Ch. 11 Mission of Search Flashcards by Neil Meeyadie

Search officer has 3 responsibilities:

Keeping search crew safe.
Coordinate a PRIMARY search of the assigned area.
Keeping command informed.

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The ________ is the last person I believe should be be sweeping under beds, in closets, and bathtubs.

Search officer

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The mission of search is to ________ in the area assigned.

COORDINATE search efforts

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How MANY firefighters to conduct a thorough search in our bread and butter fire? It depends on:

Level of training.
Structure type and number of rooms.
Amount of "stuff" in the area.
Amount of fire.
Length of time fire had been burning before the search company arrived.

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Of all the fireground operations, we do the poorest job on __________.

Searches

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Sector officer may have to assist in the actual search for ________.

That one in a thousand fire in which someone outside is telling us exactly where to find a victim and there is no time to muster an adequate search crew

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Two search STRATEGIES

Primary and secondary

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____________ is the process whereby an officer ensures that the search has been started, maintained, and finished in a logical, UNINTERRUPTED manner.

Continuity of search.

best maintained when same officer is put in charge of and finishes a search operation

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The search officer should never conduct a search without _________.

A plan

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Are defined as systematic searches to assure that all SAVABLE victims have been located and removed from atmosphere that is IDLH.

Primary search

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Secondary searches are ___________ searches directed at locating ______________.

Slow, methodical.
Deceased victims.

*HOT = “extremely thorough”

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Keyword in primary search definition is ________.

Savable

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Three types of search

Standard.
Team.
Oriented.

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Atmospheres in primary and secondary search

Primary - IDLH.

Secondary - with lights under non-IDLH.

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Adv.
Conforms to two-in, two-out.
All members searching together.

Disadv.
One area at a time.
No ones focus is on safety of crew .
Continuity of search .

Standard search

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2 or 3 FFs searching same area all at one time.
Could be one go right, one go left.
Could be stay on the wall, another searcher holds on to boot.
Very “Sound” method of search.

Standard method

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Adv.
All members together, two-in, two-out.
All members participate.

Disadv.
Sole reliance on rope.
Crews spend more time adjusting rope.
Safety of crew may be lost due to rope.
Continuity of Search (officer ensures started, maintained and finished)

Team search

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The _______ method of search where a two-person crew can conduct an adequate search in the same time it would take ___________ to using standard techniques.

Oriented.

Two or three searchers.

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Oriented is sometimes impracticable, such as:

Buildings that have large open areas

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Firefighters conducting a search operation inside a burning building have two main concerns:

First, deal with any possible victims.
Second, is self-preservation.
(Oriented divides these two concerns)

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Oriented during controlled situations, the following was found:
(Speed, getting lost, number of victims)

Search conducted faster.
Teams got lost less frequently.
Search was more thorough.
FF at ease/more confident.
Same number of victims.

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This search mirrors the incident management system (IMS)

Oriented method

While searcher is searching, oriented person (officer) must be thinking of (6)

Communication with searcher.
Where to search next.
How to get out.
Changing fire conditions.
Fire AND human noises.
Coordinate with other sectors on SAME floor AND IC.

Three things for successful oriented method:

Communication.
Direction of search.
Number of walls must be determined - most rooms 4 or 5 walls.

One of worst mistakes FF can make is to :

Lose or forget way out. * bad to walk/crawl into center of room* * always keep wall to left or right*

When searching, looking for:

Size of baby doll or 1 yr old

Oriented. | One victim steps vs More than one victim

One victim-searcher drags back to oriented, who leads way out. More than one victim-oriented goes back to continue search. *with another searcher, another team, or one person method*

If concentrating on number of walls, then key is:

Location of doors

Oriented person and searcher must not ___________.

Switch jobs in the middle of the search. | Only ONE person responsible for knowing way out.

Oriented search works best with __________ members.

