hANDS-ON sESSION

Synopsis

"The Tactical Firefighter"

Every fire department in this country deals with the issue of manpower limitations on the fire ground. More hands are always needed when first arriving on scene to a structure fire – sadly, the number of working hands available on arrival is limited and the functions or tasks that are required to be done are not always able to be completed. Every firefighter needs to be a Tactical Firefighter so that they can perform effectively and efficiently on the fire ground so that the fireground priorities of life safety, incident stabilization and property conservation can be accomplished with limited numbers of working hands. 

This class will explore three different key areas that each firefighter needs to be proficient at so that upon arrival at a structure fire, they can tactically be effective and efficient. Each student will rotate through three skill stations:

1.      Tactical Search (TIC’s provided/sponsored by Bullard)

2.      Tactical Hose (Elkhart will provide the nozzles)

3.      Tactical Rescue

Bio

Mark van der Feyst began his career in the fire service back in 1998 in Cranberry Twp, Pennsylvania.  He went on to work for the Mississauga Fire & Emergency Services and currently works for the Woodstock Fire Department.

Mark graduated from Seneca College of Applied and Technologies as a Fire Protection Engineering Technologist, at the Justice Institute of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Fire and Life Safety Studies and completed his Master of Science in Safety, Security & Emergency Management through Eastern Kentucky University in March 2015.  

Mark has a monthly column in Firefighting In Canada and Canadian Firefighter called Back to Basics as well as FireRescue1.com hosting a column called The Domino Effect. He also publishes a monthly article for Fire Engineering and is the lead author of Fire Engineering’s Residential Fire Rescue book. 

Mark is an international instructor teaching in Canada, the United States, India and other parts of the world.  Mark is a Local Level Suppression Instructor for the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy and instructs at FDIC in Indianapolis as well as many other regional conferences. He is The President of Firestar Services Inc. and can reached at mark@FireStar-Services.com