Commanding the Aggressive RIT from the Exterior

(1) A high-point anchor with a 2:1 ratio using a ground ladder for firefighter removal. (Photo by Scott Laprade.)

(2) The 2:1 high-point anchor with multiple ground ladders and windows cut for firefighter removal. (Photo by Scott Laprade.)

Train Like You Fight

As a lieutenant of a truck company in a city that has suffered multiple line-of-duty deaths, I stress the importance of an aggressive predeployed RIT. Members assigned to a RIT must be motivated, prepared, and capable of operating in a high-stress, hostile environment. As a whole, the unit must be extremely vigilant. The ideal way to prepare a unit for success in this task is by creating intense, realistic training that is performed often.

I once asked a U.S. Marine captain who was tasked with training infantrymen how to create the adrenaline of combat while performing realistic training. The Marine is not overly educated in how to train firefighters but highly skilled in preparing individuals for frontline combat. The Marine captain responded, “Have them run wind sprints. Then, when they’re good and tired, tell them to put up the ladder.” He suggested that, by putting the members in a state of fatigue, this will emulate the adrenaline of combat. Get the members’ pulse rates accelerated, and then assign the task to be performed. As a leader, this type of training will allow you to accomplish two things: (1) You, as a leader, will learn how hard and long you can push the crew, and (2) you are developing solid training replicating a stressful environment. On multiple occasions, I have heard from individuals who called and survived a Mayday that, “You do not live up to the moment but fall to the level of your training.”

Until recently, I knew of no program that offers this training. A friend informed me of the Smoke Diver programs in Georgia and Florida. From the outside looking in, these programs appear to be doing just as the Marine captain recommended. High-intensity training is used by many, if not all, elite operating forces. It would most certainly correlate with training firefighters preparing for their own firefight. I developed this article not to speak on training but to motivate the fire service community to build an aggressive mentality toward one of the most important, but underappreciated, fireground tasks.

The days of the RIT arriving and staging at the command post are over. We must strive to be better. By dissecting the statistical data accrued from the nation’s Mayday incidents, we are now able to implement a more thorough set of standards and procedures to follow. I will start by saying it is not strategically advantageous for the RIT to stage, period! The Project Mayday program states that only six percent of Maydays are solved by a RIT. Stop waiting to intervene and start being proactive; it is better to prepare to prevent a Mayday than it is to wait for one to develop. Whether it be strategically placing ground ladders at the very beginning of an incident, softening the building, or applying rock salt to the exterior stairs when picking up hose in frigid weather, it is about keeping the members safe, by all means necessary!

While Responding

As the leader of an assigned RIT, your job begins before you step foot on the fireground. The RIT’s initial responsibility is to get the truck to the building in the most advantageous position. If you can position the truck to ladder the building, make it happen! This is not always possible because of the positioning of the first-arriving units and tight, congested streets.

Listening to the radio communications and using the onboard computer can pay dividends to properly positioning the apparatus. If the two first-due ladder companies took the same route, find another route! Also, gain access to an area of the building that the first-due ladders did not. Look for other avenues in the map book or onboard GPS. Be quick to make your million-dollar apparatus an asset to the incident commander (IC), but do not let this delay your mission on the fireground.

(3) A command technician uses an accountability board for tracking company assignments and locations. (Photo by Scott Laprade.)

Once on the Scene

On arrival, based on the affected building, the crew should gather the RIT cache and any additional tools needed. Items that are valuable at all incidents are prerigged 2:1 rope systems, search ropes, battery-operated angle grinders, battery-operated chain saws, and forcible entry tools. The battery-operated chain saw, a somewhat new tool to the fire service, is valuable for the mission. It has no problems choking out in a smoke-filled, oxygen-limited environment and is very rugged and reliable. The prerigged 2:1 rope system is also a versatile piece of equipment. It is most suitable as a high-point rope system that can lower a firefighter out of a window, but it can be used in a number of ways. First, take the RIT equipment off your truck; it may be advantageous to take the ground ladders off the first-due ladder trucks or engines that are closer to the building. Do not depend on the equipment that another crew may or may not have checked at the beginning of the shift; not all fire crews are created equal. Second, the first-due RIT self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) might be needed later in the incident; one in eight activated RITs eventually run low on air and call their own Mayday. Keep the RIT SCBA on the first-due trucks in case you need them. Every action you make on the fireground should have a deep-seated reason. Be prepared to counter the “snowball effect” of catastrophe. There is too much uncertainty on the fireground to be playing “street ball.” Have a playbook and “audibles.”

