Medway Fire Department Conducts Rapid Intervention Training

Medway Fire Department conducts Rapid Intervention Response Training  

Busy week as the Medway Fire Department conducts Rapid Intervention Response training.  The structure at 176 Main Street was acquired to conduct the department wide training.  Members of the fire department arrived at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, June 19th to begin training under the command of Assistant Chief Michael Fasolino. 

What is a rapid intervention team?  A RIT is a group of at least two firefighters, fully equipped, and ready to react instantly to a fellow firefighter or firefighters in need of assistance.  RIT needs to be put in place on all working fires and any incident that could potentially be immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) atmosphere; technical rescues, water rescues, hazardous material incidents, live burns, and so on.  Skills are required for a RIT assignment.  Firefighters must be familiar with all aspects of the assignment, and they need to be able to function as a team.  

What are the basic skills necessary for a RIT? Knowledge of building construction, fire spread and fire behavior; the ability to read; smoke and listen, to name a few.  RIT should be listening for a Mayday being transmitted, emergency traffic, a frantic garbled radio traffic, and so on.  A proactive RIT needs to know the fastest way to the member in trouble.  Remember, turnout gear lasts only seconds in flashover conditions.

RIT needs to understand the basics of air management. No more waiting for low-air alarms. RIT needs to investigate sounding low-air alarms to ensure all members are accounted for.

When is RIT put in place? RIT needs to be put in place as early as possible on all working incidents. Add companies to the initial first alarm so that the resources will be responding. RIT in many areas can be made up of the third or fourth arriving company or both companies combined if staffing is an issue. This needs to be worked out before the structure catches fire or the trench collapses.

Where will we stage RIT at incidents? Typically, RIT will stage near the command post or a primary point of entry to the structure. A large commercial structure will have the need for multiple RIT at multiple means of egress, on multiple sides of the structure.

To learn more about RIT visit: https://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2012/02/rapid-intervention-basi...