Transcript Managing the Mayday - District 1 Fire Academy

Managing the
Mayday
John “Skip” Coleman, Deputy Chief
Toledo (OH) Fire Department
Rick Lasky, Fire Chief
Lewisville (TX) Fire Department
The lost or trapped
firefighter situation is very
difficult and extremely
stressful, but like anything
else we do in the fire
service, we have to train
for it.
“In order for a firefighter to
survive the dangers of
firefighting, he must know
how other firefighters have
died or been seriously
injured.”
Vincent Dunn
Deputy Chief, FDNY (ret.)
The one thing in life
you have absolute control
over is …
…your attitude !
The Mayday Or Call For
Help Is Out
• Establish the terminology
Urgent,
Emergency,
Emergency Traffic,
and MAYDAY.
Mayday is most often used
when a member is in peril
• Lost
•Trapped
•Out of air
•Down
Mayday is most often used
when a member is in peril
•When a collapse has occurred or
is imminent.
•Where any other circumstance
that can seriously injure or kill is
present.
Mayday is most often used
when a member is in peril
Simply put, if we don’t get
out of this right now,
we’re not going to make
it!
Whatever you come up
with…
• make sure everyone who works on
your fireground understands it!!!
• Train in it so that members will use
it automatically should they get in
trouble.
Clear all radio traffic
Attempt to identify the member
in trouble.
RIT should ready themselves to
deploy into the structure.
An emergency alert tone can be
activated at this point.
If the IC can’t identify the
member in trouble
• Immediately perform a roll call.
Performing a Roll Call
• Start with first-in interior
companies and work out from
there.
• Emphasis should be on accounting
for each company.
• Check to see if each has all of its
personnel.
Performing a Roll Call
• Asking for specific names can wait
until you get to the company with
a missing member.
• Once the member is identified and
reported as missing, announce the
member’s name.
• Ask if anyone operating on the
scene knows this firefighter’s last
known location.
Performing a Roll Call
• Throughout this process, ask the
following questions:
–Who is trapped?
How many are
trapped?
–What was the last location(s) of the
member(s)?
–What was the last assignment(s) of
the member(s)?
–Are they radio-equipped?
Performing a Roll Call
• If possible, review the tactical
worksheet
There have been times when
companies were looking for
someone only to find out that the
firefighter made it outside, or was
working with another company.
Performing a Roll Call
• This is where training in your
accountability system pays off.
As much as we like to think that
we stay together, sometimes
things happen and we become
separated.
Once the missing member
is identified
Deploy RIT into the structure.
Sooner with small residential structures
Larger commercial structures:
Attempt to provide the precise location of
the member in distress or last known
location.
Anything that will help to increase potential
rescue time.
During the roll call …
• once you have discovered who is
missing, continue with the roll call
process.
• Involve your dispatch center or fire
alarm office.
• Consider volunteers and off-duty
paid members that respond to the
scene in their personal vehicles.
Other tasks
• Is EMS on the scene?
If not, request a minimum of one
advanced life support ambulance.
Keep the operation going
Keep working companies in their
area of assignment.
Continue to work on the fire and
ventilate.
Others can be redirected to assist
in the rescue effort (RIT support).
What Command Should
Expect From Crews
• Expect mutinies.
–This will be perhaps the hardest scene
a fire chief or IC faces.
The want and need to help is
natural!
To control mutinies
•
You must do three things…
1. Expect them.
2. Practice how to react to them.
3. Control them.
Training Drills
• Drills, again, tend to be a small
obstacle to overcome.
“The essence of training, is to
allow error without consequence.”
Pick your battlegrounds.
• Vacant city-owned structures that
will be used for a training burn
work best.
• Training burn buildings also work
well.
• If you anticipate mutinies and then
attempt to adjust to them, the real
scene may end as you hoped.
Psychology of the trapped,
injured, or lost firefighter
• This firefighter’s sole focus will be
on removing themself from danger,
if it is possible.
• Obvious factors in the area will be
ignored.
• Fire
• Smoke conditions
• Structural elements, and so on.
Psychology of the trapped,
injured, or lost firefighter
• Firefighters in distress may walk
(or run) past an open window in
obvious view because they were
looking for the stairs, or they may
crawl over and ignore a hoseline
while looking for a safety rope.
• They may forget what is connected
to the end of the hoseline.
Psychology of the trapped,
injured, or lost firefighter
• The firefighter in distress will
usually revert to what was learned
and is “routine.”
This is where our training in the
basics and firefighter rescues pay
off.
Psychology of the trapped,
injured, or lost firefighter
• Don’t expect a firefighter to
accomplish a manipulative
maneuver learned in a one-hour
training session, especially if the
task was learned months ago and
never practiced after that.
Psychology of the trapped,
injured, or lost firefighter
• Finally, firefighters in distress will
overcompensate – they will not be
able to feel safe enough.
• Remember, their sole and
overriding focus is to survive.
Psychology of the trapped,
injured, or lost firefighter
When you locate the firefighter in
distress, do the following:
• Speak calmly.