Once you have collected the tools, start toward the command post, which is the area where the command technician is monitoring the deployment of units and using a command board system to keep track of units inside and around the building. This is an opportunity to gain knowledge of unit assignments and locations you may have missed while responding. This is also your opportunity to familiarize yourself with who’s on what truck. All firefighters are not created equal, and some may require additional attention. Also, be aware of junior crews on scene.

The command post does not have to be the location you stage your gear. It is preferred to stage your gear in the most advantageous location for rapid deployment. If the first-due ladder company is searching above the fire in the rear bedrooms on the second floor, the most advantageous location to stage the gear may be in the rear of the structure. Commit to the areas you are most likely to engage; there is a stigma in the fire service regarding leaving the command post as the intervention unit. We must disrupt this mindset. The rear of the structure, most often, has the least amount of eyes on it during an incident and often can go unnoticed for a good while. It’s called the “C” side because you must see it.

The RIT should serve as the eyes and ears of the IC. Put the crew in a position to receive the most amount of information as possible. Scour the building for additional information. If something looks wrong, it probably is, so leave no stone unturned! Informing the IC of actions performed, actions needed to be performed, and any information deemed pertinent is imperative. Do not assume the IC is aware of anything. The individual assigned to the IC’s role has a lot of fireground information to digest. Much of the information gained by the RIT might be overlooked. Be cognizant of information that should be delivered over the radio as well as other information that can be delivered face to face. Fireground radio channel communications can often be overwhelming. Save the radio for people who need it! However, if you see something “out of whack,” say something. Keep in mind, the radio button says “push to talk,” not “push to think”! Think about what you are going to say before you cam the microphone.

(4) Crews use a roof ladder for egress after the stairs burn through. (Photo by Charles Scott.)

(5) A RIT positions an apparatus in an advantageous spot. (Photo by Matthew Welch.)

Team Recon

Once you are familiar with unit assignments and the initial incident action plan (IAP), it is time to get acquainted with the building that is on fire. Gather your gear and crew and start your 360° size-up of the building. The 360° size-up is your opportunity to develop a strategy with your unit. With command’s IAP, visual clues, and radio traffic, you should be able to develop a plan to make the fireground safer for the members working inside. If called on to intervene while performing the 360° size-up, you must be prepared to act swiftly. It is crucial that you have the RIT SCBA, search/tether rope, and forcible entry tools everywhere you go.

There are two certainties being performed while serving as the RIT on the fireground: (1) performing the 360° size-up and (2) throwing ground ladders. The initial 360° size-up allows you to gain an understanding of the situation—what has happened; what is currently happening; and, with some foresight, what will happen. Deploying ground ladders provides an additional means of egress and can be provided in areas of dire need of the firefighters operating inside. You must think, if you were inside this building, where would you be operating? Bring an appropriate-sized ground ladder with you on your 360° size-up. Cover two needed tasks in one rotation around the building. One exception is for the tools carried for the basement fire. If the interior crews are engaging a basement fire, a roof, attic, or folding ladder brought in and stowed near the entrance of the basement will pay dividends if the often poorly constructed basement stairs give way or burn through. Proactive thinking is a priceless trait on the fireground.

If you are working on a company with four or more experienced members, you may want to split up into two teams. Meet up in the rear and communicate with one another. If you lack experience in your crew, obviously, keep the crew whole. Don’t be a “pack mule”—deploy with the tools you will need to find the Mayday firefighter and provide air. Don’t carry a loaded stokes basket as the initial RIT unless an interior crew intervenes and requests it. Time counts in these situations. The “R” in RIT stands for rapid!

In the business world, companies will use a managerial strategy derived from the medical field called “pre-mortem.” This strategy is used for a project team developing a new project or plan. The team will get together at the very beginning of the project and put together a list of predictions as to how and why the project will fail. By projecting how their product will fail, they can design a plan eliminating the most likely reasons it will fail. This approach is a beneficial strategy on the fireground. As opposed to attempting to eliminate all risks, which on the fireground is nearly impossible, the RIT can use the information gained from the size-up to develop a list of the most likely scenarios as to how they see this incident failing and then take action to prevent them from happening. For example, let’s go back to the basement fire. As RIT leader, I am aware that crews are operating in the basement. I know that basement stairs are generally in very poor condition in my operating district. It is most likely that, if a Mayday were called, it would be caused by the collapsing of the basement stairs. It is a greater return on investment to place a folding ladder near the basement entrance than it would be to immediately deploy a 28-foot ground ladder to the rear porches. Ideally, you can accomplish both if needed, but this method will help prioritize your actions in a methodical manner.

