After taking a month off due to all of the time-consuming activities Drill of the Month is BACK!
In the above video, we see an Engine company performing EMS on a victim. Every since the advent of Fire Service based EMS response this has become the norm in communities across the country. With the number of ALS providers and the seemingly endless availability of them (in my department there are usually several within a few feet of you on an EMS run) some of our BLS providers may not have the chance to practice their skills as often. There are not many times, but they do exist where we have a completely BLS engine, yet the service expectation by the citizens does not change. If they received advanced care previously then they expect it again.
The solution is to have BLS only drills. Have your BLS providers run a cardiac arrest and play it out without the insertion of an ALS provider. Have them practice their assessment skills on a variety of patients without the presence of advanced care providers, and if your organization allows it, have them take BLS transports while riding their tour on the ambulance.
Additionally you can up there understanding as to what ALS providers do. We call it ALS for BLS and train a majority of our BLS providers how to set up IV’s, acquire 12 leads, set up nebulizer treatments, etc. All of these things only increase the effectiveness of your EMS operations, and improve patient care for the citizens.
There will be a day when your BLS providers are waiting on a medic, will they be prepared? To make sure they are spend some time this month training them to succeed and do BLS skills to perfection. It is true that a good BLS provider can save an ALS provider, I would know I am living proof.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Sure the calender says Spring but here it has been COLD! A few days ago we even had 3 inches of snow! Due to that a lot of times our Hands On Training (HOT) has to be postponed until warmer and less oppressive weather returns. However this is no excuse to let our training suffer.
A few years ago while assigned to a different station on a particular winter weather day the shift decided to get creative and not let a perfectly good 24 hours go to waste.
Utilizing the steel bar joist roof construction of the bay, a simple folding ladder, ropes, harnesses, and 8 plates we were able to practice single person rappels, pickoffs, self rescues, and lock offs all from the comfort of the bay.
This is just one example of how creativity can still provide great training! The options are ENDLESS, all it takes is some initiative and ingenuity.
Do not let the frigid temperatures slow you or your shifts progression down utilize the vast resources of your own fire station and get to work! The warmer months will be soon upon us, but do not put it off until then!
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Last week I had the chance to go to the EMS Today Conference in Washington DC. While It was only for the day, I got to experience some great things, look at new products and get to see some old friends.
One of the best things about conferences is learning. Sure looking at apparatus and freebies on the exhibit floor are cool, and year that “Aint Skeeeeerd” shirt is well it’s not for me but if it is for you then by all means buy 50 of them, but the main goal of any conference is for you to come back smarter than when you left, or at least have been inspired to think. FDIC, Firehouse EXPO, Firehouse World, state fire and EMS conferences all have things to offer other than t-shirts and beer. However EMS Today is a little bit unique.
They may realize that not everyone can afford a conference package including all of the classroom sessions. Or they realize that maybe people have limited time and want to be able to maximize the one day they may have at the conference. So they offered a unique but not untried tactic.
They offered several 30 min mini classes on the exhibit floor! The classes were varying topics and where all day long. A few years ago FIrehouse EXPO tried something similar offering a few hour-long classes during the exhibits. I personally LOVE this idea. Especially only having one day this allowed me to get some education and some networking/exhibit hall time.
I sat in this class, and while only 30 mins it was top-notch. I learned a lot about new trauma techniques that are being used in the military and may be coming to am ambulance near you very soon. Also learned some new traumatic fluid resuscitation techniques.
Every one of these sessions was packed, every time I looked over there was no seating room available, some people sat for all of the classes, others like me picked the ones they wanted then moved on but usually they were standing room only.
I personally think this adds ALOT to someones exhibit hall only ticket value. Now they have the chance to get education and exhibit viewing all at the same time. I think EVERY conference needs to be trying something like this. Based on what I saw it was obviously a popular place, and a good selling tool for instructors. I know after I was done and talked to my wife about it, she was interested in getting the instructor to come teach at the Virginia EMS symposium. This would allow a conference like FDIC who is heavy on education to give more value to the exhibit hall pass, and still have the primary focus as education. FDIC is so big they could have multiple spots with varying topic tracks in different locations.
