
Once you have your refresher class set up with a certified trainer, we need to prepare our training area. Firefighters should not be training on the systems without a certified professional or another member that has been certified in specific "Train to Trainer" certification. What do we do now? Most companies that sell the systems offer additional training and refresher courses. Upon successful completion of the class, the firefighter will then only be allowed to purchase the system.įast forward six months, and it is time to train again. Students learn and demonstrate three different types of deployment, anchoring, and descending techniques from a window. The hands-on portion includes an entire day of system deployment. The training typically entails a half-day classroom lecture followed by 8 hours of hands-on training in the field. Many manufacturers will not release the system to a firefighter without proper training by a certified trainer. When training with these systems, you must first meet the specific manufacturer's requirements to receive the system.


This article will focus on how online videos are revealing unsafe practices with escape systems. That system or similar systems are only as good as the person using them. Your response area may also have specific building types that do not allow for ladder or fire truck assisted bailouts.įDNY developed system In response to the tragic event of Black Sunday, a Personal Safety System was developed by the FDNY. When you listen to the tapes of the Black Sunday fire, you will quickly realize that in these types of fire events you do not have the time to get a ladder in position.

We are hoping that the firefighter inside will actually have the time to wait for a ladder to be put in place, or the ladder just so happens to be at the window needed for egress. Utilizing a ladder or a ladder truck is great in theory. They trained on ladder bailouts, personal rope bailouts, and bailouts with the assistance of a ladder truck. Since the Black Sunday incident, many departments across the country have been equipping their members with personal rope for potential egress. It is true that continual size-up and various other proactive fireground procedures will limit your chances for such a dramatic event.īut, as you can see in the following video on the FDNY Black Sunday fire that killed two firefighters and seriously injured four others, conditions often deteriorate rapidly in our job. This fire event will put firefighters in a position in which they have no other option but to bail from a window to save their lives.

As long as there is fire, firefighters will unfortunately need to consider alternate means of egress in the event of a catastrophic fire event.
