RIT Teams do work

[Drew5816]

I belong to the ABBET-RIT organization and thats all it is about is Rapid intervention. There are 25 Fire Depts. or Companys in this organization. Rit is the best thing to have when ever you have guys in a building because you never know what is going to happen. I was a bystander at two fires in one day in Rochester, Pa. Rit team was called from another dept. They were there throughout the fire and they were never deployed. I was in amazement on the way they did there accountibility it was so smooth and perfect. Now my Station does have Rit qualified members and we do run Rit for our mutual aid companys. We have been used many times. Our Motto for the organization is "In God We Trust, in RIT We Depend. If You Can't Come Out We're Coming In.

[Airborne]

Sounds about what we have out here, at least from what I have heard. The RIT team is from mutal aid responding departments that way the inital response department works on the fire, while the RIT is on stand by doing nothing else then being ready to go in if they are needed.

[Spangdawg]

I was wondering if you had any training materials.

I am stationed in Germany and we don't have any RIT training materials..

thanks for you help
Jason Theriault TSgt, USAF

[Firescueguy]

Spangdawg - go to www.rapidintervention.com & you'll find a tremendous amount of valuable training material about RIT.

Hope this helps you out. Stay Safe.

[engine23ccvfd]

if your rit team has been used many times you are doing something wrong to start with.

[Towerhook]

If your RIT/FAST team is just standing there and "doing nothing" that is your first problem. Remember the teams first responsibility is their safety, then fire-ground safety. When standing & doing nothing, in a group of 4 or more, you’re not improving firefighter safety. There are tasks that the team can handle. First is a 360dgs size up of the building, placing extra ground ladders, opening exterior doors or low level venting, Helping to remove victims, shutting down utilities (if you are trained to do so). Remember to leave two members at the CP or staging area. All these task and more can be completed if they can be finished within a short time, or if an event accurse the can leave this task with out finishing it. With 4 team members or more you can break them in to smaller groups to observe 2 sides of the building or several locations. If you are only providing the MINUM (2 F/Fs)you cannot perform most of these tasks.

There are may different SOPs/SOGs. In different parts of the country, but this type of operation is new to most departments and most do not have any guidelines or information to go by. The rules are very vague and are only minim requirements. Your department will just have to try new things and improve and build on the foundation of the Team, every time you try some thing out and it works, you have added a new tool for your team’s arsenal. If you’re training in a classroom or in a vacant building, try different ideas several different ways. Remember By the book may not save some one. Try a new way and re-write the book and if it saves my life, Thanks in advance.
RDL