Search Rope: Exiting the Structure

Training Minutes: Paulie Capo and company demonstrate four ways of managing the search rope while a crew exits the fire building with a down firefighter.
These videos are for training demonstration purposes only. When you perform these techniques at emergency scenes and evolutions, be sure to wear full PPE and adhere to your agency's procedures and policies.
This video originally ran on the Fire Engineering site in 2014.
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[@markkuhar1188]

In any search a senior firefighter or the officer should be keeping track of the color of the LED lights on the rear of the air pack indicating which 1/3 of a tank the members are in. The first firefighter to reach a 1/3 should be dictating sending him out of the company as a whole group should leave. Each member is responsible for keeping an eye out on LED lights on the rear of air packs but ultimate responsibility is on the officer or senior guy in the group. A lot of firefighters forget about the LED lights on the rear of modern air packs, members should be training the muscle memory as we say the devil is in the details.

[@ritirons2726]

Using a guide rope is good in theory but in reality it’s use is somewhat unrealistic
The majority of structure fires occur in residential buildings with plenty of furniture and clutter throughout, not in large open floor spaces. Initial RIT searches are no different than any other search in that the search still requires following an outside wall to some extent unless the victim is within eyesight. The use of a guide rope does not change that.
Most guide rope training and demonstrations are conducted in large, wide open apparatus bays with very little to no obstructions. This is not going to be the case in an actual fire building.
The rope tends to get caught on any moveable object and drags it to the “path” of the rope, leading to frustration and creating problems that may not have been encountered during initial entry.
When entering large commercial type buildings, members certainly aren’t going to search directly into the middle of a building, again members need to maintain some orientation to an outside wall.
Members also tend to pay less attention to their air supply in large open spaces. Members certainly do not want to be 200’ into an unfamiliar building when the low air alarm sounds.
In no way am I posting this to disrespect the firefighters or condemn their operation in this video. As always any information should be retained, practiced, and considered as another option to switch to when the first attempt doesn’t achieve our desired outcome.