Scenarios

DUE TO PFAS IN OUR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING, WE ARE MODIFYING OUR SCENARIOS.

Member health and safety are non-negotiable. In January 2023, the IAFF announced it had retained three nationally recognized tort law firms to assist the union in its effort to end fire fighter cancer and remove PFAS from use in the fire service.

(Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a large group of more than 10,000 synthetic chemicals not found in nature. Their strong, long-lasting carbon-fluorine bonds make them difficult to degrade, hence PFAS are often referred to as “forever chemicals.”

PFAS and Turnout Gear - IAFF

PRESENTAIONS ON FIRE BASED DISPATCH, SAFE STAFFING, RESPONSE TIMES

Learn more through discussion and presentation on our Frontline workers in Dispatch, response times and overall safe staffing for our fire fighters.

LIVE FIRE & FORCIBLE ENTRY

Fire fighting is a team effort and requires adequate personnel to complete a number of complex, time-critical and labor-intensive tasks simultaneously. This is a physically demanding part of the job where you will work as a team to deploy hose lines with other participants to make an initial exterior attack on a burning building. At the same time other members of your team will be performing forcible entry on a door. Once the fire is knocked down and the door has been forced open, your team will make an interior attack to fully extinguish the fire and put out any hot spots. This scenario will highlight the importance of safe and effective staffing and the dangers of the profession.

SEARCH AND RESCUE

The primary mission of the fire service is to save lives and property. During search and rescue, every second counts. In this scenario, you’ll enter a structure to search systematically and thoroughly as a team in order to quickly find and remove trapped victims. There will be zero visibility due to the smoke, and noisy, so it’s easy to become disoriented or lost. The importance of working as a team with adequate staffing will prove vital in this scenario.

AUTO-EXTRICATION

Vehicle extrication requires removing a trapped/injured person from a vehicle that has sustained damage, and is a dangerous situation. In this scenario, you’ll work with experienced fire fighters using the hydraulic tools needed to extricate the victims safely and effectively. You’ll then have a hands-on opportunity to feel the strength, force and time needed to access a damaged vehicle and rescue an accident victim.

EMS / PRE-HOSPITAL CARE OPERATIONS

Our trained personnel will provide an overview of fire department EMS (Emergency Medical Services) systems, and demonstrate pre-hospital care treatment and equipment. We will also simulate a scenario of an emergency utilizing CPR and AED (Automated External Defibrillator).

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS RESPONSE

The number of unknowns often poses a larger threat than the spill, leak, fire or break. HazMat teams are trained to handle material spills, leaks and fires. They include: natural and chlorine gas leaks, gasoline spills, fuel tanker, rail car, boat and industrial accidents, in addition to chemical spills and radiation leakage.

Hazmat incidents are potentially one of the most dangerous and unpredictable types of calls fire fighters can respond to and every call is a potential HazMat call. Each year thousands of fire fighters are exposed to chemical and biological hazards in the performances of their duties.

FIRE GROUND SURVIVAL

Fire Fighter Self-Rescue and training for mayday situations are required when fire fighters are put in dangerous situations. As fire fighters, we train using our Fire Ground Survival Program for High Risk, Low Frequency events -- most important part of the job and keeping ourselves safe so we can perform fire and rescue tasks to save others.