Vent-Enter-Search (VES), Vent-Enter-Isolate-Search (VEIS), Oriented Vent-Enter-Search. Whatever you want to call it, go ahead and call it that.
I have always called it VES. The isolate component was always assumed to me. However, when I teach, I teach VEIS. I find it necessary to over-stress the isolate step, as even after providing a one-hour lecture with many videos, when it came to the hands-on portion of the training, the door was not closed at minimum of 20% of the time.
Let’s do a quick refresher on how to perform the “isolate” component of VEIS.
Isolate the room from the rest of the building. This means close the door.
The second your boots hit the floor after you crawl through the window, your priority is to make a beeline to the interior door. This is how you isolate yourself and your victim from the rest of the building and the fire. This is how you make your search as safe as possible. This is the step that buys you time. This step also stops the clock in regards to the flow path problem that you created when you vented that window. I cannot stress this enough that your priority is the door. Focus on finding the door.
This article, originally published on November 25, 2019, has been updated.
