Firefighter Bailout CLOSE CALL

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Comment by Clint Stanton on November 8, 2009 at 9:29pm

Train, Train and Re-train more! Awesome video. Thanks for sharing. The camera men never get the credit they deserve!

Comment by James Lea on September 30, 2009 at 8:28pm

Capt., Great training you did your job. Be gald to have you at my back anytime, GREAT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by Troy Fink on September 21, 2009 at 9:46am

We just finished rescue training and had to do that exact escape, head first down a ladder. This video is excellent to show new firefighters why we train on this method of escape.

Comment by Bruno Lamarre on June 18, 2009 at 7:54pm

That's my buddy, Capt. Rick VanSant. I agree with what Scott Huff has posted. Train as if your life depended on it, cause it does!

Comment by Scott Huff on May 18, 2009 at 10:49pm

My 2 cents worth; This is one of Indianapolis' most decorated and well respected fireman in the city. There isnt a firefighter in the Indy that wouldnt go off his lead, thats why the other firefighter was right behind him getting ready to go in. If you get the fires you know why he did what he did, if you dont, you probably just read an article or reply that lead you to believe he did the wrong thing. You can watch and critique all you want on this one, but when its a split second condition change the only thing that saves firefighters is TRAINING, he fell back on his like he should have and that made the difference. Does your training reflect your outcome on your job? Nice Work Captain..EGH, FTM....

Comment by John Lanham on February 13, 2009 at 11:37am

Good Job Capt shield. i guess alot of guys forgot the whole save life and property thing. Good effort.

Comment by Kyle stenson on February 6, 2009 at 11:45am

Hi: Captain Schield my nane is Kyle I watch the video 8 times. I was amazed by the way you handled the task that was front of you. I been a fire fighter for 7 momths now your right no one knows what could hapend in a spit second. in a flashover. WE all get calls saying that people are trapped and there is one one. My deparment gets calls like all the time. WE do it becase that what we train for, it's all part of job we do as fire fighters and as humans. I'am glad you whern't hurt that bad and also glad no one was in the house at the time. To you and all the staff at your fire house keep up the good work , be safe take care of each other as fire fighers,and as a family.

Comment by FireVideo.net ; Rob Schield on December 11, 2008 at 7:54pm

OK Fellas, Here is the actual Fire Captains response on our website www.firevideo.net . They bashed him pretty good and here is what he had to say...

This is from
rick van sant November 22nd, 2008 1:26 am
well, here goes my first website post ever,but when my friends said my 15 minutes was happening, i had to look.
I’m the guy in the video, and against my better judgement, i feel the need to set this thing straight.
First off, i’m a captain in indianapolis, and have 23 years in the busiest companies in the city. I’ve been to a couple of fires.
Because you weren’t there, i would tell you to watch the video again after i explain things, and maybe you’ll think differently.
This was a 4:00 am fire dispatched as entrapment, with excitement in the dispatchers voice. We were the first ladder company on the scene, and we were met with cars in the driveway, and neighbors screaming that there was a woman in that room.
Because of the involvement in the rest of the house, VES was going to be the only option on this one.
When we vent the window with the ladder, it looks like the room is burning, but the flames you see are coming from the hallway, and entering through the top of the bedroom doorway. Watch it again and you’ll see the fire keeps rolling in and across the ceiling.
When i get to the window sill, the queen-sized bed is directly against the window wall, so there is no way to “check the floor” like the textbook geeks gigged me for not doing. Notice that you continue to see my feet going in, because i’m on the bed.
Believe me, in the beginning, this was a tenable room both for me and for any victim that would have been in there. How else could i have been on the bed, 3 feet above the floor, calmly entering. Trust me when i say that i know what hot is, and this was no hotter than any other fire i’ve been in.
My goal was to get to the door and close it, just like VES is supposed to be done. We do it successfully all the time.
When i reached the other side of the bed, i dropped to the floor and began trying to close the door. Unfortunately, due to debris on the floor, the door would not close.
Conditions were still quite tenable at this point, but i knew with the amount of fire entering at the upper level, and smoke conditions changing, things were going to go south fast. As stated earlier, i’ve been doing this for 23 years, and i know fire behavior.
I kept my eyes on my exit point, and finished my search, including the closet, which had no doors on it. Just as i was a few feet from the window, the room lit off, and the rest is history, and fodder for all the self-proclaimed experts.
It’s hard for me to imagine that firefighters who weren’t there can find so much fault with a firefighter who did exactly what we’re supposed to do. For you textbook geeks, that means risking a lot to save a savable life. Like i said earlier, when i first made this room, it was NOT on fire like the video makes it look. I’ll give you this much; once the flashover occurred, no civilian could have survived, but if she would have been in there, maybe, just maybe i could have gotten her out before it happened.
I have to wonder what you would be saying if the video showed me just staying at the top of the ladder, never entering like many of you suggested, and later we found her corpse lying on the other side of the bed. Instead of calling me an idiot, you’d call me a coward. I’ll take idiot any time!
To “Dave” from my department who said he’d guess that i would probably look back now and say it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, you’re absolutely right. It was the ONLY thing to do. And if i’m faced with that exact same situation a hundred more times, i’ll be in that window every time, because i’m a fireman.
And if anyone wonders why i was aware of my surroundings at all times, why i was able to recognize when flashover was imminent, and why i pulled off a head-first ladder slide without a hitch….TRAINING!
To the guy who said i had no facepiece on..you’re freaki

Comment by Rich Kukac on December 11, 2008 at 6:33pm

Geez, you'd think that an officer would be able to read those conditions and know that there was no reason to do a search in that room because there wouldn't be any victums, just DOAs. And, as an officer, what the heck is he doing thowing ladders and making an entry with other personel all around? His job is to make sure that stuff like that doesn't happen - instead, he almost lead another firefighter into that inferno!

Comment by FireVideo.net ; Rob Schield on December 8, 2008 at 3:48pm

That WAS a captain.

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