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

With 25 years of fire service experience, Mark van der Feyst is the Senior Battalion Chief with the Six Nations Fire & Emergency Services in Ontario and also a part time firefighter with the Fort Gratiot Fire Department in Michigan. He writes monthly columns for Fire Engineering, FireRescue1.com, Firefighting in Canada and Canadian Firefighter magazines. He is the Lead Author for Fire Engineering’s The Tactical Firefighter, Residential Fire Rescue books, The 21st Century Firefighter and The First Five Minutes DVD and is a FDIC instructor.