FAST

[Bunkers 0]

I was just a little curious about the other departments on this board, regarding FAST.

I hear departments getting paged out for their services, but are they actually qualified and ready to do the work of FAST?

Scenario:

Your company rolls up as FAST and the second you step out of the rig, A fire fighter puts out a mayday. Will you have what you need and will your level of experience suffice?

Remember, this is IN NO WAY bashing any other dept. Its just a good question that should be asked and if necessary, trained on. Why put another FF at risk when at least one neads help already?

[CFD320 35]

I am not a current member of a FAST unit although I have been in the past. It is my firm belief that the unit I did belong to is all business and ready to immediately react to a mayday transmission. IMO it is very easy to identify a FAST you can have faith in. Are they proactive (laddering, clearing egress points etc.)? Do they constantly communicate to each other updates on size up, staffing numbers operating in IDLH environments, actual interior conditions? Does the team respond with an adequate staffing level (6 is without question bear minimum)?

Now, experience actually answering a mayday? Who really has that? 2%, 1% of firefighters? I don't know of any FAST or RIT in this area that has been activated. You will be hard pressed to find any of the local teams have "live experience" we should all pray they never get any......

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Bunkers,

That is often a scenario I throw at students taking FAST or one that I give when assisting FAS Teams with training. The declaration of a mayday right as they arrive. The best way to do this is not let them know its even coming...tell them to start the evolution and when they arrive....bam...throw it at them. Often it causes some stress and confusion as they now have to scurry for equipment, scurry for information, and it will expose holes in SOP's based on positions and functions very quickly. Of course all this, as well as every other aspect of FAST training should be timed.

[EMTbravo 312]

There are NUMEROUS discussions regarding the question you asked on this thread. Try reading through some of the older threads in this the Firefighting forum and the Safety forum, or try our search feature, and I'm confident your questions will be answered- in depth

So, I'm going to close this topic and refer you to the multiple other exisiting threads on this issue.