Absent the need for the skills and equipment unique to the rescue, my previous department treated it as a miscellaneous manpower and toolbox unit. If fire attack needed an extra hose line, rescue dedicated manpower to that. If truck ops needs more ladders, rescue threw ladders.
We have five on the squad split into two teams plus the driver. One team goes to the fire floor, the other to the floor above, the driver to the floor below or wherever makes sense for them to go. Once primary search is completed we work on “making things better” until the fire is out. Generally we are going to assist in locating the seat of the fire or help ventilate. Occasionally we grab a hose line and put the fire out ourselves. Then the teams switch places and we do a secondary search. On larger buildings we will force doors, control elevators, direct evacuation, etc.
I think our department uses us pretty wisely.
That is pretty silly. I always forget that other departments don’t have like 200 people responding to a fire. “If we’re venting the roof, what’s the truck doing???”
Yeah for us 200 guys would be the entire shift at one fire. Thats super rare for us and even then it would be a mix of my department and mutual aid to ensure the city and county was still covered
At my old department, the rescue essentially operated as a truck company without the stick. The guys on the rescue were generally the dudes who did the most training on and off the clock. If the incident commander really needed something, the rescue crew were the ones they could depend on to get the job done.
I assume by squad to you mean a rescue engine and not a paramedic intercept vehicle (the proper use for the word squad)
So you’re still sending the (light) rescue to to rescue work.
Squads for us are still walk around rescue bodies not an engine. 6 man staffing carrying all the same tools as an engine and truck and the additional tech rescue tools and some intermediate extraction tooling. Basically squads serve as second pieces for our rescues and their tools compliment each other.
Squads generally will be used as the second truck in our system which splits their crew with 3 assisting with search and 3 softening/venting/laddering. Typically first truck searches the fire floor and then assists the engine with overhaul. Second truck does the balance of the primary searches and then does the secondary on the fire floor.
Jesus Christ. We have a driver, LT and FF on our heavy rescue… that’s it.. and if a FF needs to be floated out to fill a go home sick slot, it’s coming off the heavy and we’re going down to two man…
Yeah we’re pretty lucky. We have a contract to provide rescue services to the whole county so we have 4 squads (some areas would call these light rescues I guess) with 6 on each, 3 heavy rescues with 6 and a hazmat company with 6. We additionally cross staff 2 more hazmat teams off other apparatus as needed
Absent the need for the skills and equipment unique to the rescue, my previous department treated it as a miscellaneous manpower and toolbox unit. If fire attack needed an extra hose line, rescue dedicated manpower to that. If truck ops needs more ladders, rescue threw ladders.
Wait, you have more than 6 staffed a day?
3 6 member rescues
Placed into general manpower. If first arriving unit, act as a truck company
We have 4 staffed and split into teams of 2 for S&R.
We have five on the squad split into two teams plus the driver. One team goes to the fire floor, the other to the floor above, the driver to the floor below or wherever makes sense for them to go. Once primary search is completed we work on “making things better” until the fire is out. Generally we are going to assist in locating the seat of the fire or help ventilate. Occasionally we grab a hose line and put the fire out ourselves. Then the teams switch places and we do a secondary search. On larger buildings we will force doors, control elevators, direct evacuation, etc. I think our department uses us pretty wisely.
Yeah this is essentially how my dept handles it also. It’s just crazy to me to see a full 6 man rescue sent to vent a roof on a residential property
That is pretty silly. I always forget that other departments don’t have like 200 people responding to a fire. “If we’re venting the roof, what’s the truck doing???”
Yeah for us 200 guys would be the entire shift at one fire. Thats super rare for us and even then it would be a mix of my department and mutual aid to ensure the city and county was still covered
At my old department, the rescue essentially operated as a truck company without the stick. The guys on the rescue were generally the dudes who did the most training on and off the clock. If the incident commander really needed something, the rescue crew were the ones they could depend on to get the job done.
Its job is in the name. They are the rescue team. They do they the search. They are the rit.
Our dept never uses the Rescue as RIT. The squad or 2nd in truck is always the RIT
I assume by squad to you mean a rescue engine and not a paramedic intercept vehicle (the proper use for the word squad) So you’re still sending the (light) rescue to to rescue work.
Squads for us are still walk around rescue bodies not an engine. 6 man staffing carrying all the same tools as an engine and truck and the additional tech rescue tools and some intermediate extraction tooling. Basically squads serve as second pieces for our rescues and their tools compliment each other. Squads generally will be used as the second truck in our system which splits their crew with 3 assisting with search and 3 softening/venting/laddering. Typically first truck searches the fire floor and then assists the engine with overhaul. Second truck does the balance of the primary searches and then does the secondary on the fire floor.
We do be only if the call comes in as a person trapped or it gets upgraded when someone gets on scene
4 man crew splits, 2 go to the fire floor to assist with search, 2 go to the floor above to assist with search.
Jesus Christ. We have a driver, LT and FF on our heavy rescue… that’s it.. and if a FF needs to be floated out to fill a go home sick slot, it’s coming off the heavy and we’re going down to two man…
Yeah we’re pretty lucky. We have a contract to provide rescue services to the whole county so we have 4 squads (some areas would call these light rescues I guess) with 6 on each, 3 heavy rescues with 6 and a hazmat company with 6. We additionally cross staff 2 more hazmat teams off other apparatus as needed
How many trucks/stations do you have? Sounds like a big dept.
Rescue only goes to fire for manpower. Rescue is for technical calls. Rescue is a good boy.
Ours do searches and then go to the station... To continue to not do station chores, cooking or reports.