Firefighter Survival / Reaction Drill

This drill comes from the Brothers of North Hudson Regional Fire, NJ. Passed on by THE Chief Avillo.

we just did a cool drill in the cellar of the one of the firehouses
if anyone does anything similar or tries this one, would like to hear the feedback

the objective (at first) is for a company (with backward hoods) to stretch a line to a simulated fire
the line is filled with air from an SCBA cylinder so there is no mess and the fire is simulated by a flood light in one of the back rooms
the capotan is "in" the second objective as it plays out -- in the dark, we entrap him when he is in between his two guys -- one guy is advancing toward the "fire" while the other is at the door a few yards away feeding the hose around the bend
once the captain is entrapped and remais immobile, his PASS alarm begins to sound. The goal is to see how theFF's react. Will they abandon the line to help the capt? Will they call a Mayday and ask for assistance? One of the teaching points here is that the line between the fire and the victim may be the only thing keeping them all safe (relatively speaking)
It is a simple drill but is very effective way for a Capt. to see how well his guys are prepared to take action whern the "boss" becomes a victim
One of the things we found is that some companies ignored the PASS device for an disturbingly long time
I feel this is becaause we have gotten complacent .. How many times do we hear PASS units going off around the fireground and no one pays the attention they should? It is good dill

The other we play it out (the capt i not in n this one) is for a member to be the victim in the pAth of the line advancment somewhere near the "fire" so that the attack team comes across him during the stretch. What we found here is that many FF's do not recognize a body as many of our search drills (and probably yours) involve a hose dummy or one of those big plastic rescue dummies. They really don't feel like a real body!! Some gusy said they thought thye were crawling over cushions -- i guess it depends on how "soft" the guys who is the victim is. Again, the drill is about how they react to the situation -- do they fight the fire? do they abandon the line and rescue? do they call for assistance?
anyway, these are 2 easy drills to pull off but very effective drills
after each evolution. it is essential to critique and Q&A and make sure the guys who went thru it don't blab it around to the guys who didn't go yet
stay safe
aa