The slogan “All Lives Matter” has been in the news for a while now, but this article is not about the national political discussion; it’s about the lives that we as members of the American fire service have sworn to protect—the residents, the visitors, the victims, the patients, the babies and the taxpayers.
Did you notice who was not included in that short list of people? Firefighters! Yes, our lives matter too, but we have that well under control. Every other article and discussion in every magazine, blog and webcast is about firefighter survival—and that’s good. But what many firefighters don’t know is that almost 3,000 people die in fires in the United States every year! That is well over 30 times the number of firefighters who suffer an LODD. So what is the point here? These numbers beg the question: What are we doing about bringing down that number? Let’s review three factors that can help us save more civilian lives.
1. Victim location
I hear firefighters talking about “dynamic risk assessment” and “survivability profiling,” and it starts to sound complicated. Well, let me state it right here that it is very difficult—and often impossible—to determine whether there are victims inside. So how do we decide whether we should go in and risk our lives to search for that “possible” victim? Here are a few basic guidelines:
- At house fires, if the grass is cut, any lights are on or there is a car in the driveway, GET IN THERE!
- At commercial buildings, during store hours, GET IN THERE!
- At public buildings, during business hours, GET IN THERE!
- At multiple dwellings, unless the building or apartment are obviously vacant, GET IN THERE!
These are just guidelines; fire conditions and building stability can obviously also play a role in this decision. Either way, getting firefighters into burning buildings saves civilian lives!
2. Search tactics
The next issue that can positively impact civilian survival is the actual search tactic. It is difficult to conduct an effective search for victims in a burning building while advancing the attack hoseline. Yes, I know many departments don’t have staffing for both roles initially at the scene, but the best and fastest and most successful searches are conducted by a search team—a team of two or three firefighters who enter to find the fire and any victims. The hoseline may enter a house and move to the right where the fire is venting out a window, but there may very well be victims to the left or up on the second floor above the fire. These areas need to be searched as soon as possible by a search team that is not pulling a charged hoseline in with them. This is certainly a challenging and dangerous assignment, but can be successfully completed with well-trained firefighters. If you don’t currently assign search teams at fires, this is a tactic that you should explore. Search teams save civilian lives!
3. Resources on site
It may sound simple, but increasing the number of firefighters you have on scene will help you save lives. For career departments, it’s the “staffing” level, and for volunteers, it’s how many firefighters turn out or respond for the run. If the staffing is minimal on an engine, it might be as simple as assigning more units or engines on an alarm. I can hear you laughing, but some chiefs don’t want to commit too many of their resources on a single response; they say they will send more help if it’s a working fire. Bad idea! Send a good solid assignment to every report of a structural fire. For volunteer departments, call for mutual aid earlier or, better yet, establish automatic aid from neighboring departments for structural fires. That will get additional firefighters in route simultaneously with the first-due companies. If it is a fire, they will arrive sooner, get to work faster and get in there where victims may be waiting to be rescued. More firefighters save civilian lives!
In sum
These are just three topics that can be discussed, modified or instituted in your department or company to increase your firefighting effectiveness and your ability to locate and remove trapped or unconscious civilians. Remember, all lives matter!