For a conference like Firehouse EXPO who places (in my opinion) a little less emphasis on education this could again give more value tot he exhibit hall pass, and put more focus back on educating firefighters.
Needless to say I thought EMS Today was great.It will be back in DC next year but this time in early February, check out www.EMStoday.com for more info. I hope to be attending again and hoping to take even more classes this time.
If you attended let me know what you think in the comments section, or on twitter.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
The story below is from my brother Danny who is a Fireman for the City of Richmond assigned to Rescue Company 2. This is a first hand detailed account of the difficulties and challenges firefighters face every day in hoarding or heavy content fires. While Danny usually leaves the writing to me, I think it’s safe to say he can hold his own on the fireground and with the written word. Enjoy and as usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and stay safe!
My Hoarding Experience
Fireman Danny Owens
Rescue Co. 2
Richmond, Va
I had always heard the horror stories of fires that involved “hoarding conditions” and I guess I was very naïve that it would never happen to us. Well IT DID!!!! This writing is to inform and educate other fire service members of my firsthand account of a fire we experienced just this past week involving a house on fire with “hoarding conditions”.
It was a normal day at the firehouse on shift. The duties of the day were winding down and dinner was being cooked. We had just finished our daily training which today consisted of just watching and discussing some fire videos on YouTube. We had been in a fire season slump so far and most of us contribute that to our “white cloud” on our crew; then it happened, 2 beeps and tones dropped. 4 engines/quints, Rescue Company, Battalion Chief and the shift safety officer dispatched for a residential fire with multiple calls coming in stating there is an elderly female trapped inside. This was just the beginning.
We geared up loaded up the rig and head to the fire. About half way there more reports started coming in that the house was in fact on fire and neighbors were positive the elderly lady was still inside. Now we are all taught to expect fire on every run but in reality we all get amped up for what sounds like a “real” fire especially if you haven’t had one in awhile, throw in the key words of “person trapped” and that will amp you up just a little a bit higher especially if you’re riding in the rescue company. In my department the rescues do a bulk of the searching and that’s what I am assigned to. We get to the area of town where the fire is, about a 3 minute ride running code 3 and we see the lovely “smoke in the sky”. We turn the corner on the cross street park the rig and unload, there is so much smoke in the street you can barely tell which house is even on fire. I grab my assigned tools which is a 2nd set of irons and I’m not going to lie I flat out ran up the street trying to get a glimpse of the big picture. Our company rides with 4 fireman and officer, we take advantage of having a big crew so we split up and get multiple jobs done at 1 time. Our officer ended up taking command of this fire from the acting Lieutenant of the 1st due engine, our driver gears up and handles outside truck company duties and the rest of us go inside and perform search and rescue duties. As we hastily approach the house numerous neighbors are yelling that they are positive the elderly lady is in there as black smoke pushes from the eaves of the 2nd floor. I stopped to mask up as the nozzle man stretches the line, my partner had gone up to check the front door which he found unlocked so he opened it to check the conditions and to see if the lady was near the door; she was not but what we found on the other side would drastically change this operation from a “ordinary” house fire to a bigger challenge.
When my partner opened the door all you could see was fire and piles and piles of flat out “junk”!!! At that point we knew we had a BIG problem on our hands. The fire started coming towards us as we waited at the door for the line, I attempted to close the door back with my halligan but there was so much junk on the floor it wouldn’t close completely. By the time the line was charged and ready fire was licking over our heads in the doorway, the nozzle man it the fire from there and went ahead and entered the house to start our search. At first we headed to the stairs knowing that if anyone was trapped above the fire that they would be in most danger. We got about 10-15 feet inside the house and hit a dead stop in progress due to the amount of fire and the numerous piles of “junk” as I will call it. You couldn’t even make out what all this stuff was there were clothes, papers, desks, chairs, furniture, etc etc piled up about 4-5 foot high as far as the eye could see!!! As this point fire started showing itself on the 2nd floor through the roof on the “C” side and was reported by the Battalion Chief who had pulled up on scene in the alley. We could still not find the stairs so my partner and I exited back out the front door and went around back to try and get a better path to the stairs. We forced the back door and found the stairs within 5 feet but who would guess that the stairs were blocked by another pile of junk!! At this point we had done a good primary on the first floor and when we had gone around back people were still telling the commander that they were absolutely positive the lady was home was trapped inside the house. This obviously amped up the situation even more. We knew we had to get to that 2nd floor or this lady was going to be a goner sooner than later.
