I'm sure there are going to be a lot of different answers for this. My question boils down to whether or not a RIC team should be allowed to throw ladders, do an exterior survey of a bldg (walk around), and other similar tasks....or simply stand by at a designated location w/ some predetermined equipment w/ all their bunker gear on?
Here is some background for our dept. We are a paid suburban dept. All our members are RIC trained...meaning we have all gone through the Saving Our Own course and have refreshers every two years. We have had RIC teams for about three years now....never had to use them. Our RIC teams pretty much stand in the front yard w/ their gear on and some tools.
Personally, when I'm assigned RIC duties I start to lose focus of the incident just standing in the front yard. I'd love to lie to you and say that I'm totally focused on whats going on, but I only have the perspective of the front yard and radio traffic.
I believe that the RIC team should be allowed to throw ladders for the purpose of access/egress in the event that they are put into action or in anticipation of a firefighter potentially needing it in self rescue. For example, multistory structure...RIC team can throw ladders to all floors at strategic locations. Or RIC team can do a walk around survey of a building to identify access points, dangers, building layout, etc...
Don't misunderstand...I don't think we need to throw ladders to help the truck crew ventilate or for another engine crew to get a line through a window. But the RIC should be allowed to preplan and get some access points opened up.
[This message has been edited by gah74 (edited 06-25-2001).]
Here is some background for our dept. We are a paid suburban dept. All our members are RIC trained...meaning we have all gone through the Saving Our Own course and have refreshers every two years. We have had RIC teams for about three years now....never had to use them. Our RIC teams pretty much stand in the front yard w/ their gear on and some tools.
Personally, when I'm assigned RIC duties I start to lose focus of the incident just standing in the front yard. I'd love to lie to you and say that I'm totally focused on whats going on, but I only have the perspective of the front yard and radio traffic.
I believe that the RIC team should be allowed to throw ladders for the purpose of access/egress in the event that they are put into action or in anticipation of a firefighter potentially needing it in self rescue. For example, multistory structure...RIC team can throw ladders to all floors at strategic locations. Or RIC team can do a walk around survey of a building to identify access points, dangers, building layout, etc...
Don't misunderstand...I don't think we need to throw ladders to help the truck crew ventilate or for another engine crew to get a line through a window. But the RIC should be allowed to preplan and get some access points opened up.
[This message has been edited by gah74 (edited 06-25-2001).]
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