RIT Rescues?

[Harris]

Has anyone out there who has a formal RIT program in place sent their team into action? I'd love to hear about your experience. Did you find that your training program worked? What kind of post incident changes did you make, if any? Thanks in advance, and stay safe.

[Mike K]

My R.I.T made a rescue just last night. April 21,1999. This was our first rescue, our team is only about 1 year old. It wasn't much of a rescue. We only do Rapid Intervention as mutual aid. My company is Citizens Hose Company #1, Glassport PA, Allegheny County. We responded with out R.I.T. trailer and an engine to the City of Duquesne, which had a structure fire, with very close exposures. During overhaul and checking for hot spots. A fire fighter from West Mifflin fell through a hole in the floor, he went into the hole to almost his waist. The call for the GO team came and it took about 2 seconds for other members to realize that they were needed. We responded to the second and located the downed firefighter who was stuck in the hole we simply pulled him out of the hole. The firefighter did have an apparent knee injury, but still wanted to walk out of the building instead of being carried out.
The rescue went very well, luckly it was simple.. Our training did pay off. The OIC did notify everyone on the fire ground that a firefighter was down and that our team was being sent in. The OIC also had all other fire ground operation to hold where they were so we could do our job. Once the firefighter was removed a quick PAR was taken to account for all other firefighters. We did not make any changes yet, but we have not met yet either..

Mike K.