It is most likely that, if something were to go wrong, it would start in the basement area—i.e., basement stair collapse. By using some foresight and staging a folding ladder near the stairs, the RIT turned a possible fatality into a minor setback. The ladder gets placed over the stairs, and the members’ attention can remain on stabilizing the incident.

Situational Awareness

On the 360° size-up, reading the building, listening to the tempo of the radio, identifying a ventilation profile, and looking for areas to advantageously soften the building are very good habits to maintain. Another priority at this point is to identify the area the interior members would most benefit from the deployment of a ground ladder. Placing a ground ladder to the front of the building wouldn’t do much good if the interior team had to run through fire to get to it. Create “arteries” between the fire and where the members are working. Instead of running through a wall of fire, they sneak into a bedroom, close the door, and escape down the properly placed ladder. This is another scenario of turning a possible fatality or severe injury into a minor setback.

Working in conjunction with the second-due ladder company, the outside ventilation team is helpful when deploying ground ladders. We get more accomplished when we work as a team. Read the fire conditions and anticipate. Are there any windows intact but showing fire? Is there the possibility that these windows will fail and add oxygen that may help the fire grow and impinge on an interior crew? Have your thermal imaging camera (TIC) or tool attached to you and turned on. Is the TIC showing signs of a basement fire that was possibly overlooked by first-arriving companies? Take the time to read the smoke and fire. Are crews getting water onto the fire? Is the window showing a bidirectional flow path, indicating the fire is on that floor? Did an upper-floor window fail and put the search team directly into the exhaust portion of a unidirectional flow path? Are heavy winds or gusts affecting the fire? Have the interior crews identified the seat of the fire? Taking time to pay attention to the flow path and ventilation profile will allow you to determine where the fire is and where it wants to go. In this day and age, with fires burning faster and faster, you should be familiar with the fire dynamics. As a RIT, take this opportunity to educate your younger firefighters. Point out certain things; when things settle, explain to them why! Serving as the RIT gives you an opportunity to teach the troops at a real fire.

Next, listen to the radio! Is the chatter on the radio “cool and calm,” or do you sense a level of uncertainty? The tempo of the radio transmissions inside are usually enormous hints as to how things are going on the inside. “Captain Joe” with 25 years on the job may be a little cooler than “Acting Lieutenant Bob”! You must keep that in mind when determining the tempo of the radio. Keep on alert for interior companies using what the International Association of Fire Fighters’ Fireground Survival program calls “trigger” statements, such as, “We have zero-visibility conditions,” “This is a hoarder condition,” and “We are running out of air.” Trigger statements are phrases that are often heard moments before a Mayday is issued. Listening to trigger statements will allow you to take action to prevent a Mayday as opposed to reacting and possibly being too late. Once again, using instincts and foresight will allow you to predict, prepare, and prevent.

Another useful benchmark is when dispatch alerts command of the duration of the incident. The agency I serve uses a 10-minute benchmark. Dispatch will call command and notify every 10 minutes as to the duration of the incident. This benchmark is crucial when determining the stability of the structure and allowing us to determine rough estimates as to when companies will be calling for relief. Always be listening for a low-air alarm and personal alert safety system alarms. Air emergencies are not one size fits all. You must know why the firefighter is having an air emergency. Also, the RIT pack is capable of providing a firefighter with air in multiple ways. Be well trained on the SCBA and the means of delivering air while in a zero-visibility environment with bulky “oven mitts” on your hands.

After the 360° size-up is complete, the unit as a whole must identify areas they believe need additional softening—i.e., burglar bars or additional ground ladders. At this time in the firefight, units should hopefully have knocked down the fire and be approaching overhaul. At this stage of the incident, begin preparing for any occurrences caused by a weakened structure such as a floor, ceiling, or roof collapse. This is not a time to let your guard down; if you have a heavy rescue on scene, you may want to become familiar with their truck compartments that stow building collapse gear (i.e., struts, air bags, spreaders, and cutters) and any other specialized equipment. The crew that is proficient in these specialized tools may be inside the structure, and it would be helpful if we could gather those tools in a quick and efficient manner. A Mayday event is not the time to figure out where the heavy rescue stows the air bags.

Get out and train with your heavy rescue company and get a basic understanding of what they and their equipment are capable of. Become trustworthy and reliable and they will put you to work. In a perfect world, the fires go out quickly and everyone goes home on the same trucks on which they arrived, ready to go to work again. Lead your team as if it’s your family inside because, at the end of the day, we are all brothers and sisters.

TREVOR FRENCIC is an 11-year veteran of and a lieutenant with the Worcester (MA) Fire Department. He also serves as a rescue specialist on the Connecticut Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (CT-TF1) and served four years in the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman with one tour in Afghanistan in 2009.