Search: Practicalities or Problems?

Editor’s Note:  This featured piece on search comes to us from Gary Lane.  Gary is a career firefighter/paramedic for the City of Kent (Ohio) Fire Department.  He is a State of Ohio certified Fire Instructor I and the lead mentor for new probationary firefighters.  He is co-owner of the training group FireGround Fundamentals,LLC which focuses on “Making the Basics Better”.  He can be reached at firegroundfundamentals@gmail.com

 

By: Gary Lane

The Fire Service Warrior team has been exploring some different view points the last few weeks with Brian Brush’s articles and videos on search.  While some may feel that this is “complicating a simple job”, I feel that this methodology has almost become necessary in today’s fire service world of overnight opinions, internet sensations, and blog bashing.  We do indeed need a data driven and sometimes scientific breakdown of what we do and why we do it, and how to get better at it.  While Brian’s and Chris’s articles tend to be somewhat objective and technical (again… necessary), today’s post is going to stray just a little bit off that course and offer a more “from the street” perspective and maybe even a little personal opinion!  So put your seat backs and tray tables into there fully upright and locked positions, because we may be about to experience a little turbulence.

 

We were all (I hope) taught search and rescue during our recruit training.  That may have been 2 years ago or 22 years ago.  Most likely it involved something similar to what Brian talked about in his Residential Search post in regards to a very basic take on the subject.  We all should recognize the concrete bunker “furnished” with a single couch and chair, and a couple of “victims” to find is alive and well in today’s training facilities across this country.  No big deal, we can work with that.  The problem sets in when the instructors don’t have the knowledge, skills, or just plain imagination to make it more realistic and relevant to the demands of today’s firefighter.  We must always remember that the burn tower is the same as the gym: it is an artificial environment. It is my hope to throw out some ideas here that were either passed on to me by others over coffee, at different trainings I’ve attended, or learned from actually searching houses first hand.

Raise your hand if you started with the hands and knees crawling method; yeah, me too.  Never leave the wall?  Hold onto your partners boot for dear life?  Swing a sharp metal tool around while looking for a victim? Yep, that was me as well.  That’s fine, but it is time to move on to the next level with emphasis on the reasons why we are doing this stuff in the first place.  Let’s veer off for a second and talk briefly about fire behavior. It is well known and well written about that fires are doing a really great job of making our job more difficult!  Fires are reaching flashover conditions extremely fast (72 seconds after our arrival!?!?) and the heat release rates (HRR) are through the roof!  We have to start recognizing some of our tried and true techniques of days past may need a little tweaking.  With that in mind, why are we searching?  To find the victim!  They are in serious trouble and have no PPE or SCBA protecting them.  Without getting into a victim survivability debate, let’s just say this: Time is critical. They may be alive. We are the ONLY ONES TRAINED TO COME AND GET THEM.  We will not keep up with the rapidly evolving fire conditions if we are crawling at a snail’s pace through the house.  How about taking a knee instead?  This is like a lunge, only instead of standing up, you are scooting forward.  The change in speed is dramatic, in part due to having your head up in a more natural position.  Another benefit is a slightly better orientation to the room.  We don’t crawl around our house on our hands and knees on a daily basis, so when dropped into that position with heavy, constricting gear and a SCBA, it creates some anxiety and also starts to compress your chest and abdomen causing some physiological changes in your breathing pattern, which may lead to an excessive respiration rate.  By being slightly upright in the lunge position, we more closely maintain our natural body position and breathing capabilities.  This should also ease some anxiety associated with being in the aforementioned PPE.  We will also have our auditory senses (ears) facing in a more common direction as it relates to the way sound from our victim typically travels ie; down the hall, not up out of the floor boards.  This may help to catch a faint moan for help from our victim!  Let’s further talk about the body positioning.  In the lunge position, you will also have a leg out in front of you acting as a “curb feeler” in case there is a rapid change in elevation (stairs or a hole).  If your foot drops down, the rest of your body weight can fall back and away from it to more stable ground.

So, crawling is ok, just painfully slow. The lunge method has some obvious advantages and is a very natural progression from the crawl.  Next up is walking.  Yes, walking.  Walking has been given a bad rap because you can fall and get hurt.  That is true.  No argument.  But we are talking about a typical house fire and a primary search here.  I’m not proposing we just stroll around without having some grasp of not only fire behavior, but the fires location and even building construction (size-up).  If your district is full of booby trapped drug dens and dilapidated vacant buildings, adapt your methods accordingly. This is where we drive home the point of “Did you check the basement,” “Is the fire running the exterior to the attic or 2nd floor,” “How much time do we REALLY have?”  Size up and 360′s do save lives, possibly ours!  If you don’t have these things down, then maybe you aren’t the best choice of personnel to be searching.  Conducting a primary search operation is a high risk operation, often requiring a crew to work separately from direct contact with a hose line.  “Crew Size-Up” is an important aspect of selecting who has the ability to function in the primary search role.