With the assistance of another company we started to clear a path to the 2nd floor which where we were met with fire and heavy heat conditions as we called for a 2nd line one of our crew members low air alarm started sounding so we notified command we were exiting to change bottles and to send another crew to the 2nd floor with the line to continue our search. We changed bottles in what felt like less than a minute and once again were fighting our way back up the stairs. We couldn’t make it past the top of the landing because of the fire conditions and parts of the floor had started to deteriorate. At this time we still had not found the resident and the commanders made the decision to call us down from the 2nd floor until we could get the fire knocked down and make a better recon of the stability of the 2nd floor.
We exited the house and reported to command what we saw and what the conditions were and then were sent to rehab. It was fairly somber sitting around in rehab at least in my opinion knowing that we did not find the lady but also knowing we did the best job we could with the conditions we were dealt. After being in rehab for awhile we received the good news that the lady had showed up at the scene saw her house was on fire and left again without a care in the world!!! This is where I began to think about what we had just put ourselves through and how dangerous it was and it angered me. Here we are disregarding our own safety to try and find this lady who wasn’t even home and who didn’t even care her house had caught on fire.
In conclusion this fire was very challenging and had many variables that could have easily gotten one of us hurt or killed. I have been to hoarding fires before but it was nowhere near this scale of stress and drama. We went from normal bread and butter house on fire person trapped and going “All In” to “WOAH NELLY let’s take a step back” and do this as “knowledgably aggressive” as possible and that’s exactly what we did. The term “knowledgably aggressive” is my way of saying that being aggressive is ok as long as you’re smart about it and you’re educated and aware of the situations you’re faced with. My crew communicated great and we each knew what the other was thinking. We operated safely as possible but we were taking risks because in our heads we thought someone was in there. Every sign pointed to there being a person trapped. Everyone on scene operated safely within the hoarding conditions and I hope it was an eye opener for everyone else as much as it was for me. We as a fire service cannot approach these incidents as your normal bread and butter type house fires. These events are becoming more and more common and you need to be prepared for anything when you open that front door. I hope our experience at this particular fire helps other firefighters educate themselves on these scenarios in the future.
Everyone knows the tale of Hansel and Gretel. Two kids who get lost in the woods and leave a trail of bread crumbs to lead themselves back home. Well while the method was not perfect Hansel and Gretel had a great idea and it is something we can use on the fireground.
Here are the two styles of door chocks I carry in my gear. While this may seem simple think about this scenario. Your chocking the doors that you going through, but then despite your best efforts you get turned around, you think you know where you’re at, but then that anxiety sets in. YOUR LOST! You issue the MAYDAY and you give your LUNAR report and whether you include your name in the report or not at some point you will be identified by name. Either through your MAYDAY report or when you give your unit number and position the accountability officer should have some form of accountability tag with your name, or it may be as simple as your company officer going “I lost Johnny”. At some point the RIT is going to be activated and they will know who the person is they are looking for. As the crawl into the building their flashlight sweeps over a door and they see a chock with writing on it, “Isn’t that Johnny’s initials/name? ” “He must have gone this way”.
Any hint we can give the RIT as to our location will do nothing but improve our chances of surviving a MAYDAY event.
Here are 2 other types of chock I carry. One is called a “hing hook” the other is a “cherry bomber”. In order to make these more visible I have added some reflective striping. This way they will be more eye-catching to a RIT, because door hinges usually don’t glow or shine back at you, so they may be more inclined to investigate it.
If they do happen to crawl over to it, or past it they will then just like the door wedges they will see an identifying mark as to who it is and who could have been through here. You can even add this reflective striping to your wedges to enhance there visibility. You can even add your company number, or any identifying mark that will help lead a rescuer to you.
