intervention Team was introduced to the scenario. The RIT firefighter didn't know how to transfill, therefore it was up to the candidate to make the connections. Some were skilled in making the connection, they knew where the connection was on the regulator, and it was obvious that they had practiced enough to be proficient.
Many had great difficulty in "lining up" the coupling with the connection, or even finding the connection on the regulator (one tried to turn off the mainline valve for the RIT firefighter, then apologized).
Some waited until they were nearly completely out of air before initiating the transfill operation, instead of immediately upon arrival of the RIT (remember the low air alarm has been activating for a while).
One firefighter had difficulty in connecting the transfill coupling (couldn't line it up straight), and eventually connected to the RIT regulator, then couldn't make his own connection. He then pulled the second transfill line out, connected to his own regulator, disconnected the first line from the RIT regulator and completed connecting the second transfill line. (At this point he was drawing a vacuum on his cylinder, but he completed the operation).
Some left the transfill line connected as the two crawled out of the building, while others disconnected after equalizing the air bottles.
- One firefighter (when told that RIT was responding to his location) connected his transfill line in preparation for arrival of the RIT crew. He had no down time trying to retrieve the transfill line, no added stress of trying to make the connections while breathing the last final breaths from a depleted cylinder, and made a quick connection as soon as the RIT firefighter arrived.
- Several participants practiced measures to conserve air. One sat in the same location throughout the exercise, another laid down concentrating on breathing slowly.
The criteria used for evaluating the scenario was:
- Declare an emergency on the radio
- Activate the emergency button
- Announce MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, EMERGENCY TRAFFIC
- Activate the PASS device
- Successfully transfill with the RIT
There were pros and cons to each participant's actions, Daniels said, and there was no ideal solution to the exercise. "The only ideal thing we were looking for is the criteria we had outlined," he said, which included activating the PASS device. "It is really the last piece of hope a down firefighter has," he said.
The amount of time each firefighter spent in the exercise ranged from 9 - 16 minutes, Daniels said. Completion was when the transfill was successful.
All but one of the 17 completed the exercise. Despite this success, however, department officials have been concerned about the results.
"We had a higher level of expectation than what we saw," Daniels said.
The equipment used in the exercise has been in the department for over a decade, Daniels said, so everyone was familiar with it. Without their vision, however, not all of the participants were proficient with it.
"When you can't see it adds an element to any exercise we're unaccustomed to," Daniels said. "Even the assessors would have their own problems," he said, had they gone through the same scenario without preparation.
Daniels said the exercise has generated a lot of discussion in the department and has drawn attention toward the development of a standard operating procedure for trapped or lost firefighters. "This is kind of the catalyst for action," he said.
Although department officials were hesitant to publicly share the results of this exercise, they felt others might also learn something from the results. "It's too important not to pass on to our brother and sister firefighters," Daniels said.
Daniels said the main lesson his department took from the exercise is: "As soon as a firefighter is lost, they must recognize the fact and initiate emergency traffic. The sooner Command is notified and RIT is activated, the greater chance of being rescued. Call for help while you are still strong, so that you remain strong. Don't wait until you are too weak (or low on air) to ask for help."
Daniels also stressed the importance of being proficient with equipment even when visibility is poor.
"A lot of this exercise is taken from the basics," he said, and shows the need for remedial training throughout firefighters' careers.
Two officials from the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute (MFRI) read the description of Chesterfield's exercise and provided an analysis.
Russell J. Strickland, Assistant Director of Field Programs collaborated with Joe Ross, one MFRI's faculty serving as an Industrial Training Specialist, working out of the Special Programs Section, to issue a shared response.
Ross is a fire officer, who commanded the training academy and recently retired from the Anne Arundel County Fire Department in Maryland.
"We both agreed that it was an extremely valuable exercise in that it was real world, real time, and conducted with the utmost considerations of safety for those involved ... The results are not all surprising," Ross said. "The skills that the individuals were performing are not the everyday, routine activities. Particularly for officers, dependent upon the organization, an officer may almost never do any of these."
"The point it "drove home" and nothing that we don't already know is that if you do not practice it, you will have difficulty performing it when you need it. Imagine a Cal Ripken who never practices ground balls, he might never catch them. It's no different than any other type of skill training. Imagine the neurosurgeon who is suddenly called upon to perform an emergency appendectomy. You have to practice or rehearse that which you are going to perform."
"Overall, we were impressed. They (the department) identified skills that they expect, knew that the individuals had some initial training, but the question comes in how much did they (the individuals) drill upon the initial training. We think that the answer was very clear," the pair said.
Despite any concerns it has raised, the exercise has been a positive experience for the department and the participants, Daniels said. "Those who participated had nothing but positive things to say about it."
Chesterfield County Fire and EMS is a combination department with 354 career firefighters and about 200 volunteers. They operate out of 17 fire stations and nine rescue stations, serving a population of 261,000 throughout 446 sq. miles outside Richmond.
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