Walking can be appropriate at many different types of fires with the main benefits being speed and orientation.  I say orientation because again, that is how we move about every single day.  Muscle memory at its finest.  Walking, when appropriate, allows a very rapid search and will result in either quicker victim rescues, or quicker clearing of the house and freeing up the firefighter for other tasks.  As always the KISS rules apply, “If you can’t see your feet when you are standing, you shouldn’t be standing.”

The need to grasp the concept behind tool choice and usage should also start coming into play here.  Everyone picks the axe to search with because it’s light!  But what are the benefits/limitations and limitations of certain tools?  Statistics show the majority of Firefighters have two hands, and therefore are able to carry two tools; consider leaving the second tool at the door or even spiked into the wall next to the door during your search.  What about searching with a 6ft.hook?  Maybe if you’re well versed and practiced with it, but often the length involved will mean you spend more time striking furniture than searching effectively.  What about the “people’s choice”, the Halligan?  Great pick, but some feel the weight slows them down and wildly swinging a Halligan bar means your victim is as likely to die of blunt force trauma as toxic products of combustion.  Honestly, it comes down to personal preference for most, unless your department requires certain tools for the position.  You should work out at roll call who will be bringing what tool and how they complement one another.  The key is repeatedly training with the tools and knowing them inside and out.

Let me add something else in here about fire behavior and getting a “feel” for the heat in a room.  Are we seriously still teaching people to remove a glove to feel if it is hot?  What about the “pulling back the hood” method?  You have got to be kidding me!  Don’t do either of these!  Just stand up!  That’s right, I said it.  Just stand up and hold your hand up above as if trying to reach for the ceiling.  Do not over exaggerate it and let your bunker coat pull up exposing your waist… just stick it up there for a second or two.  In today’s modern firefighting ensembles of Nomex, PBI and Kevlar, you have the ability to “get in too deep” without knowing it.  By quickly standing up (if you were crawling) and reaching above your head, you will quickly know how hot it is.  What is too hot?  Well if you don’t have the good fortune of going to a lot of fires, use some of the training fires/live burns in your area to get an idea.  What about those “flashover” simulators?  Ask the instructors if it would be allowable to stand and hold your arm up during the first or second “flash” cycle.  This will be before the container (and your gear) starts retaining the majority of the heat that usually causes the minor burns.  So back to the hose fire we are searching, if you can hold your hand up, with your glove on, and be in ZERO discomfort, you are most likely good to go for another minute, at which point you would repeat the process.  If you get your gloved hand up there, and feel immediate heat that causes you to jerk your hand back down that is a sign that you had better be thinking about getting some water into the upper atmosphere in your immediate location post haste!  A 2.5 gallon pressurized water extinguisher or “the can”, has proved itself to be invaluable and will buy the searching firefighter time to “make a move” one way or the other.  If you are carrying the can during a primary search, consider leaving it at the door of the room you are searching.  It makes a very distinctive noise when kicked or ran into as you navigate back to the door and is a small but nice insurance policy for your own protection should there be an issue with a delayed nozzle team or loss of water pressure in the hoseline.

 

So let’s get into the next part: The landmarks and ways to stay oriented.  Finding windows are an obvious choice.  Keep in mind that windows are GENERALLY on a wall opposite the door in bedrooms.  Not a 100% rule, but close.  The reason has to do with cross ventilation during the summer months.  Brian covered some good stuff on knowing the approximate distance covered in a “move”, which is great.  3-4ft. per scooch or scoot makes for a good estimate of distance traveled, but also remember that we are in a bedroom. A normal bedroom will be 10×12, 12×14,  maybe even a little bigger in modern construction, but it is not endless.  If disorientation sets in because you came off the wall to feel a bed, that’s not a big deal.  Relax for a second.  Wipe your facepiece with your glove (you may be able to see), take a knee or get low and see if that helps, take a slow, deep breath and hold it while listening.  If you are by yourself listen for other personnel working, or call to your partner who should be in the hallway. The sounds of other personnel operating can be valuable cues if you have found yourself briefly disorientated.  Finally, remember that you are in a room, crawl forward until you bump into a wall and reset from there.

