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How and where do you set up RIT (Rapid Intervention Team) on a fire scene?What equiptment do you use for RIT? How many people do you have on scene for RIT? What do you with the people on RIT during a fire scene?

we really dont have a rit team for the dept. if tis something where we have a ff down we ahve guys trained to go in and do it, and we have specialized packs for sharing air.

we have a couple depts in the county that are "RIT certified" and they are dispatched whenever there is possible entrapment, or whenever we need them.

R.I.T. IS SOMTHING THAT SHOULD ALWAYS BE THERE ON THE FIRE GROUND. THE NORMAL RULE OF THUMB IS HOW EVER MANY FIREFIGHTERS ARE IN . THATS HOW MANY SHOULD BE DRESSED OUT READY TO GO IN . NORMALLY VERY CLOSE TO SAME ENTERANCE THAT THE ATTACK TEAM WENT IN.   OTHER FIREFIGHTERS AND THE COMMAND ALONG WITH EMS CAN HANDLE ANYTHING ELSE. THEY DO HAVE AGREAT SCHOOL FOR THIS DOWN HERE ALABAMA.

RIT is a great concept/tool and I wholeheartedly agree that it "should" be set up and ready to roll on every fire scene, however, for smaller departments, it's not always feasible.  I will give you an example of a structure fire we had last week.  We toned at 2 AM for a residential structure fire with smoke/flames visible.  Our Chief was first on scene and gave a scene size up of smoke/flames through the roof from what appeared to be a bedroom on side A of a single story structure.  There was a vehicle in the driveway and it's 2 o'clock in the morning, so the odds of someone being at home are extremely high.  Our first engine arrived on scene with a full crew of 5.........so now we have a total of 6 personnel on scene. Our fire chief pulls the electric meter, the assistant chief and another firefighter get off the engine and initiate search and rescue operations and myself and another firefighter pull the cross-lay and initiate an interior attack.  Fortunately, the resident of the house was not at home and we contained the fire to one room of the house without any extension into the attic or the rest of the house (still haven't figured out how that happened since it burned through the ceiling and roof of the affected room).  After we have the fire out and have begun overhaul procedures, our 2nd engine arrives on scene with only 2 more firefighters.  Now, is this a situation where there "should" have been a RIT team in place.....absolutely!  However, manpower restrictions did not allow it.  Would your department have handled this any differently? 

im am on a vollunteer dept and also a member of our rit team we set up our rit at structure fire in front of the main entranc a minimum of thre rit qualified persons are on stand-by the whole time we dont not fight fire and are not supposed to move from our designated spot.

My dept will be having RIT/ May Day trainig on tuesday the 5th. I will be posting training videos possibly on youtube and I will post pictures here on Firelink. If you would like to see how my department trains for RIT or like to see the videos, my Youtube account name is poolee13. I will try to update all training videos and pictures as much as possible. I think this would be a great tool to use for other depts and to get ideas from. You will get to see some of the sceneros and drills we go through with a wide arrangment of tactics used through out the fire service.

Let me give a little back ground. My dept was given a house to train in. The house is set to be demolished. The house is 30 years old and in perfect shape, The Perryville Battle Field Civil War park has bought the property the house sits on due to historical reasons. In stead of bulldozing it, we will be burning it down and using it for live training. For the time being we are using the house for multiple trainings.... Forcible Entry, RIT, Ladders, Ventilation, and other types of trainings. Currently we are performing RIT trainings as we are going through basic to "Out side the box" training. My department strongly believes in the RIT process and we consider it very crucial for every fire scene.

I have put 3 pictures of before the training started on my profile if you want to have a look see. There will be more coming along with video soon.

IN MY DEPT WE HAVE RIT SOP IN PLACE. ON THE FIRST ALARM WE SEND 2 PUMPERS 1 LADDER 1 DIST. CHIEF AND SEVICE UNIT. ONCE THE CALL IS CONFIRMED A WORKING FIRE WE DISPATCH 2 MORE PUMPERS AND 1 RESCUE TRUCK . 1 PUMPER FOR MANPOWER AND 1 PUMPER AND RESCUE TRUCK FOR RIT. ABOUT 4 YEARS AGO OUR TRAINING DEPT PUT TOGETHER A CLASS FOR US TO SEE IF OUR RIT SOP'S WOULD WORK.   THE DRILL WAS IN A LARGE VACANT GROCERY STORE WHERE A FIREFIGHTER WOULD GET LOST FROM HIS CREW AND BE LOW ON AIR. EACH RIT TEAM CONSISTED OF 8 FIREMAN WE RAN THIS DRILL WITH EVERY CREW IN THE DEPT. NOT EVERY CREW FIINISHED THE DRILL SUCCESSFULLY. SOME CREWS RESCUED THE VICTIM BUT LOST SOME OF THERE CREW DUE TO RUNNING OUT OF AIR.                           WE HAVE MANY MORE DRILL ON RIT AND OUR TRAINING DEPT. AND HAS FIGURED IT TAKES AT LEASTS 12-15 FRESH FIREMAN TO MAKE RIT WORK LIKE IT SHOULD