Combined Operations - Claremont, Ascutney & Windsor - July 2024

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The call firefighter training session of February 2024 dealt with search-and-rescue incidents in low light and complete black-out conditions.

Chief Jim Chamberlain started the presentation by describing scenarios such as the windowless cellar of an abandoned warehouse at night or a large drainpipe in which a child is trapped. He also demonstrated the use of a Halligan. This multipurpose tool – with a claw, a blade and a tapered pick – can pry, twist and punch. In a low light situation, a rescuer would lay it flat and sweep the ground ahead, encountering and clearing any obstacles or finding an entrapped person.

The call firefighters got into full gear. Altogether, coat, pants, boots, helmet, gloves, hood and air bottle weigh 75 lbs. – the standard gear for any firefighter heading out on a fire emergency call. They also typically wear a radio for communication as well as carry a flashlight and a TIC (thermal imaging camera).

In a series of large, completely dark rooms, pairs of firefighters crawled through a maze of obstacles. The only light source was the large TIC that Chamberlain used to follow their progress. For training purposes, to simulate total darkness, the firefighters turned off their individual TICs.

After each pair emerged into a lighted area, Captain Andrew Stevens debriefed and updated them on the differences between “old school” and “new school” techniques. For example, “old school” rescuers all would move together in a line, each firefighter grasping a boot of the one before them. The “new school” procedure has only one rescuer start in; once they’re out of voice range, the next in line would enter the site and move forward. As for crawling, Stevens pointed out that a firefighter “baby crawling” and dragging a hose behind is outdated; he demonstrated the step-and-drag technique in which the hose is brought up between the legs and held against the chest.

Chamberlain concluded the training session by stressing that every firefighter learns something in every incident. “I want you to progress so that you make these often on-the-spot decisions, how to judge the situation and act accordingly. And if you make mistakes, learn from the mistakes so that you know how to do better the next time.”