RIT v. RIC v. FAST, etc.

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Originally Posted by Mr. D.

Ours is the same our station is 12 so everything starts with 12 anything ending in 5? (ie 51, 51, 53 ect) is a pumper, anything with 61-69 is a tanker, and so on.

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We have five departments in my volunteer county, each with one station. Pretty damned easy to figure out that Engine 4 is coming from Company 4, and Tanker 2 is coming from Company 2.

My station has Engine 2, Tanker 2, Rescue 2, EMS-2, Brush 2 and Car 2. The only station in the county with two engines uses the term "Wagon" for the second out engine (a term that people who aren't from Virginia, DC, and Maryland are rarely familiar with). Very easy for the mutual aid jurisdictions we run with to identify what kind of rig is coming to them. Easier for them to understand that "Tanker 2" is a tanker is versus "261" which could be a ladder truck or brush truck for all they know.

This style of unit numbering (apparatus type + station number) is the norm for virtually every city and county in this area.

As for the original topic, our department (work) uses RIC and RIT interchangeably. Only a few FDNY groupies amongst the 525 people on the department would even know what FAST is. RIT is what we use at the VFD.

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Originally Posted by BoxAlarm187

We have five departments in my volunteer county, each with one station. Pretty damned easy to figure out that Engine 4 is coming from Company 4, and Tanker 2 is coming from Company 2.

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I agree. I believe it is the same type system we use. We have 14 FD's, 2 rescue squads, and the forestry service. So, as I said above, each department has a station number (ie 12) and each truck as a number. Some departments have more then one of a type of truck. So if station 18 has 2 tankers, they would be 1861 and 1862. All departments in this area know that 51-59 are pumpers and 61-69 are tankers so there is no confusion when they here ??61, they know it's a pumper on the way, or ?? 62 they know it's a tanker.

Sorry, not trying to argue, just trying to make sure I understand your post correctly.

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Originally Posted by BoxAlarm187

...Only a few FDNY groupies amongst the 525 people on the department would even know what FAST is. RIT is what we use at the VFD.

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In my area, RIT/RIC is rarely used. FAST is the norm here.

I could care less if a dept. calls it a RIT, RIC, FAST or whatever. I'm more concerned that they know what to do than if they know what the acronym is stands for.

As for numbering systems, around here, the biggest dept. has station numbers 1-49, the next dept. has 50-59, then the next has 60-69 and so on. It goes out to the surrounding counties. Whether it's engine 1, or engine 301, we know the dept, station, and type of equipment is coming.

[QUOTE=ETHREETWO;921926]

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Originally Posted by captT52

If Chicago wants to use FAST or make up a word like "TERD" to mean Tactical Emergency Rescue Detail, that does not bother me. They can ask for a "Terd in sector D" all the want.



AWESOME!!!! I laughed until I cried...There are some many ways to go with this....Someone calls MAYDAY and Command is going to activate the TERD...I love it. Beautiful...Thx Cap!

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A friend of mine 's FD began adding another company to alarms as per their rapid intervention protocols once they went through their training. The Deputy who was tasked with setting up and implementing it decided to name it the Firefighter Assistance Rescue Team....

Their first fire after the protocol went into effect, my friend's Ladder company was tasked with the RIT assignment... Fire alarm took the first letter of Firefighter Assistance Rescue Team and used that for the acronym.

"Fire Alarm to Ladder 2, respond to the fire scene, you are the designated FART!"

It got changed to FAST right after that!

Police in my area formed a FART group. Fatal Accident Response Team. They are specially trained in accident investigation/reconstruction/etc. They are requested to all fatal accidents and near fatal ones. They still use FART. We get a chuckle out of it the first couple times. Then we got past that phase.

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Originally Posted by Bones42

Police in my area formed a FART group. Fatal Accident Response Team. They are specially trained in accident investigation/reconstruction/etc. They are requested to all fatal accidents and near fatal ones. They still use FART. We get a chuckle out of it the first couple times. Then we got past that phase.

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You sure about that last part? Last time I heard a FART get requested, I think everyone still chuckled.

Now it's an old fart.

Should see the new gear we got....harness built into the pants instead of the Gemtor. No more big biner that we used to clip onto guys SCBA's to drag them out, no more using the big biner to hook onto ladders....gonna have to figure other ways to do this..or buy new biners to add on.

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Originally Posted by Bones42

Now it's an old fart.

Should see the new gear we got....harness built into the pants instead of the Gemtor. No more big biner that we used to clip onto guys SCBA's to drag them out, no more using the big biner to hook onto ladders....gonna have to figure other ways to do this..or buy new biners to add on.

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I've heard mixed review on that kinda bunker pants. Down here we don't have any harness on our pants, so I've adjusted and gotten used to not having it.

I'll be home this weekend, so I'll have to stop by and check it out. I hope I still have my old gear in my stall!

Terds... Farts..... Only in FD can we take an important duty/task and turn it into bathroom humor. Love it!


Now I kinda sped read through this as I multi-tasking so I apologize if this was already covered.. but Wasnt there a big push to actually move away from using RIT all together? I could have sworn I read an article in firehouse Mag. that said they were trying to move past the use of RIT/RIC "team" and rather train all firefighters on a given department the duties of RIT/RIC and how to get themselves out of a jam. Don't get me wrong I personally still want that RIT team availible, but lets face it, there are some areas that just dont have that kind of manpower, then half the time the people showing up dont actually have any formal RIT/RIC training/certification.

Thoughts?

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Originally Posted by WildFireShane

Terds... Farts..... Only in FD can we take an important duty/task and turn it into bathroom humor. Love it!


Now I kinda sped read through this as I multi-tasking so I apologize if this was already covered.. but Wasnt there a big push to actually move away from using RIT all together? I could have sworn I read an article in firehouse Mag. that said they were trying to move past the use of RIT/RIC "team" and rather train all firefighters on a given department the duties of RIT/RIC and how to get themselves out of a jam. Don't get me wrong I personally still want that RIT team availible, but lets face it, there are some areas that just dont have that kind of manpower, then half the time the people showing up dont actually have any formal RIT/RIC training/certification.

Thoughts?

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I haven't heard anything about getting away from RIT teams. I wouldn't imagine that being an accepted idea, as anything to do with safety is usually stressed and not eliminated. Although training in self rescue and firefighter survival is always beneficial, there's too many problems that can arise in a fire that you wouldn't be able to get out of yourself (SCBA problem, run out of air, collapse, disoriented, etc). A dedicated rescue team with all the equipment they could need comes in handy in situations like that.

As far as training everyone on RIT team operations, that really depends on the area. In my career dept., 4th due engine is typically the RIT team, so on any given day that you're on an engine company, you could be RIT at a fire. Whereas the area where my volly house is, there are certain companies that are trained to a county standard for RIT, and can be used as a RIT team. And those departments are called by the neighboring towns when a RIT team is needed.

I don't think that you will be able to standardize this... I understand that it is a possible issue with mutual aide and other things of that sort... I do think that a way to fix the issue on a local level is to do mutual aide training. Get to know eachothers operations, termonology, trucks, and personalities... I understand that easier said than done.
I do agree that the terms should be limited to RIT or RIC. We use RIC where I am from. I do notice that alot of the "RIC Bags" say "RIT" on them...