RIT Training: When Firefighters

Need To Save Each Other In An Emergency

By Shannon Hicks

Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) training took place last weekend at Fairfield Hills for members of seven area fire departments. A RIT team, also referred to in other districts as a Firefighter Assist and Search Team (FAST) or Rapid Intervention Crew (RIC), is a team of two or more firefighters dedicated solely to search and rescue of other firefighters in distress.

While Newtown is fortunate to have not experienced a lost, injured, or otherwise incapacitated firefighter in many years, firefighters from Newtown Hook & Ladder, Botsford Fire Rescue, Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue, Dodgingtown Fire, Stepney, Monroe, and Stony Hill fire companies all converged on a two-story wood frame dwelling in the Fairfield Hills property on Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and 3, for two days of intense training in the difficult art of rescuing one of their own.

Training was conducted under the direction of several instructors from Connecticut State Fire Academy.

“This was a class to get everybody prepared in case a firefighter goes down inside a building,” said Chief Wayne Ciaccia of Botsford Fire Rescue. “It covered different techniques on how to get them out of a basement, an attic, from a second floor window, and you’ve got to know how to do this pretty fast. You don’t have a lot of time to do this when you have to in a live situation.”

“While we like to think this will never happen, we have to be well prepared for the task. It is one of the most difficult, labor-intensive operations we can undertake,” said Sandy Hook firefighter Bob Nute, who participated in the certificate course.

Working with fellow firefighters from surrounding towns meant everyone was learning the same procedures, which will save confusion during an emergency.

“By practicing with surrounding fire departments, we begin to know and feel comfortable with many different individuals and we all learn the same methods and practices,” Mr Nute pointed out. “Commonality is so important in these operations. Everyone is performing the tasks in similar fashion with one outcome in mind.”

The training operations were performed with artificial smoke and no heat. The conditions where firefighters will employ these tactics are usually under the worst conditions with the greatest amount of heat, temperatures ranging from 400 to 600 degrees, and situations such as structural collapse, a firefighter trapped by debris, perhaps having fallen through a hole in the floor, or a medical emergency.

Scenarios concentrated on trapped or down firefighters, and it was then the responsibility of the RIT teams to enter the structure, prepare the downed firefighters for removal, and then practice different forms of removal (drag, carry, et al) methods.

“For these drills, all of the final removals were conducted from the second floor window, with removal down a ground ladder,” said Mr Nute.

Other opportunities for removal from ground level include cutting a hole in the side of a structure to rapidly remove a man or could be as simple as carrying him out a door, explained Mr Nute.

“These scenarios were created to reinforce our abilities to ensure that we located a fireman as quickly as possible, made sure he had a viable air supply, and then began the arduous task of removing him from a very hazardous situation.

Crews learned that it can take up to 15–20 personnel just to remove one firefighter, depending on the situation. This requires great numbers of resources and bringing in companies from other towns to assist, in the event of such a situation. Such crews have to be on scene from the start and hopefully will not be needed for this particular operation.

“As with anything, practice makes perfect,” Mr Nute continued. “While nothing will make this an easy task, practicing will let us come up with ‘out of the box’ methods for removal while ensuring the safety of all the crews operating while a structure is still on fire and a downed firefighter rescue is in progress.”

“This weekend’s course covered the basic methods, the techniques, to get a firefighter out of a building,” said Chief Ciaccia. “There are other techniques, more detailed maneuvers to use to respond, but this gives everybody the basic skills [for certification].”

Last weekend’s course was the prerequisite for an advanced course that is offered at Connecticut Fire Academy in Windsor Locks. Chief Ciaccia and Jeff Dugan, a captain for Botsford Fire Rescue, took that advanced course last year and are hoping to take the 27 firefighters who participated in last weekend’s course to CFA later this year for the advanced sessions.

“We’re trying to get everybody up to speed with the initial RIT certification, and then we can proceed to the advanced course up at Windsor Locks,” said Chief Ciaccia.

Meanwhile, those who drilled at Fairfield Hills last weekend were glad for those hours.

“We are fortunate to have structures like this that we can train in. This building is typical of what we might find in our daily operation and the realism cannot be recreated in a training building,” said Mr Nute. “The town is truly fortunate to have proactive thinking chiefs and training officers who understand the needs and requirements for successful firefighting operations in today’s buildings and training to this level and beyond will benefit everyone from a safety standpoint.”