The point is that this simple thing could pay huge dividends when involved in a MAYDAY situation. This is our “bread crumb trail” and can be just one more tool in your tool box to help you in your time of need. We should be chocking doors anyway why not take advantage of this and make it work for us.
At minimum putting your name and company will enhance the chances of your chock getting returned to you after a fire.
So take some time for “chock enhancement” it could pay off for you in the end.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Have to thank my good friend Rude Boy for pointing this video out to me. Apparently it was on some other websites but I missed it.
I just have some thoughts, and I do not know everything about this fire, this fire department, their staffing anything like that. I just see a very small snap shot in time and have some thoughts to consider.
1. It seems a lot of focus was on the room on fire. While I think that’s a good thing fire tends to move up,down,left,right,front, and back. It what appears to be some sort of multi family occupancy with adjoined rooms where is the line above? Where is the line in the room adjacent to the fire room? In fact why are searches not being initiated in those rooms as they present more chance to produce a viable victim?
2. They found a victim after knocking down a MASSIVE amount of fire. They obviously thought this victim was viable because they drug him out of the building. Then they took what they thought was this viable victim and….left him there. Why did someone not start hands only CPR? Why was an EMS crew not close to the scene?
Again not picking because I do not know what the circumstances are that these firefighters were facing, but this incident speaks to me about some priorities I may want to make at my next fire, or that you may want to consider at your next fire.
Do we (insert your FD here) even have the resources readily available to combat a fire like this and care for a victim? If not how can we get them? If we are depending on mutual aid can we get them on the first alarm, or do we need to adjust when that process gets started?
The fire service is not easy, especially today when we have extreme fire loads, buildings that fail easier, and we have to process all of those things in a dynamic time compressed environment. On top of that every move we make now is documented and put out there for all to see, so every “mistake” is magnified. That makes it all the more important to get in the gym, get on the training ground, and do all the prep work on the front end. Lets give these amature filmmakers Oscar performances!
Thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
I have written about his subject several times. It has been debated, argued, revisited and gone through the whole hay bailer again. Much like everything we do, there are several different ways to accomplish the same mission. A majority of them fall in the realm of not wrong but different. To me the “when to mask up question” is one of those topics. As I have stated before there is a few wrong places to mask up (In the hot zone, or near potential exhaust points) but for the most part it is up to personal preference.
You can argue one way or the other, but if you take this video for wha it is worth, and at face value then the only way this rescue could have been made is by coming off the rig masked up. Taking the time to mask up in the yard would have taken too much time and the room would have flashed over before an entry could have been made.
This technique does work, and when practiced can decrease our Zero Impact Period.
Like I have said a million times however this needs to be trained on here is an example
People who participate in the Firefighter Combat Challenge do so in full PPE,SCBA, with mask on air. These events are supposed to mirror the fireground, all it takes is training. You think it will affect your size up, then practice your size up with your mask on. You think it will affect your fireground movement, then put your mask on and do the movements.
It is possible, and with training you can make it happen.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Yesterday I pulled my regularly scheduled tour on the ambulance, very shortly in I discovered it was going to be one of those days where the order of the day was the generalized “sick” people.
Coughing, hacking, sneezing, sniffling, stuffed noses, chest colds, vomiting, there seems to be no end in sight this time of year. Everyone on the shift even seems to have some sort of nagging illness that just will not go away. As a sit here and type me and the wife are playing dueling coughs. After cleaning up some vomit for the second time in only 2 short hours I decided it was time for the ambulance to get a big time interior cleaning. I typically try to do a major decon on the ambulance every time I ride it, but calls sometimes dictate the ability to do so. At minimum I try to give it a good wipe down on the surfaces (handles, action area, seating surfaces) and we decon the stretcher after every run.
While we should be doing this all the time, during this time of the year it is magnified times ten! Usually we are the ones who are healthy and our patients are sick. During this time of year EVERYONE is sick with at least a cold, and we are traveling around in an incubator of disease. Sometimes on the run we even EAT in the ambulance. This means we have to step up our decontamination efforts.
