Eighth Ward firefighters recently performed a review of training involving a "downed firefighter." The training session depicted in these photos is just the first step of future training with ever-increasing difficulty for our firefighters. We had one firefighter that was unconscious and/or hurt inside a structure, was running low on air, and required Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) assistance.

For this first of many training sessions on RIT, we did not place obstacles in the path of the RIT team. The team was wearing gloves and their face mask was blacked out so they had to locate the firefighter by the sound of the PASS device. The downed firefighter would activate the PASS alert device (or it was activated automatically due to inactivity) and radio Mayday for the RIT team to go to work. The team had in their possessiona a RIT pack with an SCBA cylinder.

Once the firefigther was located the team was required to attach the high-pressure hose from the RIT cylinder to the transfill on the downed firefighter in order to provide them with air. OR, the regulator connected to the RIT cylinder was used to replace the regulator on the downed firefighter. All of this was completed by sound and feel only with bulky firefigthting gloves on.

This training was fun, exciting, and extremely beneficial.