WILDFIRE RESILIENCY - THE RATS
You can call it the Resiliency Action Team, Rapid Advance Team, Resiliency Advance Team, the acronym covers so much of what the RAT program is about and that's involving your community in protecting itself from the dangers of ember propagation.
In a small community, you may be miles away from a wildfire, but embers are headed your way. Your fire department may be very small with limited apparatus and any assistance might be hours away. So how do you limit your exposures? By expanding your volunteer fire department with a FireSmart & sprinkler protection team - The RATS. RAT Team members do not go into a hot or even warm Zone and their lifting and physical requirements can be less than a firefighter, which means you open up a larger portion of your population pool for participation.
We hope that by sharing our gathered information will help give you the tools and some ideas to make this work for your community.
In a small community, you may be miles away from a wildfire, but embers are headed your way. Your fire department may be very small with limited apparatus and any assistance might be hours away. So how do you limit your exposures? By expanding your volunteer fire department with a FireSmart & sprinkler protection team - The RATS. RAT Team members do not go into a hot or even warm Zone and their lifting and physical requirements can be less than a firefighter, which means you open up a larger portion of your population pool for participation.
We hope that by sharing our gathered information will help give you the tools and some ideas to make this work for your community.
Part 1 - The Team
Part 1 in our RAT series focuses on getting your team together and we provide links below for some additional training material that you might find helpful.
We suggest that you train your new recruits using your own department material for general Safety & Communication practices. Our training is based on the IFSTA Essentials Manual which we would presume most fire departments have a copy of, as well as your own application form completed.
Getting RATs properly equipped, familiar with the fire hall and radio communications is essential. You likely have an Incident Command module that you use, and we suggest training on this as well to understand the Command structure.
We suggest the following training as a base that you can tailor to your department.
Safety & Communication - IFSTA Essentials
Incident Command Structure - in house
Radio & Communications - YouTube link
LACES or LCES
Wildfire Checklist - adopted from FireSmart & California Fire
S100 A Recertification Course - this online course gives a great review for wildfire fighting safety. Your team won't be in a wildfire, but it will make them aware of the dangers and these can translate into safety for them while Wildfire Proofing a building. There is an exam at the end - take a screen shot of the passing mark for free or pay for a certificate.
FireSmart 101 - FireSmart now has an online course available - follow the link. We recommend at the very least, your Team be familiar with the principals of FireSmart and familiar with their manual. They also have a free App available for easy assessments.
We cannot stress enough the valuable information and tools available from FireSmartBC and FireSmart Canada
Getting RATs properly equipped, familiar with the fire hall and radio communications is essential. You likely have an Incident Command module that you use, and we suggest training on this as well to understand the Command structure.
We suggest the following training as a base that you can tailor to your department.
Safety & Communication - IFSTA Essentials
Incident Command Structure - in house
Radio & Communications - YouTube link
LACES or LCES
Wildfire Checklist - adopted from FireSmart & California Fire
S100 A Recertification Course - this online course gives a great review for wildfire fighting safety. Your team won't be in a wildfire, but it will make them aware of the dangers and these can translate into safety for them while Wildfire Proofing a building. There is an exam at the end - take a screen shot of the passing mark for free or pay for a certificate.
FireSmart 101 - FireSmart now has an online course available - follow the link. We recommend at the very least, your Team be familiar with the principals of FireSmart and familiar with their manual. They also have a free App available for easy assessments.
We cannot stress enough the valuable information and tools available from FireSmartBC and FireSmart Canada
Part 2 - The Equipment
The equipment you choose for your team will reflect your needs and assets. We began with the intention of easy portability using gear bags and ended up augmenting those with a refurbished trailer and totes to carry our gear. Bearing in mind that your team may be comprised of less than strapping individuals - weight becomes an issue. We found the combination of all these made it very workable in all situations.
We travel by golf cart, our water sources are standpipes with 2.5 connections, ocean and a reservoir. We opted for 2 floating pumps, both by Hale - the Super Chief (5 stars) and the Fyre - still on back order as of this post. A great tip from the Wildfire course - download your pump manuals and keep them on your phone. Weight and portability being factors, we also purchased a 600 gallon pumpkin tank.
