Rescue - COMMAND RESPONSE TO A MISSING FIRE FIGHTER
The incident Commander MUST ALWAYS assume that a missing fire fighter is lost or trapped in the building until the fire fighter is accounted for. Rapid, concise, decisions and actions must be taken to increase survivability. The following is a list of actions to be taken by Command for a reported missing or trapped fire fighter. These are guidelines and do not necessarily need to be accomplished in the order listed. The first five (5) must be accomplished very rapidly.
- EMERGENCY TRAFFIC Immediately upon a report of a missing or trapped fire fighter “Emergency Traffic” will be sounded to alert all personnel working on the fire ground of the situation. “May Day” will be announced to alert all operating units of a lost or trapped fire fighter (example: “Command to all units we have a ‘May-Day with interior A”).
- CHANGE THE PLAN TO A HIGH PRIORITY RESCUE EFFORT The incident Commander must restructure the plan to include a high priority firefighter rescue effort. A rapid, well thought out, rescue plan must be developed and the Command organization expanded. The plan and objectives must be communicated to other Command staff and sector officers for implementation.
- IMMEDIATELY REQUEST ADDITIONAL ALARMS At least one additional alarm or mutual aid company should be immediately requested including a medical unit. Additional multiple alarms may be requested based on circumstances and potential. Early consideration should be given to heavy equipment resources in the event of a collapse.
- FIREGROUND ACCOUNTABILITY A Personnel Accountability Report (PAR) must be immediately requested from all companies operating on the fire ground. This is especially important in situations of structural collapse. Command cannot develop an effective rescue plan until accurate information is available on the number of missing fire fighters, their identification, their last reported work area, and which companies are affected.
- COMMIT THE RESCUE SECTOR Deploy the Rescue Sector to initiate search and rescue efforts (typically the last reported work area). Rescue Sector will coordinate activities at that location. Additional available resources in staging or rehab may also be committed to rescue efforts.
- WITHDRAWAL OF COMPANIES FROM AFFECTED AREA In some situations, such as collapse, crewmembers can get separated. The only practical method to obtain an accurate roll call for a PAR may be to withdraw crews to the exterior. Withdrawal is a judgment call based on circumstances at the time, information available, and resources. It may not be practical or possible to do. However, the absolute need for an accurate roll call (PAR) and information on missing fire fighters remains a critical priority.
- DO NOT ABANDON FIRE FIGHTING POSITIONS, PROVIDE REINFORCEMENT Abandoning fire fighting positions during the rescue effort should be avoided. Command and crews should take aggressive measures to protect trapped or missing fire fighters from the effects of the fire. Efforts should be concentrated on reinforcing existing positions and keeping the fire out of the rescue area and providing appropriate ventilation and lighting. In some situations it may be appropriate to write off some areas of the building in order to relocate companies and crews to better protect the rescue effort.
- ASSIGN CHIEF OFFICER TO THE RESCUE SECTOR If possible a chief officer should be assigned to direct the rescue sector and rescue operations. Depending on the size of the rescue area and the complexity of operations, more than one chief officer may be needed to fill additional support positions or sectors. The sector officer will assign specific areas or grids of the building to each rescue team (company) to conduct searches before entering the building. Search efforts must be closely coordinated between sectors and Command must be kept informed.
- ASSIGN A SAFETY OFFICER TO THE RESCUE EFFORTS Rescue operations are high risk. The rescue operation may be taking place in post-collapse conditions or a flashover environment. Emotions may be high and fire fighters will tend to want to free-lance and take chances. A Safety officer must be assigned to monitor activity and evaluate the safety of the operation. An available chief officer should assume this sector as soon as possible. Other Safety Sector responsibilities will be to conduct an assessment of the hazards, thus, allowing time for the rescue sector officer to concentrate on the critical rescue effort. These sector officers must work hand in hand to insure that a safe and effective rescue operation is conducted.
- EXPAND THE COMMAND ORGANIZATION With additional resources enroute, along with the critical rescue needs, the Command organization must expand ahead of the demand. The incident Commander must be proactive and aggressive in developing and expanding the Command organization.
- SPECIAL CALL OFFICERS Additional officers will be needed to fill Command team positions and key sectors including Welfare. Command should special call additional officers, and initiate a call back of off-duty officers and personnel as needed.
- EARLY ESTABLISHMENT OF TREATMENT AND TRANSPORTATION SECTORS The incident Commander must have treatment personnel in a position to immediately treat any rescued fire fighters. A transportation sector must also be in place and coordinating activities with the treatment sector officer.
- OPEN or UNLOCK ALL DOORS, IF APPROPRIATE All doors in the immediate area should be unlocked or forced open, and at least the immediate interior area quickly searched. Where practical, the doors should be left open to provide an emergency escape route, unless doing so will have negative effects on the fire. In all cases, the doors must remain unlocked.
