SHOULD WE do a left-hand or a right-hand search? Well, frankly, the answer is often neither, yet the majority of search training still only incorporates these two choices. These techniques were developed before breathing apparatus and decades before thermal imaging. They were also developed during the era of legacy fuel loads.
- Do a Better Job of Teaching Search
- Covering the Essentials: Training in Search Techniques
- Quick Task Accomplishment: Engine Company Primary Search
A quick scan of my 1985 recruit school information on rescue states, “Time is the most critical factor in rescue.” As we learn more about the timeline from unit on the scene to victim removal and its direct relationship to survivability, it becomes obvious that time is even more critical in a fire than when those words were first written decades ago.
We need multiple search strategies and techniques. We are not going to search a burning grocery store the same way we do an 1,800-square-foot residence. I still contend that the reason we go to fires is to search (see “We Go to Fires to Search,” Editor’s Opinion, April 2023), and all of our other activities are in support of that objective. Once that objective is met, then we do what we can to protect property.
I have been instructing in the Georgia Smoke Diver program for more than 35 years. It is apparent that even among the candidates who are highly motivated, physically fit, and very skilled in a variety of fireground tasks, almost none of them come to class with a solid understanding of how to operate as a search team. This is appalling, since saving lives is at the core of the fire service mission. We had to include additional search instruction early in the week to help candidates succeed during the actual live fire scenarios. This noticeable lack of skill is present in all demographics of the fire service, regardless of whether candidates are from a large urban career or small rural volunteer department.
In many departments, search is something that happens after extinguishment. This is sometimes necessary depending on the circumstances and staffing levels but, unfortunately, is the practice in many departments that have the resources and staffing to conduct simultaneous tasks but lack the necessary training.
For departments to be good at search, they must have a mastery of building construction, fire dynamics, and human behavior. Understanding—not just learning—in these areas allows the operator at the scene to make real-time decisions while implementing the highest level of risk management decision making. Totally removing options like searching above a fire, searching without a hoseline, and window-initiated searches indicates that your organization lacks mastery in those areas and only functions at the very basic recruit level in search technique.
No one wants to encourage reckless, uncoordinated fireground actions that could lead to serious fireground injury. But, make no mistake, when discussed in some circles, these techniques make the hairs on the backs ofmany fire chiefs’ necks stand up and also stop up their ears to listening to experienced and knowledgeable practitioners who know these techniques work and can be done following an advanced level of risk management decision making.
Like so many issues, training is the key to being successful with any tactic. For those who ban or forbid these tactics, it is an indictment of your own organization’s level of competence and investment in critical areas that embody the essence of what a fire department’s core mission is: TO SAVE LIVES!
It is frustrating for those who have invested in themselves and who have the knowledge and understanding to carry out these techniques with precision and skill and in a safe, risk-managed way. We are at a critical turning point in the fire service where the pendulum is starting to swing from a near total risk averse culture toward an understanding and a refocus on the victim. Data is now available to help us along this journey. We know the statistics on actual fireground injuries and how they relate to activities. We know the survival rates of victims removed within the early minutes of the first unit’s arrival. We know how effective a closed door is in protecting a victim in what may look like a fully involved structure. Those same doors give our firefighters protection as well when they understand fire dynamics and controlling ventilation.
During this time of change, it is critical to our reputations in the community, if we want to keep our high level of support and respect, not to fall victim to the mentality seen and now being litigated with our law enforcement brothers in Uvalde, Texas, where the school system police chief and the on-scene officer were arrested and charged with child endangerment for their inaction during that horrible incident. Could a fire chief face the same charge when a firefighter who is highly trained and equipped with $20,000 worth of NFPA-compliant, state-of-the-art equipment is restricted from acting because of the culture of fear? Could the on-scene firefighter also be charged?
The firefighters, company officers, and battalion chiefs have a huge role in this change to ensure the pendulum doesn’t swing too far in the other direction. The number of fireground fatalities has decreased over the past few decades, so even though there is scrutiny on many of the risk-averse changes, we must accept the fact that maybe drastic action was needed to reset our behavior. I am hopeful and optimistic that we can move back to the center; be the sentinels for our citizens; and equip our firefighters with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to master the skill of search and rescue. We owe that to our citizens!
