Where Are You Masking Up?

I am extremely pleased that, as of late, the majority of the fire service has seemingly reached consensus in support of utilizing SCBA and not breathing smoke.  Some big names, from big departments that preach aggressive operations, have begun publically speaking in support of SCBA use and explaining why it’s absolutely necessary in today’s fires.  When I joined the fire service, there were still plenty of guys who viewed taking in smoke as a macho act.  In fact, as a young gung-ho firefighter out to prove my worth, there were instances where I neglected wearing my SCBA when I should have been. Stupid!  That’s the only word to describe my actions.  Anyways, we’ll discuss that topic further later.  So now that we’re on board with wearing SCBA, when do we put our face piece and regulator on?  As with most things in the fire service, there are many schools of thought on this.

I am a proponent of putting your face piece on outside the rig, just before entering an IDLH atmosphere.  One time, and only one time, have I ever put my face piece on in the back of the rig and our initial actions were a giant disaster.  I was 17 years old and had just cleaned up from a working fire when we were dispatched first-due for a house fire.  I was running the line and the back-up firefighter was a DC firefighter.  The information Communications gave us indicated they were receiving multiple calls and this would probably be a working fire.  Once he heard this, the “experienced” DC firefighter excitedly told me to put my face piece on (without clicking in the regulator).  Being young and dumb I listened to him, despite the fact I had never done this nor had I ever seen any other members of my company do this.  So when the wagon driver stops to layout from the hydrant, this dude bolts from the rig sporting his face piece.  Once again, being young and dumb, I follow thinking I’ve missed something that he hadn’t.  Wrong again!  So there we are, face pieces on and running down the street beside the rig waiting for it to stop near the reported address.  There’s nothing evident from the front, which comes as a surprise based on the information Communications gave us, regardless I run the line as that’s company policy.  We get to the front door and the back-up firefighter goes to work on the front door in true professional fashion with his size 12 boot.  At this point my face piece is fogged up beyond belief as it’s the middle of summer in Virginia.  Finally this guy gets the door open, and I advance up the stairs with a dry line bouncing off the walls because I can hardly see through my fogged up face piece.  We get to the second floor of a three-story townhome and still have no smoke conditions. I’m beginning to wonder if we’re even at the right address and my vision is completely obscured from the fogged up face piece.  Finally, the officer grabs my SCBA shoulder strap and leads me to the sliding glass door, which leads to a deck.  There is a small fire involving the fuel line on a propane gas grill.  The officer directs me to “cover” him with my now-charged hoseline as he secures the propane at the cylinder, which extinguishes the fire.  I “cover” him, without actually being able to see a thing because I still have a fogged up face piece on.  Obviously, not a very effective technique.  Anyways, I finally take my face piece off and realize what a bunch of clowns we just looked like.  The poor people’s walls were dinged up from me bouncing off of them and their door was absolutely destroyed by the “Jackie Chan” forcible entry techniques that were employed.  Needless to say, prematurely donning my face piece contributed to a large part of this clown show.  With that said, I’ve never done it again.

Prematurely donning your face piece while still on the rig can be dangerous, lead to implementation of improper tactics, cause important visual indicators to be missed, or contribute to “tunnel vision” type behavior.  The face piece may obscure or obstruct vision, which could lead the user to run in front of a moving vehicle, run into a stationary object, or fall into a hole or ditch.  The face piece may also prevent the user from getting a good look at the fire building, which could be disastrous.  Some of the disastrous consequences may include failure to identify the fire area, failure to identify victims, failure to note areas of potential refuge, or failure to identify any special hazards on or around the fire building.  Anyone who’s been the first arriving officer at a couple of good fires can probably agree that there is a lot of information to be gathered rapidly, using all of your senses.  It’s almost like the world momentarily stops and you rapidly process all of the information your senses are telling you about the fire to put a plan in to action.  This may involve seeing things, smelling things, hearing things, and touching things.  Prematurely donning your face piece can impact your ability to use many of these senses and, in turn, cause you to miss important information.  Additionally, the ability to effectively communicate may be hindered by prematurely donning your face piece.  Your orders may not be clearly understood by those who have prematurely donned their face piece and hood or your voice may be muffled due to the face piece.

