Search and Rescue: A Story of Isolation and Ventilation
Despite an overall decrease in fires in the United States over the past 10 years by approximately 3%, the number of annual fire deaths has increased by approximately 24%. The majority of fire fatalities still occur in residential structures. The purpose of the class is to share the findings from the FSRI search and research study to educate attendees with an interactive, data-driven presentation based on the tactical considerations generated from the experiments. The experiments examined the impact of search initiated through the front door vs. search initiated through a window, the impact of different rescue tactics such as path of occupant removal or elevation of occupant removal, the impact of isolation (front door, fire room, or remote bedroom) and ventilation, and the impact of search and rescue operations that occur prior to, during, or post suppression. Attendees will learn how the coordination of suppression, isolation, and ventilation can be leveraged to provide the most advantageous conditions for searching firefighters and potentially trapped occupants.