David A. Greene

Published Writing - Spring 2008

Rapid Intervention: Rescuing the Rescuers 

Rapid intervention is thought of by many to be a relatively new task.  Well, relative to the history of the fire service anyway.  Chief Brunacini says that, “Beyond approximately one and half sections of hose into the structure, rapid intervention becomes not very rapid.”  This quite often being the case, we should minimize the time it takes to activate a rapid intervention team by as much as possible.  Most of the functionally strong firefighters out there would rather be punched in the gut than be assigned to the rapid intervention team at a fire.  It is often thought of as the equivalent of being assigned the decontamination functions at a haz mat call or as an attendant at a confined space incident.  However, those functions are equally as important to the grand scheme of the incident as the entry function.  Rapid intervention is a much more important function at a structure fire than any other activity that takes place on the fire ground. 

A rapid intervention team (RIT), regardless of any derivative of the words or any cool acronyms used (i.e. RIT, RIC, FAST), is a team of firefighters dedicated to rescuing any firefighter inside that becomes lost, trapped or otherwise has a bad day.  Don’t be mislead, rapid intervention can fool you much like the fire service in general does.  Most people were attracted to the fire department by the image of the flashing lights and loud sirens that we use going to calls.  Once we became firefighters, we found that responding was but a very small part of the job and our knowledge base, skills, and problem solving abilities are not critical until after we arrive at the call.  Rapid intervention has very little to do with the image of having two firefighters “standing outside the fire”, especially if one of those firefighters has no PPE on and the other that does is out by the street talking to the pump operator.  It has a lot more to do with having two firefighters, who have a very high level of training, perhaps higher than the attack team, properly equipped with thermal imagers, rope, irons, backup air supplies, hand lights, wire cutters, ray guns, and whatever else they might need to affect a rescue of the folks inside having bad days and transmitting a “Mayday”. 

At every call, the incident commander performs a risk/benefit analysis in order to determine how to proceed operationally.  There is no single more profound change to the operation than someone transmitting a “Mayday”.  This is the moment in time where the rapid intervention team has to forget about the “lights and sirens” image and go to work to solve what will likely be one of the most difficult problems that can be encountered on the fire ground.   The focus of the incident shifts from saving the building to saving the firefighters, and if we happen to confine the fire to the building, block, census tract, or zip code of origin, then that’s good too.  

Communication is the key to a successful rescue of a rescuer.  Searching a 100,000 square foot mercantile occupancy could conceivably take a day or two longer than the lost/trapped/injured firefighter’s air supply can hold up.  Therefore, the lost/trapped/injured firefighter must be able to narrow the search down by transmitting their approximate location.  In the absence of this, the Incident Commander should have an idea of the last operating location of the missing firefighter.  Communication is also essential between any potential freelance rescuers who previously occupied outdoor functions on the fire ground (i.e. the tanker/tender driver who intends on donning full PPE/SCBA and performing a John Wayne style rescue alone and without the knowledge or permission of the Incident Commander).  Accountability becomes paramount once the rapid intervention team is activated to insure that there is not more than one firefighter to be rescued at the time of the “Mayday” and later on in the incident.  Adequate communication can also help the rapid intervention team determine what tools may be needed to extricate the lost/trapped/injured firefighter. 

Once the rapid intervention team arrives at the firefighter, who is literally now just a highly trained occupant/victim, a size-up must be performed which is very similar to that of the first arriving company officer sizing up the building and fire conditions.  Hopefully, the firefighter can be quickly extricated to safety, if not; hopefully the equipment the RIT brought with them can extend the firefighter’s air supply and can be used to extricate the victim.  If this too is not possible, then we fall back to communication.  The RIT should communicate exactly what they will need to extricate the firefighter.  Remember at this point of the incident, the Incident Commander is wishing he or she had never been promoted and will be quick to supply the rapid intervention team with any additional personnel or equipment necessary to send the firefighter home to their family at the end of the shift.  

As incident commanders, what can we do to help in this process?  Always stay two steps ahead of the incident.  If the IC has had several search teams unsuccessful in locating the “Mayday” firefighter, additional personnel, air supplies, and equipment may be needed warranting another alarm or two, or six.  In some departments, a “mayday” being called automatically triggers the next sequential alarm.  In any “mayday” case, stay ahead of the curve, call for additional resources early, before you run out of the resources you have.  If the firefighter is being extricated, medical treatment and transport available at the scene needs to be evaluated.  If an advanced life support ambulance is not present, the IC should order one early, as soon as the Mayday is received and not as the injured firefighter is dragged out the front door.  If there is no trauma center or burn center close by, the IC should consider air evacuation of the injured firefighter once extricated from the building.  This should require ordering a helicopter early in the event.    Once the firefighter has been treated and transported the IC is likely going to be functionally shaken, to say the very least.  Another officer may want to assist with or assume command and take the incident to its completion. 

As firefighters, what can we do to help in this process?  First, we need to recognize a fundamental attitudinal adjustment that is needed throughout the fire service.  It is okay to call a “Mayday”.  It is okay to ask for help.  Firefighters become trapped, get hurt and lost in fires, sometimes “it” happens.  It’s what we do when it happens that will define us.  Consider this.  A firefighter who becomes trapped by a snagging hazard on their SCBA, quickly alerts their partner and calls a “Mayday” with 20 minutes of air left, this allows for their partner, and the rapid intervention team 15 minutes worth of cutting with wire cutters before things become dicey.  Now, if the same firefighter is trapped the same way says nothing, tries to get free, and is separated from their partner with 20 minutes of air left.  Their partner realizes a few minutes later that they are alone, backtracks and finds the trapped firefighter, who has been physically working hard to get free, with less than 10 minutes of air left.  The rapid intervention team is activated and now arrives with less than 5 minutes to establish an alternate air supply or free and extricate the firefighter to safety.  Depending on the occupancy size, 5 minutes may not be a very long time.  If we as firefighters become trapped, lost or injured, we should immediately transmit a “Mayday” using the appropriate local procedures.  We also need to realize that being assigned to the rapid intervention team is an awesome responsibility, and not a curse from above.  We should take the responsibility seriously and be vigilant in our fire ground duties to fulfill that role.  Remember, the incident commander is relying on the rapid intervention team to be properly equipped and ready to go at a second’s notice.  The nature of this responsibility, call it protecting our own, guarding other firefighters’ lives, or being “our brother’s keeper”, is something that is flashier than any “light and siren” show, more important than being on the attack team, and greater than any other position we could hold on the fire ground.  The responsibility is not one we should meet with disgust and irreverence, but one we should meet with respect, honor and commitment. 

The result will be a safer fire ground on which we can perform.  Although firefighters may get tunnel vision while attacking a fire, they should be able to answer any “what if” questions with a highly skilled, well equipped, and responsible rapid intervention team that is braced on the starting blocks ready to sprint into action to rescue the rescuer.

Be safe and do good.