As I write this article, March 8, 2008, is a week and a half away, and thirteen (13) years ago Consolidated Fire District 2 (CFD2) suffered our second Line of duty death (LODD), when FF Don Koebel fell through the floor while fighting a house fire. We wrote about that incident and told the story of how and why he perished, and the lessons we learned. Now 13 years later I ask myself this question, “did we really learn our lesson?” I believe we did, and I would like to share our story of where we are now, how we got here, and where we need to go.

Let's step back even further to 1988 and the first LODD CFD2 suffered. Marvin Wilcox was our first LODD when he became separated from his crew in a house fire. I was not on this fire scene. Out of respect to those that were, I will not go into the details of the events. I can tell you that because of that fire the Johnson County fire service began to look into PASS devices; we started using Incident Command better and developed an accountability system. We all felt safe again. Then 1995 rolled round and we lost Don Koebel. At first we buried our heads in the sand and never spoke of the incident; we all felt guilty and knew deep down we had failed our brother. I am sure blame was placed on some, and others were just angry, but it all remained unsaid.

Where were we in 1995? We had a Mutual Aid agreement in place, we used an accountability system, we used the Incident command system, all SCBA's had PASS devices (not integrated) and all our Firefighters were certified Firefighter I and II. By today's standards that doesn't sound too bad, but we still lost a firefighter in a routine house fire! Why? Because we were not trained to save one of our own, and we did not have the policies and procedures in place to help us save one of our own.

Let's take a look at what we have done in the way of training to prepare us for a Fireground Mayday. In the late 90's, we attended a Saving Our Own class offered by a mutual aid department. This was the first official training we had for saving a firefighter. We did all the standard drills….Denver, Nance, ladder bail and so on. These are all great drills and that is a wonderful program but it isn't enough. We started hearing about the Rapid Intervention Concept and our department began looking into that. The department sent some of us to RIT trainings such as the RICO training in Downers Grove, Illinois; we also visited with Jim McCormack at the Fire Department Training Network and tried to learn all we could about Rapid Intervention. We were looking into different types of training. In my opinion, they were just dragging their collective feet. There were actually long discussions on what to call it RIT or RIC? Who cares, just learn the stuff! Finally, our Fire Chief told us to make it happen; we shouldn't care what the rest of the county was doing. We did as he instructed. Our first year, we took every member through a 40 hour hands-on RIT class. We covered everything from SCBA times to actual drills in acquired structures. We made entanglement props and Pittsburgh Drill props. We did Mayday in Big Box structures and in residential settings. We did above ground rescue, basement rescue, forced entry, wall breeches, commanding a Mayday and on and on. We incorporated all of this into our recruit academy, and we offered to teach it to any department that wants it for free. We committed ourselves to do RIT training every year, because once is not enough! And we continued to learn and change as new things come down the line. On top of all the RIT classes, we had Chief Dave Dodson come out and give the entire Department a Reading Smoke Class, we had Safe IR.Inc come and give a Thermal Imaging Class, and Jim McCormack and the FD Training Network come and give an Engine and Truck Company class. This April, Chief Dodson will be back to teach Incident Safety Officer to all of our Staff and Company Officers. The department also embraced the “Everyone Goes Home” program from the national Fallen Firefighters Foundation. All of these to help us prepare for the next Mayday we may face.

It was not hard getting the crews interested in the training; sure we have a few that don't like it but they still do it. The biggest problem is that in our area we have AVL (GPS) dispatching and automatic aid. We always have a mutual aid department or two on every fire scene and not all of them are trained to the same level. We all have different ideas and policies about RIT. We offered the training to all the area fire departments, but only three (3) out of about twelve (12) took us up on the offer. They all have some training, but most don't even approach what we offered to teach. For whatever reason, some departments don't quite agree with what we are doing or how we teach it. The other problem is that fire departments feel the need to be experts at Terrorism, WMD, High Angle Rescue, Trench, Fast water rescue, EMS and a never - ending list of specialties until members of departments no longer train to be Firefighters! Most of us are more likely to have a Mayday than we are to have a WMD incident!

The other thing we see is that some smaller departments don't seem to think they will ever have enough personnel on scene to have a RIT team. Our answer to that is all departments still need the training so when it happens, at least everyone on scene will know the techniques.

We developed a Mayday Policy for our department, and it is what was used to develop the county-wide Mayday Policy. The essence of our Mayday policy was common terminology for a Firefighter in trouble. We decided to keep it simple—Mayday is all that is needed. We learned in 1995 that the term “Emergency Traffic” had little effect on the Fireground. The policy states that a firefighter in trouble will use MAYDAY as the proper term when in trouble. It also prompts the dispatcher to start an additional alarm to the fire scene. The other important policy is the Accountability policy. I like to tell our students that it is hard to be rapid when command doesn't have a clue to where all the firefighters are! Many departments say they do accountability, but most don't. Sure they all have a tag, and they all put it on a board somewhere, but is someone tracking them, are they telling you when they enter the structure, or change locations in the structure?

Is the RIT team keeping track of who is in the structure and where they are, or are they standing around shooting the bull? This is another area where we found common terminology must be used. For example, if I call a firefighter and tell them to leave the structure and they repeat back that they are leaving the structure, does that mean they are out, or just on the way out? If I hear anything other than “Engine 1 is OUT of the structure,” I am presuming that Engine 1 is still inside the structure. Does your department keep a running Personnel Accountability Report (PAR) such as “Engine 1 is out of the structure with a PAR. These are all things that need to be addressed in your department's policy. Unfortunately, not all the automatic aid departments have the same policies; I couldn't tell you what they have. I know by being on the scene with them that they don't use the same terminology or keep a running PAR. This is just another obstacle to jump over.

I am often asked what tools CFD2 has for RIT. We were very fortunate; when we embraced RIT, we were able to get a large amount of money from our Governing Board to buy many RIT tools for each Engine. These tools include hand powered combo tools, stokes baskets, rabbit tools, saws, and most importantly, wire cutters and personal ropes for every firefighter. Does your department need all of these to do RIT? Absolutely not; if your department has one fully equipped fire apparatus, you can successfully establish a RIT. Those tools help, but with proper training and policies in place; your department can get by without them. I would suggest getting a piece of rescue rope or webbing and some wire cutters. Be proficient with what your department has and make sure it is easily accessible if needed in a bad situation.

What does the future hold for us? I hope we never have to test our new knowledge of Rapid Intervention. I wish the automatic aid departments around us would fully embrace what we are doing and join us in the trainings. To date we have taught roughly 1000 students Rapid Intervention over the last seven years. Sadly, most were not from our automatic aid departments. I wish we all could put our egos aside and listen to the words of those that have experienced a LODD and not get defensive when we try and change things based on our experiences. I know we will continue to learn and train on Rapid Intervention along with basic Fireground skills, and we will change policies when needed to keep our Firefighters Safe.

Did we learn our lesson? I believe we did. We continue to learn more every day and reflect on what we could have done better. We have the proper policies in place now, we have been trained to save one of our own and continue to train. We have the equipment to get the job done, and most importantly, the mindset that it could happen again. Can your department be aggressive in firefighting? Yes, it can, and in the words of Chief Brunacini, “Just don't be stupid about it!” Be prepared and understand that it can happen to anyone at any time. Department size doesn't matter when it comes to safety! The question is… Can your department save one of its own?? I believe that our department is ready. If our two LODD fires happened today, I am confident we would save both of our brothers.

Stay Safe

Brian Spini can be contacted at 913-208-7964 or brian.spini@cfd2.org

Fire Chief Phil Hodgdon can be contacted at phil.hodgdon@cfd2.org