| Potsdam Firefighter Drew McFadden, Lieutenant Justin Perry, Fire Driver Robert Pierce, and Chief Christopher Taylor attended a hands-on training session titled "MAYDAY! MAYDAY! Firefighter Down" instructed by Deputy Chief Robert "Butch" Cobb of the Jersey City FD (NJ) on Saturday, May 28, 2005 at the George E. Briggs St. Lawrence County Fire Training Center in West Potsdam. Deputy Chief Cobb, a 34-year veteran of the fire service and nationally renowned lecturer and hands-on training instructor along with three of his colleagues from the Jersey City Fire Department helped prepare the Potsdam Firefighters and other St. Lawrence County firefighters to rescue one of their own.
This hands-on training class demonstrated tactics and procedures for what officers and firefighters should know about managing a Mayday. Rescue of a trapped, disoriented, or lost firefighter is time sensitive and every firefighter on the fireground should be proficient in some of the basic tactics and techniques of rescuing one of their own. Participants practiced a variety of techniques from basic to advanced to use in the event of downed firefighter. The class of 30 plus firefighters gave up a part of their Memorial Day weekend to learn these techniques to take back to their own departments to train their firefighters.
The participants trained in a variety of techniques including:
- Downed Firefighter Assessment
- One Man Drag Using SCBA Harness
- Making A Harness From Tubular Webbing
- Two Firefighter Stay Low Drag
- Two Firefighter Stair Carry
- Firefighter Through The Floor Rescue (aka Columbus Drill)
- Lowering An Unconscious/Injured Firefighter Down A Ladder
- Creating a 2:1 Mechanical Advantage
- Low Point Anchor |