 

It is worth remember that when searching as a team communication is great, but too much of it has some negatives.  While one theory states that talking helps you conserve your air supply, talking also may cause you to miss some critical information.  Critical radio traffic, a faint whimper in the closet, or the absence of the sound of water flowing can be missed if there is constant screaming between team members.  We recently had multiple rooms being cleared by several firemen at one time.  One of them found the victim and yelled out to the others to assist.  They didn’t hear him until the fourth call, because they were shouting out that they had found a door, window, wall, etc…  Well, no kidding you found a wall!!!  Why are you yelling that out!?!?!  A simple “How’s it going?” followed by 10 seconds of silence may be a much better way to go here.  If you are in a kitchen, you don’t need to feel the counter tops for victims! Same goes for the bathroom sink and on top of a dresser!  If this is a primary search, then it is thorough but fast, and that means some of the “less likely” stuff needs passed up!  If I miss finding a baby because it was kept in a dresser drawer… well, that really sucks, but to think or expect Firefighters to get into every nook and cranny is ridiculous until the fire is under control and a down and dirty primary is complete.  If I waste 2 minutes opening up dresser drawers and looking for secret/hidden playrooms and then stumble on the victim in the doorway 6 feet further down the hall that is a critical error in execution.  We can find all the secret spots during the secondary search.  We must ingrain realistic expectations into our personnel for the 99%… not berate them for the 1% they missed because they didn’t know the book shelf slides out and reveals a secret passage only Scooby-Doo and Shaggy could of found!

 

Hit the primary places as quickly as possible: the doorways, hallways and bedrooms.  If you bump into a TV, check across from it, that is where the recliners, couches and beds are at.  If your shin hits a coffee table, you’re almost there!  For checking beds- remember “Up, Over, and Under”.  If the bed is small (twin, single, or child’s) you’ll know it because you can reach the other side easily.  Is it up against a wall?  Check over the side and back between the bed and the wall. Sweep under and feel with your hand if at all possible.  If your tool can hook a lump and move it easily, it is probably just clothes, toys or other miscellaneous storage.  If it is a soft, heavy lump, feel with your hand and get a light shined in there, that may be the home run you’re looking for.  If the bed is large try going around it if it is free standing away from wall, otherwise, climb over.  Don’t bother flipping the mattress or moving stuff around.  That’s a waste of our precious time and energy.  You should be able to clear the second floor (2-3 bedrooms) in less than 2 minutes.

 

Briefly, let’s talk about preparation. This is the work outs, the strength training, cardio, and mobility drills.  This is the endless donning and doffing drills, SCBA familiarization, and review of emergency procedures. The gloved hand practice with everything in zero vizibility.  All of these “little things” have got to be on auto-pilot when its time to search.  You will not be thinking about the right things if you are struggling with your glove or a shoulder strap.  If you are thinking about what hand to hold your tool in, it’s too late.  The endless hours of mundane drills that you thought you didn’t have to participate in or pay attention to has now come back to bite you.  This must be a seamless effort, as fluid as pouring a glass of water, allowing your mind to free up and think about the real job at hand.  The fundamentals of this job can not be underestimated.  Nobody is above this repetitive skill practice, it is the glue that holds it all together.

 

Preparation also occurs in other ways.  “The Search Before the Search” as I call it. This is the off duty dog walks with my wife in the evening, where I glance (not in a creepy way) into people’s front doors and see if I can spot the stairs and if they are where I thought they should be.  Driving the district either on or off duty doing the same thing, remember, you’re creepin’, not creepy!  Summer nights are the best, because the lights are on and the doors and windows are usually open later.  What about the little odd size window half way up between floors? Is that a staircase half landing?  In my first due, it is 99% of the time.  2 1/2 story balloon frame with front porch?  Is the door favored to the right or left of a bigger picture window? Go opposite and in my city, my first due that is the staircase 99% of the time. Cape Cods? Basement stairs usually from the side door. Stairs to the 2nd floor are in the front door either right away, or in 10-15 ft., going up to the right or left.  Many bungalows have an open first floor with stairs in the middle.  You can find this out on all those EMS calls we run to pass the time between fires!  Getting to know your district should take on a completely different meaning if your head is in the game.  We should do everyone a favor, pour a cup of coffee and sit down with the guys and pass this stuff on.  Instructors, mentors, and officers (or just heads-up firemen) should keep no secrets pertaining to the little details of the job that will make a difference.  If you are an instructor or the company officer, I would seriously recommend that you do a “half speed” demo, and then a “full speed” demo for the students to allow them a visual reference to gauge themselves on prior to any of them actually searching.  If we discover something that works better, something that is important, we have an obligation to let others know about it.  It doesn’t matter if it comes from the probie or the senior man!  Always be training!  Always be on the hunt!