By Jay Lowry
Rescue 1 arrives on scene as the first due engine stretches a line to the front door. Smoke is pushing from the door and eaves as the engine prepares to put the line between the fire and the occupant, asleep in the upstairs bedroom. The engine will protect the stairs as the rescue performs the primary.
Rescue 1, Team 1 throws a ladder as Team 2 ascends, vents the upstairs window, crawls into the bedroom and closes the bedroom door. A quick search reveals the occupant lying on the bed. Team 2 radios command they have the victim and with Team 1 assisting, Rescue 1 has made the save.
This approach to firefighting works in cities and towns across North America. Firefighters arrive, size up the situation AS they go to work, perform the tasks assigned and begin preparing for another call. It’s called firefighting.
Some people would have you believe the above scenario is so fraught with danger it needs to be abolished. These people contend it is too great a risk and therefore should not be undertaken by firefighters. Instead, firefighters should be protected at a distance, forgetting their duty is to protect and save lives. It is just too dangerous. Or is it?
In some departments, they are right. If the department has little to no experience or is improperly trained, the above evolution is dangerous. However, if a department is not trained, even a small wastebasket burning in a burn building can be too dangerous.
The facts are firefighting is fraught with danger. Vent, enter and search is successfully carried out daily and lives are saved. Should it be stopped? No. In fact, I believe this tactic should be emphasized and lobbied for because this tactic works! The timid approach to firefighting creates the same issues facing improperly trained departments. Training, or the lack of it, is at the center of whether a department can be aggressive.
Whilst Ray McCormack in his FDIC speech was addressing larger issues of how the fire service is evolving to a “save the block not the building approach,” he also spoke to those of us out there who understand firefighting is dangerous. Yet, despite the danger, if firefighters are given every tool to ensure their survival they must take risks. It is part of the job.
Anyone who advocates the timid approach has already placed their firefighters in far more danger, as well as consigning civilians to the victim list, long before a fire occurs.
Will firefighters lose their lives? Yes. It happens every year. The correct approach is not to try to create a “rubber safety room” for firefighters. Instead an emphasis on training, risk analysis and aggressive interior attacks coupled with ventilation will save lives, both civilian and firefighter, over the long term.