- VENTILATE, MAINTAIN LIGHTING Reducing smoke conditions, through effective ventilation, improves the air quality for any victims, and will enhance search and rescue capabilities through increased visibility of the interior. Ventilation should be aggressively employed. Early lighting of the operation (both interior and exterior) needs to be included.
- COORDINATE AND CONTROL THE SEARCH EFFORTS The incident Commander and Rescue Sector officer must insure that a complete, coordinated and controlled search is conducted. Close coordination of all search efforts is a must in order to eliminate duplicate searches that waste time. All areas must be thoroughly searched.
- R.I.T. - S.C.B.A. RESCUE KIT Each rescue team should enter the building with at least one R.I.T.-S.C.B.A. Rescue Kit for each reported lost/trapped fire fighter. Missing fire fighters may have exhausted their S.C.B.A. air supply or may be trapped and cannot be quickly extricated. In each case the fire fighter must be provided “clean” air to increase survivability. The kits have a quick refill capability.
- TECHNICAL RESCUE TEAMS Technical Rescue Teams (TRT) and other specialized equipment should be requested at all structural collapses that have trapped fire fighters.
- WATCH FOR STRUCTURAL STABILITY OF THE BUILDING Command and all personnel must watch the structural stability of the building throughout the rescue effort. Where a structural collapse has occurred, or the fire or other event has compromised the structural integrity of the building, a structural specialist should evaluate the structure if possible. Technical Rescue Teams (TRT) may be called upon to assist with shoring the rescue area, or for the use of other specialized equipment.
- STRONG SUPERVISION REQUIRED Strong supervision and control of activities will be required by all officers. Emotions will be very high. Firefighters in this situation will tend to want to free lance or take higher risk. Treatment personnel will need to be restricted to only those needed. Crowd control of our own non-essential personnel may be required.
- MEDIA CONTROL Command will need to assign someone to control the media early and throughout the incident. Information on the identities and conditions of lost fire fighters must be restricted until after next of kin are notified. Media film crews should be restricted to areas that are safe and at a distance that will prevent visual/facial identification of any victims.
- WELFARE SECTOR A welfare sector will need to be established early. This will aid in notification of next of kin and allow Command to stay ahead of the media’s release of information. A ranking chief officer should be assigned to direct this task.
- CONFIRM WITH DISPATCH TO MONITOR ALL RADIO CHANNELS Command must ensure that dispatch monitor all radio channels (Channels 1-16). Should a lost fire fighter declare emergency on a channel other than the fire ground channel, Command must be immediately directed to the lost fire fighters channel for direct communications.
The incident Commander MUST ALWAYS assume that a missing fire fighter is lost or trapped in the building until the fire fighter is accounted for. Rapid, concise, decisions and actions must be taken to increase survivability. The following is a list of actions to be taken by Command for a reported missing or trapped fire fighter. These are guidelines and do not necessarily need to be accomplished in the order listed. The first five (5) must be accomplished very rapidly.
- EMERGENCY TRAFFIC Immediately upon a report of a missing or trapped fire fighter “Emergency Traffic” will be sounded to alert all personnel working on the fire ground of the situation. “May Day” will be announced to alert all operating units of a lost or trapped fire fighter (example: “Command to all units we have a ‘May-Day with interior A”).
- CHANGE THE PLAN TO A HIGH PRIORITY RESCUE EFFORT The incident Commander must restructure the plan to include a high priority firefighter rescue effort. A rapid, well thought out, rescue plan must be developed and the Command organization expanded. The plan and objectives must be communicated to other Command staff and sector officers for implementation.
- IMMEDIATELY REQUEST ADDITIONAL ALARMS At least one additional alarm or mutual aid company should be immediately requested including a medical unit. Additional multiple alarms may be requested based on circumstances and potential. Early consideration should be given to heavy equipment resources in the event of a collapse.
- FIREGROUND ACCOUNTABILITY A Personnel Accountability Report (PAR) must be immediately requested from all companies operating on the fire ground. This is especially important in situations of structural collapse. Command cannot develop an effective rescue plan until accurate information is available on the number of missing fire fighters, their identification, their last reported work area, and which companies are affected.
- COMMIT THE RESCUE SECTOR Deploy the Rescue Sector to initiate search and rescue efforts (typically the last reported work area). Rescue Sector will coordinate activities at that location. Additional available resources in staging or rehab may also be committed to rescue efforts.
- WITHDRAWAL OF COMPANIES FROM AFFECTED AREA In some situations, such as collapse, crewmembers can get separated. The only practical method to obtain an accurate roll call for a PAR may be to withdraw crews to the exterior. Withdrawal is a judgment call based on circumstances at the time, information available, and resources. It may not be practical or possible to do. However, the absolute need for an accurate roll call (PAR) and information on missing fire fighters remains a critical priority.
