fire

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Pittsburgh drill

• Rapid Intervention Team Drill
• By Lt. Scott Barfield
• TCESD 3/ Oak Hill FD.

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Purpose

• The Pittsburgh Drill was developed by the Rapid
  Intervention Training Associates staff to force
  train your RIT to work as a team.
• If any one of the team members that have entered
  the obstacle course fail to give anything but
  100 the entire team will fail the drill.

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Set Up

• The obstacle course is 50 ft in length with 3
  obstacles evenly spaced out to encounter
  (under/over/through). The first is a small wall
  breach (low profile), the second is an A-frame (3
  pallets screwed together), and the third is a
  10-12 ft tube (three 55 gallon drums welded
  together or wood chute 10' long and 20" wide
  square) and another low profile

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Instructions.

• . A section of 1 3/4 inch hose is stretched from
  the entrance of the course through all 3
  obstacles to the firefighter victim at the end
  (preferably a 150 to 175 lb dummy in fire gear,
  SCBA, and facemask on - rather than a live
  victim, they will get to beat up).

• A minimum of a 4 person, to a maximum of 5 person
  team will enter the course with face pieces
  covered (wax paper works great and simulates a
  Smokey vision).
• The catch here is the team only gets a maximum of
  20 minutes to complete this course

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Cont.

• They have to maneuver all three obstacles to the
  victim then work as a team to bring the victim
  back through the obstacle course while on air

• At the entrance to the third obstacle (the tube),
  two team members will low profile through the
  tube to the victim while the remaining crew waits
  in place at the entrance of the tube

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Cont.

• Once through the tube, the condition of the
  victim is that he has a good air supply but is
  unconscious. The two team members must prepare
  the victim for a low profile back through the
  tube using a handcuff knot or girth hitch.

• The victim is rolled out of their SCBA, the
  handcuff knot is tied to the victims arms or
  girth hitch to the chest, victim SCBA is tied off
  in front of the victim on the handcuff knot rope
  keeping the victim in a low profile.

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Cont.

• The rope has been thrown back through to the team
  members waiting. These members will pull the rope
  with the SCBA and victim back through the tube.

• The two members will now low profile back
  through. Once everyone is back through the third
  obstacle the team works together to maneuver the
  victim over the second obstacle (A-frame).

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Cont.

• Send two rescuers over the A-frame before the
  victim so that they can pull from the opposite
  side, then onto the first obstacle (wall breach).

• The team must send two members through the breach
  first to pull from the opposite side. The
  remaining team positions the victim into the
  breach and pushes the victim through as the team
  members on the opposite side pull the victim
  through.

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Cont.

• The rest of the team must get themselves through
  the breach and assist getting the victim to the
  starting point where the time will stop.

• The victims face piece must remain on the face
  the entire obstacle course. If it dislodges, the
  team is stopped to fix it (which eats up time).

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Cont.

• The team is on air through the entire course.
• Spare SCBA or SCBA cylinders may be kept at the
  entrance to the course and if (sorry, when) a
  team members low air alarm sounds, they must
  follow the course hose back to the spare cylinder
  to change out and get back into the obstacle
  course to continue to help with the extrication.

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Cont.

• The faster you change out, the faster the team
  works as a group again. If you elect to peter out
  and stay out, the team must continue without you.
• If you elect to peter out and stay out, the team
  must continue without you. If you run out of air
  while on the course you will be pulled off the
  team reducing their manpower.

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Cont.

• Once the clock hits 20 minutes the drill is
  terminated regardless of where the victim is in
  the obstacle course. The average time recorded is
  18 to 20 minutes.

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The Drill Field

• Drill field lay out of the course.

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Wall Breach

• The lay out of the wall breach.

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A-Frame

• A-Frame set up.

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Average Times

• A good time is 18 to 20 minutes.
• A great time is 16 to 18 minutes.
• An exceptional time is 14 to 16 minutes.
• Anything under 14 minutes is superman status and
  you can come be my RIT anytime.

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Fastest Time recorded

• The current record time is 630 held by the
  Yakima, Washington Fire Department.

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Summary

• It's a training tool that teaches teams to work
  together and share the load. It will show you how
  important physical fitness is in RIT operations
  so that we can rescue our people and not recover
  them.

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Stay safe...