How to start an RIT team. I appreciate any help

[BBoucheyFD]

Im asking for all information thats available on starting a RIT team in my department. Many members have expressed an interest in it, but we have no idea how or where to begin.

You can reply here or send me an email
at [email protected]

Thanks for all your help

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All opinions are my own and have nothing to do with any agencies i belong to.

[FF Brin]

Ummm, where to start....

First, I think RIT should be done by a first arriving mutual aid engine or ladder or rescue company. Or, for bigger cities, add another unit to respond to be the RIT Team.

RIT should not be a new concept, its just the big buzzword in our industry. A RIT crew is another well trained, well equipped fire company that goes to a fire. The new thing is that they do not get involved with actually fighting the fire, they stand-by, always ready to jump into the fray when one of us gets trapped or becomes lost. They can provide a size-up, place ladders to upper floors for egress, monitor radio transactions to keep track of where crews are operating or how long they have been inside.

Before budget cutbacks or when more people were available in smaller towns to volunteer, RIT wasn't a buzzword cause you may have had the staff on scene to battle a fire or more people on scene to rotate crews.

Another place to get information is the Fire Engineering website and putting RIT in the section to find previous subject articles.

I go on a lot more, but the key is to have a dedicated, trained group on scene to watch out for US!!

Great post!!!, although a buzzword, its one of my favorite topics!

Brin


[This message has been edited by FF Brin (edited November 08, 2000).]

[BBoucheyFD]

Well the team would include members from two neighboring departments. We would be runnning it out of my department though, since we are located in the middle of the other two. It looks like we will have a good number of firefighters that would like to get involved. We would be providing services to about 4 other departments in the surrounding area.

So if anyone out there who has started a team, i would like to know exactly how you began and what it took to get you where you are today.

Thanks

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All opinions are my own and have nothing to do with any agencies i belong to.

[hfdfao]

I agree with FF Brin. To some extent this is not a new concept. The basic idea is to have a company (I believe the standard is three or more ) at the scene with an assortment of handtools (haligan, flathead etc) ready to be deployed to assist our own. That concept you should be able to implement very easily without creating a "team". As you expand you can set up Fire Fighter survival training classes (check with your state fire Academy or with Firehouse, Fire Engineering, etc) and further train each member in self rescue techniques, as well as betters methods for rescuing trapped or injured members. The more training you do, the better off you will be, but don't wait for the training to establish the practice of a standby company, or RIT team, or RIC team, or FAST company.



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The opinions expressed here, are my opinions, and remember...opinions are like ***holes, everybody has one!

[stull]

RIT is something that you can just start.
There is many things that you must know before you can have the team.
Example: in a collapse what type of tools do you need, and then the training you have to have prior to RIT
Airbags, cutting tools, Survival classes and so on.
There is a site that may be able to answer your questions
RAPIDINTERVENTION.COM
The person that developed the training classes that was adopted by the PA. State Fire Academy has this site with e-mail links to answer questions on training and tools needed.
James Crawford is the persons name, he is a state certified instructor as well as the co-arthor/designer of the course

[MFDLtBock]

Definately the man to talk to is Jim Crawford. He runs on Truck 33 with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire. His aol address is [email protected]aol.com. Give him a shout and he'll hook you up with nearly everything you need to know. I highly suggest you take his class if possible. I won't give out his # out of respect but he does have one on his hometown homepage.. so look it up: http://hometown.aol.com/pbftrk33/

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Scott Bock
Lieutenant/Paramedic
Munson Fire Department
Munson, Ohio