Forcible entry & search
Setting up your rig for success also contributes to engine crews being successful at truck work. If the tools that you need are buried in the back of the rig under a pile of other equipment—or, worse yet, not even on the apparatus—what can be accomplished on the fireground will be limited.
Forcible entry tools and hooks are the hallmark of basic truck company functions. Getting members and a hoseline to where they need to be to extinguish the fire is vital. We must be in the building searching for occupants and searching for fire and then opening up for hidden fire in ceilings, knee walls and void spaces. One drill that I highly recommend for any engine company that might find itself functioning in the role of a truck company is practicing one-person forcible entry. Being proficient at this prepares an individual to function alone while crewmates focus on making their stretch.
A Halligan, a box light, a thermal imaging camera (TIC), a set of irons, a 2½-gallon
water can and hooks must be accessed easily for deployment on every fire run, from automatic alarms, to odors of smoke, to working fires. The pressurized water extinguisher, or “can,” is just as important a tool as the hose is on the engine.
By having the mindset of preparation, a firefighter can stop a can fire from becoming a multiple-alarm fire. On scene of a working fire, functioning in the truck company role, a heads-up inside team that’s equipped with a water can and its hand tools can make the difference between life and death for the civilians who we swore to protect.
We might respond to nine fires in a row and search. We might arrive to an “all clear per the occupant.” Either situation might lead us to just go through the motions. This isn’t acceptable. Our mindset must be to expect victims and conduct thorough and proper searches every time that we have conditions on the fireground that allow it. The tenth fire might be the one where someone is trapped, someone went back in or an occupant didn’t account for someone.
If a member is searching off of the hand-line, that person must train on that tactic to implement it most effectively. My department’s firefighters treat searching off of the handline like an “oriented search.” The hoseline becomes the wall and is used as a navigational beacon to move through the building.
I have heard many different methods for extending off of the hoseline, including tools or webbing, but I believe that with sound communication skills and knowledge of building construction, firefighters can effectively and safely search a room in a residential building without holding onto a rope or another firefighter’s foot.
TICs
The thermal imaging camera (TIC) is a piece of mission-critical equipment for any type of fireground operations, but when engine crewmembers function as a truck company, it’s paramount to their success for multiple aspects of the operation, particularly search and rescue.
When my first volunteer fire department bought its first thermal imager, it was the size of a boat anchor. The technology that we have available to us in 2024 is vastly different than predecessor versions, and if you ever have the chance to attend training that’s offered by my good friend, Andy Starnes, and his group at Insight Training, your eyes will be opened to how effective you can be conducting search and rescue with the TIC.
This doesn’t mean that it’s OK to forget the basics. The TIC is a tool that enhances our effectiveness, with a byproduct of efficiency and safety. That’s one reason why we take that box light, too, because when the camera doesn’t work, all of us must remember the basics.
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