The Training Bulletin Page

Orientation

For this week's drill you can either do this as a tabletop exercise or you can more importantly do the skills in an acquired structure.

This information is merely a small sample of the information given by Battalion Chief John Salka FDNY. Everyone should try to get to his seminar on preventing disorientation or review the online presentation on the Firehouse website.

Ask the following questions to your crew, or more importantly get them to practice these skills.

You are crawling in a ranch house and the floor changes from carpet to tile or linoleum. Where are you?

You are crawling in a residence, the floor is linoleum, you enter a hallway and feel a doorway without a door and the floor changes to carpet. Where are you?

You leave that room, crawl down a hallway and there is a doorway opening with a door, and the floor surface changes to tile. Where are you?

Make your personnel aware of their surroundings at all times by using their senses of feel and "manual observation" seeing with their hands!

Practice skills using blackout or under smoke conditions and continuously ask your folks what they are touching and feeling and more importantly ask them to point to the direction of their exit, and make them do this as if there were no walls. That is to say have them point over there shoulder rather than have them just say "I would reverse direction".

Only by repeated maskwork, and disciplining them to realize where there are can we actually begin to save some lives.

Come up with your own tactile or sense of touch orientation drills and share them.

Take care and stay safe!