Two or three. | *communication is confusing with more than TWO searchers*

If oriented person gets hurt and CANT talk, searcher should backtrack. If searcher knows way out: If searcher DOESN'T know way out:

Take oriented out. | Take oriented back into room being searched, go to last known WINDOW and summon help.

Chances of oriented getting hurt slim because: (2)

Oriented in hall/ doorway, which usually doesn't collapse. | Oriented should be aware of changing fire conditions.

If searcher finds room off the room being searched, he should: (2)

Tell oriented and determine type of room. - bath/closet, search and continue original room. - another bedroom, oriented goes to doorway and searcher searches new room

Occupancies that can create problems (oriented): (2)

Rooms off of other rooms in ranch houses and first floor of two-story home. -oriented must know way out

One of the most dangerous operations for a firefighter is _________.

A one-person search. | *Avoid if at all possible*

One-person method steps: (4)

``` Left or right handed. Count walls (may be only point of reference). Remember last window/door passed. Remember what you are passing (furniture). ```

If staffing is low and equal fire problem, ventilation problem, search problem, you can do one thing:

Put the fire out. | *Next is vent!!!!*

Crew enters area to be searched, using a rope. | Rope anchored outside or non-IDLH.

Team search

Crew is inside for search, Command must make some assumptions if no info is passed along:

Search officer is coordinating. Search officer has a plan "reading the building". Search officer will keep safety first in mind. When search changes floor, will tell command. If can't cover entire area, inform command.

Search officer must make some assumptions as it relates to command:

If believed to be worsening, command will inform search. Command receives info about potential victims, will inform search. Command will assign backup crew to protect search as soon as possible.

``` Prioritizing search (small crews - incident-specific or sequential). You can't go wrong if you try to ________. After that, my next thought is ______. ```

Put the fire out. | Ventilation.

There are several factors that constitute reading a building for search. Their order of importance? a. Location and intensity b. Finding the stairs c. Structure type and occupancy d. Time of day e. Where to start/stop your search

c, a, d, e, b (SLTWF - "slight wif" of smoke for search) | *Where to start/stop and Finding stairs "Make or break the search"*

After size-up (constr, occupancy and fire conditions), officer should be thinking about HOW they are going to get inside. ????

Under most circumstances, search should follow the attack line in.

When search follows attack, two things happen:

First, lessens likelihood of search getting hit with hose stream. Second, gets hoseline between search team and fire.

Rule for where to start search is: | One exception is:

Search as CLOSE to the fire as possible where savable people could be and then work OUT and away from fire til you are out of the AREA or area is no longer IDLH. Fire/by-products are in area away from where victims would be found

Search until

Entire area has been searched OR area no longer IDLH

Area no longer IDLH. Not a monitor thing. It's a ______ thing. Good visibility (__________) and little (breathable) heat, area is no longer _______.

Focus 10-15 ft IDLH

When to search attic?

Permanently affixed stairway. Includes pull-down attic ladder. *hit rafters, don't waste your time. Hit table of leg or bed leg, start searching.*

Rule of thumb is that under IDLH conditions, a primary search should be conducted for no more than _____ minutes.

Time frame that search should not be conducted:

Under IDLH, primary no more than 15 minutes (one SCBA bottle). - human body = 15% or less oxygen for 4-6 minutes. - CO at 60% or 6,500 ppm death in LESS 20 minutes. - human body 130F moist, 160F dry, 200-2 rule.

Whether command orders a search depends on (4)

Probability of savable victims. Size of fire. Location of fire. Location of fire in relation to location of savable victims.

Search vs rescue

Two separate and distinct evolutions. No continuity of search if find victim and take outside to work. Rescue group with 2 FF that haul victim outside and search goes back to searching.

I advocate the use of ________ when searching commercial buildings.

2 1/2" hoseline. Pull til out of line Searchers spread out laterally (using webbing or sidesteps) then work back to line. Move up 3 or 4 feet and repeat.

Tool for search. Slows you down but tool was for: extending reach (one more side crawl) and save your life (when extricate during search)? To solve:

Oriented person has the tool