We travel by golf cart, our water sources are standpipes with 2.5 connections, ocean and a reservoir. We opted for 2 floating pumps, both by Hale - the Super Chief (5 stars) and the Fyre - still on back order as of this post. A great tip from the Wildfire course - download your pump manuals and keep them on your phone. Weight and portability being factors, we also purchased a 600 gallon pumpkin tank.
PART 3 - EQUIPMENT FAMILIARIZATION
What equipment are you using for your team?
It's a lot easier to go through connections and fitting familiarization at the hall. Reviewing best practices for set up is also great to review first at the hall before you hit the practice grounds.
1.5 forestry and how it connects
3 ways
Gated wyes - forestry, garden, 2.5 to 1.5?
Water thieves
GHT
Sprinklers, spike, roof, WASP
Cordless Leaf Blowers
Backpack bladder pumps
Scotty Foamfast nozzles for GHT
Portable pumps - floating?
Portable tanks
Standpipe or hydrant connection
TIPS - we found the WASP sprinklers very sensitive to water pressure so keep it low for them.
The Youtube below from BC Wildfire helps to explain the loop system of setting up sprinkler protection.
It's a lot easier to go through connections and fitting familiarization at the hall. Reviewing best practices for set up is also great to review first at the hall before you hit the practice grounds.
1.5 forestry and how it connects
3 ways
Gated wyes - forestry, garden, 2.5 to 1.5?
Water thieves
GHT
Sprinklers, spike, roof, WASP
Cordless Leaf Blowers
Backpack bladder pumps
Scotty Foamfast nozzles for GHT
Portable pumps - floating?
Portable tanks
Standpipe or hydrant connection
TIPS - we found the WASP sprinklers very sensitive to water pressure so keep it low for them.
The Youtube below from BC Wildfire helps to explain the loop system of setting up sprinkler protection.
Part 4 - Putting it into Action
Ask in your community for volunteer homes for assessment, identifying risks and sprinkler set up. You can use this information to create Pre-plans for set up in the future.
There is nothing better than practicing at an actual residence. It gives you a chance to meet the homeowner, impart FireSmart information, perhaps complete a FireSmart Assessment for them and demo your equipment. Learning the hazards around their home, may prompt them take action and remove hazards, which will make your team's job easier in a real event.
We've got some useful FireSmart information below that you may wish to print in advance to share with the homeowners you visit. In small communities we are often aware of absentee owners and contacting them for permission to inspect their property may be of great assistance to them as well.
Scrolling down you will also find 2 YouTubes that help will your team understand what they are looking for and why, which also makes it easier to relay this same information to homeowners and businesses.
There is nothing better than practicing at an actual residence. It gives you a chance to meet the homeowner, impart FireSmart information, perhaps complete a FireSmart Assessment for them and demo your equipment. Learning the hazards around their home, may prompt them take action and remove hazards, which will make your team's job easier in a real event.
We've got some useful FireSmart information below that you may wish to print in advance to share with the homeowners you visit. In small communities we are often aware of absentee owners and contacting them for permission to inspect their property may be of great assistance to them as well.
Scrolling down you will also find 2 YouTubes that help will your team understand what they are looking for and why, which also makes it easier to relay this same information to homeowners and businesses.
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Part 5 - Wildfire Stress & Mental Health
Our final piece of the Wildfire Resiliency Plan is a document providing links and direction for dealing with stress in the event of a wildfire or any number of situations that might occur in the fire service.
Wrap Up
We hope you'll find the information shared here valuable to you. If we can be of further assistance or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email.
We don't profess to have created anything new, just put together existing material in a new format to make it easy to access for reference and provides an opportunity to expand your volunteer pool. A grant from UBCM made this program possible and we thank them for giving us the opportunity to "run with the idea".
Our motto has always been "the best fire is the one that never starts!"
Keep safe,
PIVFD RATS
We don't profess to have created anything new, just put together existing material in a new format to make it easy to access for reference and provides an opportunity to expand your volunteer pool. A grant from UBCM made this program possible and we thank them for giving us the opportunity to "run with the idea".
Our motto has always been "the best fire is the one that never starts!"
Keep safe,
PIVFD RATS
