Consolidation

Consolidation. It is considered one of the most dreaded words in the fire service. It takes two or more departments and merges them into one, under a new name, new identity, and creates a new culture. There are a variety of reasons why consolidations occur, such as manpower or financial issues. It can be determined that ultimately, it is best to pool the resources. However, one reason is known to continually cause consolidations to fail: Culture. And when I mean culture, I mean pride and egos.

For a job so loved, it is not surprising how much pride goes into. We are proud of our departments and what we do. However, sometimes we let this overshadow what we are meant to do. Why are you a firefighter? This is the firefighter's purpose: To protect life and sustain property. Make a hazardous situation safe. The job of a firefighter is not about the individual firefighter. It is about everyone else, the people that you protect.

For volunteer firefighters, it can be a struggle. Not only are you balancing an outside job and family while responding to calls, you also have to put in time for training, meetings, and fundraisers. For some departments, fundraisers can be what keeps the department going. It is also common for there to be more than one department per municipality, often for reasons stuck in the past as in white collar versus blue collar or terrain issues that past fire apparatus (or horses) could not get through.

We are content in our history. We see each other struggling, with money, worrying about paying department bills, or with manpower, worrying about crewing the truck the next time the pager goes off, and it is still hard for us to admit that it is time to change history. Consolidations pool resources together. Sometimes you can get rid of a station or apparatus piece in consolidation. There could be less fundraisers or less donation letters being sent out, possibly enticing more residents to attend or donate more, since they do not have to choose. It is not easy at all starting from the beginning. You have to create new by-laws, new standard operation procedures, guidelines, and more.

You also have to deal with people. You are changing the way things have been done. People do not always respond well to change.

Without a doubt, there is an overabundance of fire departments and a continual decrease in manpower. There are times that departments cannot answer calls. A variety of recruitment methods have been and will continue to be tried. But right now, we have to use the resources that we have in the most efficient manner that we can. And that very well may be pooling our resources together.

But then you have to worry about this guy not liking that guy and wondering who's going to be Chief, what's the name of the company, what color of the fire trucks and not necessarily the things that matter. The question should be will this improve our services to our community? How can we best prepare to fulfill our mission?

Instead of thinking about themselves, people need to look at the situation and think about others. Think about the community. How prepared are you for your community? To hell with the pride. It's not about trying to dominate. It amazes me how quickly multimillion (or billion) corporations can consolidate with each other and there are still fire departments bickering over who is responding to what.

A lot of municipalities cannot afford paid departments. We are what they got. We have to do what's right. It is not going to be easy. But would you rather work through the problems or watch them get worse? And know that it was a fear of change that kept those problems from working out? You have to try. Not a half assed effort either. It is not easy. It never will be. You are making two into one. There will be arguments. You won't win every disagreement either. But who is it for-your pride and potential of a position or the people you protect?

It is a very touchy subject. But someone needs to be willing to state their stance and go with it.

Stay safe.

RIT Drills

I've talked about RIT in the past, but today I am going to discuss drills and techniques concerning rapid intervention team response. The Benjamin Franklin quote about prevention versus cure is easily applicable to the fire service. Practice like you play. RIT is not easy. In order to extricate one downed firefighter from a hazardous situation, multiple firefighters are required, divided into teams all with specific purposes.

This is a great review on how RIT should be established with important key points. As well, it gives examples of drills to practice RIT skills. It shows that RIT drills do not always requires a lot of equipment or special considerations, and it also tests firefighter skills in other areas.

If you are dispatched as a RIT team, do you have key components in place to consider once you arrive on scene? RIT is preparing for the worst; you need to have a mental checksheet to know that everything is in place in case the worst were to happen. Is everything crossed off? RIT is a lot more than just bringing hand tools and a TIC and staging on scene. You constantly have to be aware of the situation surrounding you and recognizing hazards.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Benjamin Franklin. What the hell does that even mean? Train. If we train, we can PREVENT the situation from getting worse. Firefighting is dangerous, people. It is always going to be dangerous. We can only prepare ourselves for the situation and keep our skills consistent and sharp enough to evaluate each situation and respond accordingly. Athletes practice daily. Responding to emergencies and performing rescues have a lot more variables than a sporting event, so why shouldn't we keep ourselves prepared?

I found some great training videos to consider for RIT. This video  looks at the technique of converting the air supply and harness. It establishes that the firefighter has an air supply, and that the SCBA waist belt can be used as a harness to assist in dragging the firefighter, while also providing control of the SCBA that the firefighter is wearing. Imagine for a minute that they aren't in an open bay, but in a dark, cramped hallway. This extrication doesn't look easy to begin with, and now you're in cramped quarters. You and your crew are trying to manipulate this in much less space, and now it is going to be a lot darker, plus your adrenaline/emotions will be running high. See why we train? We can't create the moment as its going to be. Entanglements and obstacles can be thrown at you, PASS devices can be going off all over the place, but it won't create the scene as it will be when you actually have to implement RIT (or any skill really). But training can help you prepare. You can learn your strengths and weaknesses. Better to make mistakes while training rather than during the real deal. Everyone goes home.

There are drills that challenge a firefighter in more constrained environments and require more exertion. These include the Denver Drill and the Pittsburgh Drill. These exercises were developed in response to past mistakes. And they are extremely useful teaching tools and well-known throughout the nation. Both drills show how extricating a firefighter is a team effort and a process. The Denver Drill requires firefighters to maneuver through cramped spaces and lift the downed firefighter through a window. The Pittsburgh Drill has a variety of obstacles-a small wall breach, an A frame up and over, and a tube to navigate through with the downed firefighter at the end. The firefighter is low on air and entangled, so the firefighters need to extrication him from the entanglements and put him on an alternate air supply. After that, along with him being packaged, the team goes back through the obstacles with the downed firefighter. It really tests your skills. While props are involved with these drills, it isn't anything too extensive and should be fairly easy to obtain. Again, RIT uses skills that you need for other aspects of firefighting. These drills help you develop these so that hopefully when you use the skills-whether it be for RIT or in another situation-you are able to effectively apply them to the situation.. It's all about surviving.

Stay safe!