On Saturday and Sunday November 10th and 11th, the WGFC hosted a special training class designed to help firefighters learn how to survive the worst possible situations they might encounter fighting fires. The special class, known as Firefighter Survival and Rapid Intervention Team training, was held on the site of the organization's future third station on Route 896 in London Britain Township. Part of Nichol Park, the site includes an old residence, in which the firefighters could practice realistic skills and situations they might encounter fighting house fires.

All firefighters go though basic training and skills enhancement training throughout their careers whether paid or volunteer. Most classes are set up to help teach firefighters how to save lives and property, and teach basic skills. This particular advanced class is specifically geared towards teaching firefighters how to save themselves and their brothers and sisters in the fire service, when the most dangerous situations arise. The weekend-long training was both physically and mentally demanding, and most students were still nursing aching muscles well into the following week.

There were two parts to this class. The first part focused on firefighter survival, and the second part on operations for a Rapid Intervention Team (RIT).

Day 1 was focused on survival and the class went through quite a few drills to teach firefighters how to "get out alive." While firefighters all expect most fires to be well within the "normal experience," good training helps prepare for the worst.

Students started out with familiarizing themselves with their equipment (air packs) as they need to be able to take the air packs off, manipulate them, twist them, take them apart and put it all back on in zero visibility and under fire conditions. After this training, students were taught how to fit through a wall stud space to simulate breaching a wall to escape a room where the exit has been blocked.

The next drill was the much-anticipated bailing out of a second floor window. There were two scenario's to be reviewed: bailing out onto a ladder head first, and using the escape belt that is on all of the WGFC air packs and a rope to jump out of the window. (see photos).

The class then performed what is known as the Denver drill. This drill was modeled after a real world rescue of a trapped firefighter in Denver. That firefighter who perished had been trapped on a second floor of a law office that had high rack file storage. There were challenges in getting the firefighter out of a window in such a tight space, and this drill is to prepare in case a similar situation happens in the future. The space was very tight 28 inches wide and about 42 inches below the window sill. The drill teaches firefighters who to go in a window and then team up to remove an injured firefighter out a window under difficult and narrow conditions.

The afternoon was filled by a firefighter confidence course. This simulated a lost FF following a hoseline out of a building. There were entanglement hazards, confined space, steps, floors with holes, steep drop offs like a roof, framing joists simulating an attic, an unstable floor and of course a wall that had to be breached. All of this while using air packs, and with training that required removing the air pack while not losing air and while blindfolded.

The second day focused on the RIT portion of the class. Rapid Intervention Teams are assigned at fire scenes to be available to rush into a fire when firefighters become trapped. A recent practice used in the fire service over the past few years, RITs are dedicated teams who standby in front of a burning structure, and their sole purpose is firefighter rescue.

For the training, there were two scenario's: the first covered a FF falling through a floor, and the second involved a simulated structural collapse. To simulate a real situation, visibility was decreased with a smoke machine.

In the first scenario a firefighter simulated falling though a floor and the crew went in through a second floor window and attempted to removed the victim through that same window. The team had to first find the victim on the first floor. The team found the firefighter, assessed him, replenished his air from the RIT air pack and prepared him for removal. However the stairs were not available to remove the victim due to changing fire conditions, so a rope had to be used to lift the firefighter and the remaining crew through the hole in the floor to get everyone out. This victim was lowered to the ground using rope and a ladder All went well and the fallen firefighter was removed in about 25 minutes  relatively quickly for a first training effort.

The second scenario was a firefighter trapped by a building collapse. Again the RIT team entered via a ladder to the second floor and had to find the victim in poor visibility in the basement, behind a door that was screwed shut. The fallen firefighter was under a lot of debris (see photo). The victim had to have his air replenished using a RIT air pack, be extricated from the debris that covered him, moved up the stairs, and then removed out of a window to the porch roof. Again this was completed in about 25 minutes  a good job for the team involved.

This important life saving training will help the WGFC volunteers be better prepared in case of an emergency on the fire ground. The WGFC wishes to thank the instructors Jeff Kramer -- a West Chester PA and Arlington County Virginia firefighter who designed this class for the Chester County Fire School; Chris Obenchain -- Chief of the Union Fire Company of Oxford, who did an outstanding job as lead instructor for the first time; Win Slauch  Lieutenant at the Union Fire Company of Oxford and also with the Arlington County fire department; and Dave McCormick  Captain of the Union Fire Company of Oxford.

The WGFC would also like to thank the Township Supervisors and staff of London Britain Township. Through their cooperation, the WGFC would make use of the old house on the park property. Being able to jump out windows, cut holes in floors, and break through walls made this class very realistic. The house use for this training is scheduled to be demolished at the end of December, to make way for the fire company's planned third station.

While it is hoped that WGFC volunteer firefigthers will never need rescue or become trapped or injured, this kind of training class will better prepare them for the worst of the worst in firefighting situations.