Tug of War

Members of the Cloverdale Township Volunteer Fire Department participate in the Emergency Services Tug of War contest at Robe Ann Park. Department members pulled against teams from the Putnam County Jail, Madison Township Fire Department, and Greencastle Fire Department. In the end the team from CTVFD took second place in a final showdown with Greencastle Fire Department.

l to r: Justin Shepherd, Jarrad Hughes, Chad Foster, Kenny Gerlach, Denny Nave, and Mitch Warner

^{l to r: Justin Shepherd, Jarrad Hughes, Chad Foster, Kenny Gerlach, Denny Nave, and Mitch Warner}

Take 10

Quick company-level rehab keeps responders ready for action

By Edward Dickinson, M.D.

FireRescue

The goal of emergency incident rehabilitation (rehab) operations is to provide rest, rehydration and medical monitoring for fire-rescue personnel engaged in strenuous activities. In many departments, rehab operations occur only within a formal rehab area established on the incident scene. Although this practice remains the backbone of rehab operations, it generally occurs relatively late into an operation, perhaps after two 30-minute SCBA cylinders have been used.

There has been increasing focus on the need for fire-rescue personnel to receive some degree of rehab earlier in an incident, before a formal rehab sector is established. This concept of “informal rehab” or “company/crew level rehab” (as coined by the NFPA) has clearly emerged as an essential enhancement of emergency incident rehabilitation operations.

The fundamental goals of company/crew level rehab are the same as formal rehab sector operations. However, the means by which we address them differ due to the relatively austere environment that exists on fire-rescue scenes.

Yocco Firefighter Drag Rescue Device

By Frank Ricci and Anthony Avillo

The day will start like any other--plans for the weekend or that family vacation on your mind. Than, in a tenth of a second, you are responding to a working fire. Are you prepared for what you may be called on to do? The time to find out if you are proficient for the task at hand has long past. In researching this article, we were surprised to find that many departments that have drag rescue devices (DRD) have never trained with them. In addition, we found that some of those who were "wear testing" new turnouts for their department did not have any formal training in the use of the DRD and, in one case, the harness was not even positioned properly in the coat.