Where firefighters come to talk training

Command of a RIT operation.

We have had some discussion among the officers and are also trying to finalize our Structure SOG in reference to the IC running the RIT operation when a mayday is called and relinquishing command to another officer. I believe the IC should remain in command and let the RIT officer run that opearation. I agreed to get some feedback on this without pulling the power card out, so I am looking for some input as to how other departments are running. We are a mostly volunteer company with one paid FF. Thanks.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff Schwering on February 7, 2009 at 9:33pm

Rocco,
I alot depends on your staffing. How many firefighters do you have on a RIT team? The RIT officer goes in with RIT team and keep the IC advised of progress of removing the downed member. The IC remains in overall command of the fire. If a Mayday is declared, all companies operating on the fire scene, with the exception of the downed firefighter, switch command channels. Our RIT also remains on the original Mayday channel. Some responsibilities may be passed from the IC to a safety Chief, if one has been made.Keep in mind, most maydays occur, within the first 10-15 of a firefight. I hope this helps you some.

KTF
Jeff

Permalink Reply by Brian Arnold on February 8, 2009 at 11:02am

Rocco,
Does your RIT Officer make entry with the team? If he does, as I believe he should, then the RIT should be reporting back to a separate Command Officer that is thinking about the safety and operations of the RIT without having to make tactical decisions about the fire. There should be two officers in close proximity for communication purposes; one for IC of the fire/incident, the second for the RIT. A single IC trying to run both operations will quickly become overrun with responsibilities and there are very few that should have to do both at the same time.
FTM
Brian

Permalink Reply by Rocco DiMase on February 9, 2009 at 9:11am

Thanks.We will call in a mutual aid company to cover our RIT assignment and they show up with a chief and RIT team with an officer. RIT officer will go in with the team.

Jeff Schwering said:

Rocco,
I alot depends on your staffing. How many firefighters do you have on a RIT team? The RIT officer goes in with RIT team and keep the IC advised of progress of removing the downed member. The IC remains in overall command of the fire. If a Mayday is declared, all companies operating on the fire scene, with the exception of the downed firefighter, switch command channels. Our RIT also remains on the original Mayday channel. Some responsibilities may be passed from the IC to a safety Chief, if one has been made.Keep in mind, most maydays occur, within the first 10-15 of a firefight. I hope this helps you some.

KTF
Jeff

RSS

Welcome to
Fire Engineering Training Community

Sign Up
or Sign In

Or sign in with:

Policy Page

PLEASE NOTE

The login above DOES NOT provide access to Fire Engineering magazine archives. Please go here for our archives.

CONTRIBUTORS NOTE

Our contributors' posts are not vetted by the Fire Engineering technical board, and reflect the views and opinions of the individual authors. Anyone is welcome to participate.

For vetted content, please go to www.fireengineering.com/issues.

We are excited to have you participate in our discussions and interactive forums. Before you begin posting, please take a moment to read our community policy page.

Be Alert for Spam
We actively monitor the community for spam, however some does slip through. Please use common sense and caution when clicking links. If you suspect you've been hit by spam, e-mail peter.prochilo@clarionevents.com.