- DO NOT ABANDON FIRE FIGHTING POSITIONS, PROVIDE REINFORCEMENT Abandoning fire fighting positions during the rescue effort should be avoided. Command and crews should take aggressive measures to protect trapped or missing fire fighters from the effects of the fire. Efforts should be concentrated on reinforcing existing positions and keeping the fire out of the rescue area and providing appropriate ventilation and lighting. In some situations it may be appropriate to write off some areas of the building in order to relocate companies and crews to better protect the rescue effort.
- ASSIGN CHIEF OFFICER TO THE RESCUE SECTOR If possible a chief officer should be assigned to direct the rescue sector and rescue operations. Depending on the size of the rescue area and the complexity of operations, more than one chief officer may be needed to fill additional support positions or sectors. The sector officer will assign specific areas or grids of the building to each rescue team (company) to conduct searches before entering the building. Search efforts must be closely coordinated between sectors and Command must be kept informed.
- ASSIGN A SAFETY OFFICER TO THE RESCUE EFFORTS Rescue operations are high risk. The rescue operation may be taking place in post-collapse conditions or a flashover environment. Emotions may be high and fire fighters will tend to want to free-lance and take chances. A Safety officer must be assigned to monitor activity and evaluate the safety of the operation. An available chief officer should assume this sector as soon as possible. Other Safety Sector responsibilities will be to conduct an assessment of the hazards, thus, allowing time for the rescue sector officer to concentrate on the critical rescue effort. These sector officers must work hand in hand to insure that a safe and effective rescue operation is conducted.
- EXPAND THE COMMAND ORGANIZATION With additional resources enroute, along with the critical rescue needs, the Command organization must expand ahead of the demand. The incident Commander must be proactive and aggressive in developing and expanding the Command organization.
- SPECIAL CALL OFFICERS Additional officers will be needed to fill Command team positions and key sectors including Welfare. Command should special call additional officers, and initiate a call back of off-duty officers and personnel as needed.
- EARLY ESTABLISHMENT OF TREATMENT AND TRANSPORTATION SECTORS The incident Commander must have treatment personnel in a position to immediately treat any rescued fire fighters. A transportation sector must also be in place and coordinating activities with the treatment sector officer.
- OPEN or UNLOCK ALL DOORS, IF APPROPRIATE All doors in the immediate area should be unlocked or forced open, and at least the immediate interior area quickly searched. Where practical, the doors should be left open to provide an emergency escape route, unless doing so will have negative effects on the fire. In all cases, the doors must remain unlocked.
- VENTILATE, MAINTAIN LIGHTING Reducing smoke conditions, through effective ventilation, improves the air quality for any victims, and will enhance search and rescue capabilities through increased visibility of the interior. Ventilation should be aggressively employed. Early lighting of the operation (both interior and exterior) needs to be included.
- COORDINATE AND CONTROL THE SEARCH EFFORTS The incident Commander and Rescue Sector officer must insure that a complete, coordinated and controlled search is conducted. Close coordination of all search efforts is a must in order to eliminate duplicate searches that waste time. All areas must be thoroughly searched.
- R.I.T. - S.C.B.A. RESCUE KIT Each rescue team should enter the building with at least one R.I.T.-S.C.B.A. Rescue Kit for each reported lost/trapped fire fighter. Missing fire fighters may have exhausted their S.C.B.A. air supply or may be trapped and cannot be quickly extricated. In each case the fire fighter must be provided “clean” air to increase survivability. The kits have a quick refill capability.
- TECHNICAL RESCUE TEAMS Technical Rescue Teams (TRT) and other specialized equipment should be requested at all structural collapses that have trapped fire fighters.
- WATCH FOR STRUCTURAL STABILITY OF THE BUILDING Command and all personnel must watch the structural stability of the building throughout the rescue effort. Where a structural collapse has occurred, or the fire or other event has compromised the structural integrity of the building, a structural specialist should evaluate the structure if possible. Technical Rescue Teams (TRT) may be called upon to assist with shoring the rescue area, or for the use of other specialized equipment.
- STRONG SUPERVISION REQUIRED Strong supervision and control of activities will be required by all officers. Emotions will be very high. Firefighters in this situation will tend to want to free lance or take higher risk. Treatment personnel will need to be restricted to only those needed. Crowd control of our own non-essential personnel may be required.
- MEDIA CONTROL Command will need to assign someone to control the media early and throughout the incident. Information on the identities and conditions of lost fire fighters must be restricted until after next of kin are notified. Media film crews should be restricted to areas that are safe and at a distance that will prevent visual/facial identification of any victims.
- WELFARE SECTOR A welfare sector will need to be established early. This will aid in notification of next of kin and allow Command to stay ahead of the media’s release of information. A ranking chief officer should be assigned to direct this task.
- CONFIRM WITH DISPATCH TO MONITOR ALL RADIO CHANNELS Command must ensure that dispatch monitor all radio channels (Channels 1-16). Should a lost fire fighter declare emergency on a channel other than the fire ground channel, Command must be immediately directed to the lost fire fighters channel for direct communications.
