I am teaching a fire course that is part of a university’s bachelor program. The students include current officers and those aspiring to become officers, particularly chief officers. The class discusses command and control at catastrophic incidents.
One of the themes I am seeing in the responses to many of the assignments is when rehab should be established, if at all.
As much as this should not be a surprise, rehab is still not taken with importance that it should. Quite frankly, rehab should not be only for the incident scene. Rehab is an ongoing process that should happen on the scene, in the station and off duty.
There seems to be a notion that rehab is only needed when it is 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity. Rehab is not a temperature-based operation.
New mentality
Firefighting and rescue takes energy and stamina for all incidents regardless of the weather. Many have compared firefighting activities to athletic events. Athletes, in many cases, do not perform to the strenuous level that firefighters do. Yet we tend to take less care of our bodies.
The mentality of when to establish rehab has to change.
When incident command first came into play in the fire service, it was not readily accepted. But over time it has grown to the acceptance level that it is used on virtually every incident.
Safety officers have finally reached the level of acceptance that many departments now have full-time dedicated safety officers, or at least designate one on the scene. Rapid intervention crews is another area that has finally grown to acceptance level by most departments.
Every one of these is based on keeping our most important asset safe — our personnel. Rehab is that next level to provide the safety needed for our personnel.
Part of every call
However, like the other areas mentioned, rehab is not isolated only to major incidents when the temperature is hot. Rehab should be part of every call. Granted we are not necessarily going to set up a rehab group on a car fire, vehicle crash, or dumpster fire, but once back at station hydrating, showering, monitoring the crews condition, and making sure personnel are ready for the next call is all part of rehab.
The only problem is that we have to get personnel to understand rehab and incorporate it in to everyday life as a firefighter. Every second alarm should automatically get a rehab unit, or if RIT is enacted so too should rehab.
Regardless of the method, rehab has to become part of the fire service. As mentioned in a previous column, cancer rates are escalating in the fire service, heart conditions account for 50 percent of the line-of-duty deaths most years and untold numbers off-duty fatal heart attacks.
Wintertime is fast approaching and I challenge each and every department to set aside time to train and practice conducting rehab. Whether it is 100 degrees or -20 degrees or a comfortable 70 degrees, rehab needs to be part of the incident scene.