SASKATOON — Being a Master Instructor for the Fire Ground Survival Program of the International Association of Fire Fighters is close to the heart of Lionel Crowther after 小蓝视频 injured in the line of duty in an incident in Winnipeg that cost the lives of two of his colleagues over a decade ago.
Crowther was in the city the last couple of days to help firefighters from Saskatoon (16), Prince Albert (four), Warman (two), Martensville (two) and North Battleford (one) address firefighter safety in a Train the Trainer course program hosted by the Saskatoon Fire Department.
Those who attended can now pass on the skills they learned from their colleagues to prepare them for scenarios where they might find themselves trapped inside a burning structure, trapped and disoriented in a fire. The training includes mayday calls and how to self-evacuate and conserve air until rescuers arrive.
The acting fire captain of the Winnipeg Fire Department was the lone survivor of their team that responded to a structure fire in 2007 after 小蓝视频 trapped in the burning house. He suffered severe burns and recovered, but losing two fire captains that night was the hardest.
“I was involved with a double line of duty death where I was the last member out that survived. Losing those two members was devastating not just for myself but also for our department and their families. That is the motivation for this program of not losing any more of our members,” Crowther told local media members.
“Giving them that fighting chance to know what to do when [near-death] situations come. That is what this program is based on. These lines of duty death were skill sets that may not have been trained, so we focus on skills here, the mindset, real work and how to be successful in these situations.”
Crowther said the survival program created by the IAFF is to train all crews on how to survive when they are faced with the same situations that they encountered during their training, like squeezing out of tight spaces, how to wiggle out if you are entangled in wires and how to find your way out with the help of the hose line.
“We want our crews to be survivable. Unfortunately, we are losing firefighters across North America, not just here in Saskatoon. What we want to try to accomplish here is to give them a fighting chance to survive. What this program at is the line of duty deaths across North America and how can we learn from them and put them into practice,” said Crowther.
“Majority of the fires that we have now is due to modern fire environments that we work in. When those fuels ignite, it becomes dense black smoke and when we are blacked out, we have to rely on our skill sets orientation—our hands, ears and all our skills. Even the crews outside aid us.”
He added that their program has also evolved to adapt to the new materials used in buildings and structures firefighters get into when responding to fires and other emergencies.
“We have an evolving fire environment. The modern fire environment is changing our tactical considerations and our skill sets. We have to be better, faster and more aware of what is happening around us,” said Crowther.
“That situational awareness is the key. We have relaunched the new curriculum for this program and it took us five years of work to create the new manual that Saskatoon Fire and these various locals are using this week.”
SFD Assistant Chief of Staff Development and Safety Anthony Tataryn said the IAFF initiated the program after studying line-of-duty deaths and other close calls encountered by firefighters to determine the cause of these incidents and how to have the best curriculum can address this and keep firefighters safe.
“It has been 10 years since we had the opportunity to put one of these courses here and bring in IAFF instructors. This is a Train the Trainer course, so the participating people represent five fire departments from across central Saskatchewan who will be able to take these skills back to their home communities and teach their fellow firefighters,” said Tataryn.
“Teach how to recognize the dangers of a changing fire environment and how to respond appropriately. Also, practice some key mayday or how to call for help when in distress, so that is the program’s premise. Some of the worst cases are what they did throughout the four days they have been here.”
Tataryn added that the participants learned the skills and applied them in a simulated room where they had to go through an obstacle-course-like environment, facing various scenarios like getting separated from their team, wearing blacked-out masks and 小蓝视频 in full gear, trying to maintain communication with the command centre to survive.
“They will find themselves against all sorts of challenges in 小蓝视频 lost and disoriented. The hose line is their lifeline for a firefighter because when things get untenable, you turn around and follow that line out. What we practice here is what happens if you are separated, you’re your hose line or partner. Or you become trapped or entangled in wires, and what steps are there to move towards self-rescue,” said Tataryn.