Conversely, donning your face piece and regulator too late can be detrimental to an operation for obvious reasons.  I responded one night as the Rescue Company OIC to a fire alarm in a house.  We’d been responding for about 30 seconds when Communications filled the box for the house fire.  We were responding to our second due area and the Engine Company whose first due it was, weren’t known to be very quick or aggressive.  Needless to say we arrived about 30 seconds behind them and had smoke issuing from the entire second floor.  They were just finishing their stretch and donning their face pieces and regulators in the front yard and my goal was to get to the second floor before the Engine Company to start my search.  As I said before, this Company wasn’t too quick or aggressive so I knew they would come to a near standstill once they hit the smoke and I certainly didn’t want to get caught behind that.  So being the “21 year old bad ass Rescue Company dude” I thought I was, I bolted to the second floor and planned on donning my face piece and regulator up there.  The smoke from the synthetic materials burning quickly showed me who had the upper hand.  I looked cool running through the front yard and up the stairs, but looked like a complete chump as I rolled right back down the stairs.  I hit the top of the stairs and took two gulps of smoke, which took the breath right out of me.  I’ve never wanted air so bad in my fire service career and literally dove right back down the steps to an area of refuge so I could don my face piece and regulator.  I quickly got myself back together and donned my face piece and regulator, however it was now too late and the Engine Company had made the stairs.  As projected, I got stuck behind their slow advance and it hindered my ability to do a rapid primary search of the fire floor.  If I’d taken a few seconds inside the first floor to don my face piece and regulator, I probably could have had the primary search of the majority of the fire floor done before the Engine Company even made the stairs.

So when is the right time to don the face piece and regulator?  Every incident you respond to is unique and there are many potential places or times to don the face piece and regulator.  Your tactical assignment, fire and smoke conditions, and the building are all factors that influence where and when to don the face piece and regulator.  Some folks feel that you don’t need to don the face piece and regulator until the smoke conditions are too much to breathe without it.  The problems with this mindset are numerous and the reality is that you’re taking in unnecessary smoke.  Some basic rules I use to determine when and where I don my face piece and regulator are just prior to entering an IDLH area, when working directly above an IDLH area, and when working directly below an IDLH area.  This may mean before walking in the front door, on the floor below the fire, before heading to the roof, or before entering the top floor of an attic fire.

But doesn’t waiting to don your face piece and regulator delay implementation of tactics?  I say no.  One of my major operational pet peeves is folks that take way too long donning their face piece and regulator.  This is simply a training and motivation issue.  I’ve observed this trend from very early on in my fire service career and being the competitor that I am, have always made it a point to be quick when donning my face piece and regulator.  Back before we utilized riding assignments at my VFD, this allowed me to take the hoseline many times from folks slower than I was.  This served as a great motivator for a young gung-ho firefighter.  However now that I’m a little older and sometimes wiser, efficiency and effectiveness serve as my motivators for quickly donning my face piece and regulator.  It’s an easy skill that can be practiced by yourself at any time.  As long as you have a firefighting PPE ensemble and a face piece, the skill can be practiced.  I average about 15 seconds from the time I begin to don my face piece until I am breathing air and ready to operate in an IDLH.  A couple things I do that have helped me become quick are coming off of the rig with my gloves on, developing a system that works for me, and utilizing the same system every time.  I also take my face piece off of my regulator when donning the face piece which prevents me from wasting any of my precious air and ensures my chin strap is in the proper position.  These are two frequent detail-items I see people getting wrong on a frequent basis.  I have included a video of a guy I know donning his face piece in about 10 seconds and regulator in about 15 seconds.  Anyways, like everything else with this job, a little bit of hard work and perfect practice will probably improve your performance.

As I stated at the beginning of this post, this is one of the great debates within the fire service.  Obviously this blog is my point of view.  With that said, that doesn’t mean everything I have to say is the only way to do things.  Robby from Average Jake Firefighter blog, is a big proponent of coming off the rig with your face piece on.  A few years ago he did a blog post that explains his point of view and the reasons behind it.  The guy cares a great deal about the fire service and is obviously very dedicated to helping the fire service progress.  With that said, just because we have differing view points on this issue doesn’t mean I think he’s an idiot or useless to the fire service.  He has his way that works for him and I have mine that works for me.  At the end of the day, you have to do what works best for you and maximizes your efficiency and effectiveness.  So consider the pro’s and con’s from both methods and get out and train to figure out what works best for you.