We need to at minimum wipe down the interior surfaces (including the steering wheel, radio mic, siren button etc.) and sweeping and mopping the floor each tour. If you like you can even add some Lysol of other disinfectant spray.
It is fire season, don’t miss the fires that are going on because you are racked out on sick leave from an illness you got on the box. We are the best line of defense for ourselves and family. So take the time to decon the medic and our EMS gear daily, wash your hands, and take showers.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Your just cleaning up from lunch, when the tones drop. Engine 1, Engine 2, Ladder 1, Squad 1, Medic 1 and Battalion 1 for the residential fire 1345 West St.
You drop what you’re doing you head to the rig you get all your gear on you jump on the engine, you buckle up and begin putting your pack on. The engine pulls out of the station your officer sees a column of smoke in the sky, you’re going to work!
You arrive and you hop off the rig and pull your hand line to the front door, you may be on the porch landing, you may be right in front of the door but your close, no one is getting a line on this fire before you. You drop to your knees and begin to don your SCBA face peice….then this happens
Now I am not going to quote a bunch of statistics, to you because frankly I do not even know if someone has studied this phenomenon. What i do know is that I have been to enough fires, seen enough videos, and heard enough stories to know that this stuff happens. Hostile fire events come out of open doors and windows, and even under enough pressure can open closed windows and doors or for lack of better term possible vent openings.
Take a look at this video:
Not only is the danger of a hostile fire event possible from masking up so close to the structure, but these firefighters are already in an IDLH atmosphere. That smoke the are “eating” is no different from the smoke inside the structure. It contains the aggregates, and cancer producing abilities just the same as any other smoke it makes no difference that it is outside. It is also super heated and could damage your airway.
Now everyone knows I am a big fan of masking up in the rig. However if this is not your style then perhaps you should not mask up so close, to the structure. One approach would be to treat it like a Haz-Mat situation creating Hot, Warm, and Cold zones. Cold zones no PPE required, Warm zone PPE donned, Hot zone all PPE required. This would minimize the risk of the hostile fire event and unneeded smoke intake, that is quite frankly killing us slowly. I do not care how in shape you are the damage the smoke does to your lungs and airway can never be repaired. It may not affect you now but eventually it will, what you do today will minimize its impact.
I am reminded of a story that happened a few years ago on a fire. We arrived and fire was through the roof and it was decided that we would go into defensive operations. My brother on the truck company masked up, was pulling the soffit from side A in order for our hose streams to make access to the attic space. When he inserted his NY Roof Hook and pulled tar from the shingles that had melted and pooled in the soffit space shot out and splattered all over his face piece. Had he been “mask less” because this was a defensive operation that super heated tar would have burned him, and possible gotten into is eyes, and mouth. This could have ended his fire service career! However because he wa a mask up in the truck kinda guy he came off ready to work, and was uninjured.
So whether you are in the mask up in the truck camp or masking up in the yard camp try to be aware of your surroundings and keep away from masking up in front of possible vent openings and in the smoke being produced by the fire.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
In multifamily dwellings all over the country outside stair wells exists. They can be made of metal or wood. In either case we do not know the up keep of these stairs, nor do we know if these stairs have been subjected to vandalism, or the quality of their construction.
While at work yesterday out int he district I noticed a particular set of stairs that looked a little suspect.
As you can see by the pictures these stairs are weathered, rusted and have seen better days. How would they stand up to the weighted of fully geared fireman deploying hoselines, tools, rescuing victims, etc.? These particular stairs lead to the rear exit for the second division apartments. How would these stairs hold up to victim evacuation, or victim rescue? If these stairs were to collapse how could we overcome them with the equipment we carry?
These are all things we need to figure out before the incident. We have minimal influence over the individual complexes to up the maintenance program, or repair/replace the stairs or other features of the buildings. What we do have influence over is to get out in our district, and discover and plan for these failures before the incident.
So in short get out in your district and find problems like these, and let the companies that respond to them know about them. DO NOT KEEP IT A SECRET!
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