• Offer reassurance.
• Explain every action you are
taking.
• Promise anything. Then, try to
keep your promises.
Psychology of the
Mutineers
• The IC must understand that these
individuals, when activated, will focus
or tunnel in on the rescue. However,
they may ignore the obvious:
–Fire conditions – flashover, rollover,
changing smoke conditions, and the
like.
–Safety – they might ignore safe
practices.
Psychology of the
Mutineers
• Performance – they may not be
able to perform multitasks.
• Get crews inside with RIT to focus
on fire conditions. Back-up lines
should be staffed by crews who
will focus on back-up.
• Assign a safety officer specifically
to RIT.
The Psychology of the
Others On-Scene
• As stated earlier, expect mutinies.
–They want to help their brother or
sister!
–Some should remain and fight the
fight.
–Utilize them for RIT support.
The Psychology of
Command
• Resist the temptation to be the
hands-on guy. This is a natural
tendency.
• Command will want more than the
usual number of updates,
especially from RIT.
• Command should build a small
“think-tank.”
What Command Should
And Should Not Do!
• Command should consider time.
–New turn-out gear – limits.
–RIT needs to get in.
–Hose streams need to be working in
the area of the endangered members
ASAP.
–SCBA work time – extra bottles.
–Monitor the structure’s stability.
Command should consider
staffing constraints
• The RIT.
• Back-up line for RIT.
• Second and additional back-up
lines.
• Support with special tools if
needed.
• EMS personnel.
Command should consider
staffing constraints
GET ENOUGH HELP TO
THE SCENE!
Command should remove
nonessential crews
Reason 1: To control or hold in
check the inevitable freelancing.
Reason 2: To get members who can
provide RIT support.
The essential crews are
the following:
• The RIT.
• Any hoseline in the last known
location of the firefighters giving
the Mayday.
• Any hoseline that can be used to
hold the fire away from the area of
the lost, injured, or trapped
firefighter(s).
The essential crews are
the following:
• Ventilation in progress that will
help draw fire and heat from the
area is also essential.
• If additional crews are available,
open up as much of the building as
possible without drawing the fire
into the area of the rescue.
The essential crews are
the following:
• Finally, any available search crew
still conducting a primary search
for viable victims should continue.
Withdraw nonessential
crews
• All other crews are nonessential
and should be withdrawn,
accounted for, and reorganized.
• RIT support will grow to at least
three times the size of RIT.
Consider all options
• Don’t overlook breaching walls.
• Remember to establish a “thinktank.”
• Diagram the building.
• Evaluate staffing and
time constraints.
Communications
• During a Mayday this will be
challenging at best.
• Stop the yelling as soon as
possible.
Communications
• Communications from Command
and from company officers should
be deliberate, calm, clear, and
concise.
• Only essential communications
should be allowed. Think about
channel assignments.
Command must build a
think tank
• Now is the time to build a team at
the command post.
• Consider two operations chiefs:
–One for the fire.
–One for the rescue effort.
The Fire
• The fire may have to held in check
for the time being.
• This is where “holding actions”
may need to be in place while the
search for endangered
firefighter(s) commences.
The Fire
• The decision on what remains as is
and what will be suspended rests
with Command.
The Rescue
• The officer in charge of the rescue
will need two general things:
–A RIT.
–RIT support.
RIT support is the
“Logistics” of the rescue.
The Think Tank
• The three (or more) individuals
(Command and the officers in
charge of “the fire” and of “the
rescue”) will need to be together
and they must talk.
Command must be able to
“multitask” conceptually
• Command will have many
conversations, thoughts, and visual
observations running through his
or her head at the same time.
• Command must be able to sort and
prioritize these thoughts and
observations while clearly defining
tasks and expectations.
Command Multitasking
• Continually thinking on two fronts,
the fire and the rescue.
• Command must be allowed to step
back and momentarily weigh
requests and realities and then
come up with a sound decision.
Command should give up
the portable radio ASAP!
• Get an aide to monitor the
Command channel.
• By now, Command
should have built a
staff into the
command structure.
Returning to Normalcy
• After the firefighter rescue,
Command should conduct another
PAR.
• After the PAR, reestablish a plan of
attack for the original fire.
Returning to Normalcy
• As soon as you can, send additional
crews to the scene for relief and
reassign on-scene crews to the
necessary assignments.
• As soon as relief comes, get the
original on-scene crews to a
debriefing. They should be
required to leave the scene.
Returning to Normalcy
• Consider support sectors such as a
public information officer to handle
the media and chaplain to handle
critical incident stress
management (CISM).
• Training in incident management,
rapid intervention, and rescue
techniques obviously is just a start.
Returning to Normalcy
• Take time to review past incidents,
and look at what got you in
trouble.
• Determine your resources and
develop your own lost/trapped
firefighter policy.
How well Command manages
the Mayday and how well onscene crews interact with
one another will determine
the success or failure of the
toughest type of incident we
will ever fight.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Thank you !