F.A.S.T. Accreditation

[x635 4,066]

I know that F.A.S.T. matters on this forum have been discussed extensively from all angles. But, I was thinking and have a question. BUT, let's NOT turn this into a debate on FAST team responses, etc and try to keep it to the topic on hand.

Is there a County or State accreditation for F.A.S.T. teams, or can any department just make up there own rules and call themselves "F.A.S.T.", much like Rescue trucks without the rescue personel.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Seth..progressive...and you know I like that...but you also know what would come if the state and/or county ever tried.

NY...the home rule state...left up to the AHJ. Authority Having Jurisdiction. Which is why so many things are screwy. Of course there are other emergency services though were such things are not left up to the AHJ. But we all know how the fire service goes.

[firecapt32 282]

To finish off ALS's response to you--the State does have a F.A.S.T. course and reccomendation not mandates for departments . but AHJ is the thing that counts. a department can set whatwever standards for their F.A.S.T. All department that use other departments as F.A.S.T. should know what they are getting and should traing togeather.

[xfirefighter484x 234]

I believe that in Dutchess, you have to go to DC911, and I am not sure of the requirements, but you can arrange with the 911 center to become a county recognized FASTeam. Therefore, if Dept. A has a fire and asks for a FASTeam, the 911 center can go and look through their list of teams that are "officially" FASTs, and dispatch the closest/most appropriate.

Otherwise, the department would have to ask for a specific department that they want to come, which is the case when Dept. A has a beef with Dept. B (which is a close/the closest FASTeam) because someone broke someone else's GI Joes 25 years ago, and the 2 departments haven't gotten along ever since, which happens "occasionally" here in Dutchess (shock)

In the latter case, Dept. B calls themselves a FAST, yet is not a "county accredited" team, they are merely a few people who have taken FAST courses (or the NYS FAST course), or could be a group of seasoned members who are fulfilling the requirement through experience.

Edited June 5, 2007 by xfirefighter484x

[Guest partyrock]

This where prefire planning comes in. Establish 10-75, 2nd alarm, etc response plans. I'm sure its well within the ability of the county's CAD system to dispatch certain assignm,ents based on the location of the alarm (maybe someone in the know can confirm). Then its up to the dept to choses teams they know can do the job and turn out the crew thats needed.

[jd783 64]

Is it me am I the only person that sees a problem here, a FAST team needs to be in place ASAP, I feel most injuries on the fireground occur within the first few minutes of a job. I have seen 2 firfighters hurt bad on jobs and these injuries occured in the first few minutes(seconds) of the job, We as a whole (Fire service Volley or Professional) are rolling the dice when it comes to this. Now some might say what are you going to door you only have negative comments about this subject. This is not true I do set policy in my dept if I did I would have the 3rd due engine at all confirmed fire stay as the FAST team. As for units having FAST certification who cares if they are 15 to 20 min away they could be the engine company from Backdraft I'm trapped,down and dead in under 15 min

[robert benz 344]

some good points,

as a FAST instructor since the course was started in NYSTATE, I have seen all kinds of firefighters come thru for certification. Most are aggressive interior guys counted on to fight the red devil. So over the years I have seen the Vol Depts figure out these firefighters cant be in two places at once, inside fighting the fire and outside as the FAST. Westchester Vol depts have made great progress in mutual aiding FAST so the host dept can concentrate on fighting the fire with the members it has on scene, which is usually not enough. (not bashing, paid has the same problem). As far as a standard goes, OFPC is now in the process of rewriting the whole FAST program, making it longer and with more pre req's. Too many new FF's are passing FF-1, going straight into survival, then taking FAST, and they havent seen a working fire. It is up to each Fd as to how to assign members for the FAST, but the state is taking the steps to slow down the process.

All I can say now is I hope all those students I have taught never have to use any of the skills they learned.

I guess i ranted a little, all Chief officers, Career or Vol. need to know who is coming, from where, and how long till they arrive, and then where is my next unit if I need one

[Guest alsfirefighter]

JD...excellent point and no your not the only one that see's the flaw's in the system. It just wasn't asked in the original post. The only thing I would add to your discussion about how FAST needs to be in place ASAP is that I agree...to a point. FAST or no FAST you need to comply with OSHA 1910.134(g)(4)(ii) which is in short is known as the 2 in/2 out requirement. Often with many departments having a 6 person FAST standing around or doing whatever still will not assist in completing this requirement. Nothing replaces sound firefighting tactics and procedures and following simple standards is smart and safe.

[Guest]

Robert Benz makes a good point, which I have repeated to anyone who will listen...

Think about the job that the FAST will be doing: They have to assist a firefighter in trouble. This will not be an easy task. Do you want your best firefighters on this task? Or you not-so-good firefighters.

And, I agree with other who pointed out that FAST needs to be in place ASAP, rather than having to wait for a company to get dispatched and arriving later on in the fire.

[AFS1970 504]

The idea of FAST or RIT certification is very interesting. However the potential to be mishandled is great. Last week I too the CT fire Academy's Advanced RIT class which is only 1 day but builds upon the skills covered in the initial 2 day RIT class. But for most Chief's to agree to send you to a 3 day class will involve costs either in manpower, payroll or both. If you added into this the 2 day Firefighter Safety & Survival (which is all about self rescue) and the new 1 day Calling the Mayday class (which in my opinion should be the pre-req for the whole set) you are up to 6 days.

I agree that there should be a certification, but it needs to be from a state agency, not a local AHJ, simply because of how important this skill set is. I also think that there needs to be refresher training. You should not be able to get certified once and thankfully never have to be activated on scene, then 10 years down the road still be RIT certified. These are skills that are rarely used, and training is even more important than it is with our basic skills that we use more often.