| The Woodbridge Township Fire Officers Association met numerous times over this past year to discuss RIC training for the Township fire companies. RIC (Rapid Intervention Crew) is intended to be a group of specially trained, dedicated and knowledgable FF's. This group of men and women have the tools, training, and operational experience to help downed or trapped FF's quickly and efficiently. The goal of the WTFOA was to provide unified training to all of the Township Companies. The Training Division of the WTFOA met with Mike Donahue of Progressive Rescue to discuss. Progressive Rescue recently developed the first NJ State approved RIC Operations Program.
Mike Donahue and the WTFOA set up dates for both Awareness and Operational Training. The Awareness Training was held at different firehouses in the township. Mike lectured the FF's on the reasons why RIC is important and when crews should be in place. He showed videos of different "jobs" and there was classroom discussion as to what was right and wrong. Mike shared some of his own experiences from riding Rescue 1 in Elizabeth to working with the NJ USAR Team. After the Lecture portion, Mike reviewed ropes, knots and webbing and how they can be used by the RIC's. He also showed the FF's some specialized RIC equipment and discussed uses.
The Operational Training was held at a vacant apartment complex in Perth Amboy. Progressive Rescue built props in two adjacent apartments simulating collapses, low/tight clearance and debris. They were both two story apartments with multiple rooms. The training was held over two days. The first day began with the FF's going through different skill stations, including FF drags, search techniques, wall breaches, raising/lowering FF's between floors, Denver Drill, and low clearances. After all of the skill stations were complete, the FF's went through evolutions using what they learned. The instructors put wax paper in the FF's mask to simulate zero visibilty in a fire.
The evolutions got more intense and difficult as the day progressed. The evolutions eventually included multiple RIC's deployed, maydays and removing a downed FF.
This was an excellent class that every FF took something from. They not only learned RIC Operation, but learned firefighter survival skills.
We would like to thank the Woodbridge Township Fire Officers Association, the Joint Board of Fire Commissioners and Progressive Rescue for an excellent class.
Progressive Rescue can be reached thru their website at www.progressiverescue.com or contact Mike Donahue direct at MikeDonahue@ProgressiveRescue.com or (732) 803-7655. |
