Training in the smoke!

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Permalink Reply by Robby Hall on May 15, 2009 at 9:01am

Fog machines are a wonderful tool to use in training. You are only limited by your imagination. We use them to smoke up different parts of the station and do search and rescue. We also do RIT (Rapid intervention) training aswell. If you have an old house that you are going to be using for training they are excellent in this application, however you might have to have more than one depending on the size of the building. Depending on if you do Hazardous material response you can use it to simulate a cholorine leake!! Good Luck

Permalink Reply by Pete Forshaw on May 15, 2009 at 4:02pm

Eddie.
You are not going to get any more realistic training than using your new toy.( Smoke machine) Let your mind run wild with this I say old technology. In your case new tool. I have taken an old farm house that we had the option to burn down in a couple of months and ran several Training scenarios out of that house. Step # 1 Make sure you have a role of plastic or large cardboard boxes to cover up the windows. This will really enhance the smoke condition. Step # 2 Take a normal training night or day.Head over to the house 1/2 hour early smoke the house up and run your training night like an actual call. ( No lights and Sirens ) Have your self and the D/C or Captain stand back and simply take notes PROS & CONS.
This gives you rookies an opertunity to be inside in a controlled atmosphere.Safety!! is paramount in this exercise. Simple Search & Rescue techniques. Once you have spent some time with this unit you will be able to simulate thermal layer.
HAZ-MAT - Step # 1 Take a couple of old 45 gallon drums and fill the one drum half full of hot water. Step # 2 Take Barrel # 2 and add A 1/4 cup of dish washing soap into it and get a hose pipe and add water to make the foam simulation 1/4 full of water. Step # 3 Do this out behind the fire hall. Step# 4 Brake your training class into 3-4 groups hand each group a Canutec book. Step # 5 mark a placard # on the side of the one barrel and then throw the smoke machine into the scenario. Step # 6 fill the one barrel with smoke the barrel that is only 1/4 full. Send your groups out one at a time and have them make notes on how they would handle that call. when the first group goes outside pull the cap of the barrel so the smoke comes out of the top. Next group out poor the barrel on the ground that will expel all the soapy liquid on the ground. This is the same call but yet different outcomes. review in the classroom all the diferent scenarios. Last learning curve for the night is have all the students outside when it gets dark and have someone grab the TIC off the truck and stab it at the barrel that still has the hot water in it and watch the result of the guys.

There is so many tools that we use for real life issues that when it comes to training we are not able to use these tools unless you look outside the box.

Pete Forshaw

Play Hard Train Safe!!

P.S any questions in the future shoot me a line.. pforshaw@barrie.ca

Permalink Reply by Dan Rice on May 20, 2009 at 6:50am

We use a smoke machine at work and at my volunteer department, it is an amazing tool to help guys with staying alert to there surroundings and remembering landmarks during a search. A good exercise if you haven’t already come up with it is to use you TIC along with your smoke machine to get your firefighters comfortable with using it, and after they’ve made a decent search remove the TIC to simulate a battery failure or mechanical failure of the TIC and see how dependent your firefighters have become on the TIC.
Just a thought. Be safe

Permalink Reply by Eddie Rogers on May 26, 2009 at 9:47pm

Thanks guy's i really like that haz-mat scene idea, that is something we don't have alot of experience with. Just a question about the Canutec book. Im not too familiar with that can you please point me in the right direction. Just wondering if maybe we call them something different around here.

Permalink Reply by Bob Costine on June 20, 2009 at 7:16pm

We have used a hand held ,propane fired bug sprayer, with the smoke solution.Works great and cheap .As far as the charged hose line I drilled and tapped a 2 1/2 in blind cap.installed a standerd air tool fitting,hook it the air comp ,add the nozzel of your choice and no mess in the firehouse. Stay safe