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The South Hill Regional Go-Team is a voluntary participatory organization currently comprised of twelve Southern Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Fire Departments. The “organization” was originated in the spring of 1999 by a young, ambitious, and relentless Firefighter, Matt Szpindor. Matt was able to convince his Mt. Lebanon Fire Department Platoon Chief Chris Buttlar to call a group meeting of Fire Chiefs from the South hills to discuss the possibility of a regional response team for Rapid Intervention. Initially Chris was reluctant. The idea of getting 10 or more fire chiefs to agree on one item seemed difficult, let alone getting them to agree on an entire response protocol including Rapid Intervention & MAYDAY guidelines. Fortunately, these reservations were unfounded, and early on in the first meeting, sometime in the summer of 1999, Chris knew that in some way, shape, or form, this daunting task could be accomplished.

The initial cooperation of the group was outstanding. Everyone put personal agendas and personalities aside to concentrate on the best interests of the whole. That’s not to say that there weren’t some contentious issues -- there were. Especially when it came to the “who” and “where” of response and dispatch. It was a difficult task with eight different departments, four separate dispatch agencies, and a multitude of differing equipment. But the group was flexible and adjusted accordingly to accommodate the needs and wishes of others.

A set of guidelines was created to facilitate a consistent method of training and response to provide rapid intervention through mutual-aid agreements and policies. The guidelines identified a set of common communications, practices, and response protocols for the firefighters in distress, rescuers, command staff, and dispatch agencies to facilitate “saving our own”.

In August of 1999, founding member Matt Szpindor took a job with FDNY, currently assigned to 37 Truck in the Bronx. While this could have set us back, we were fortunate to add Nick Sohyda to the team. Nick has a great background in rapid intervention, and had dedicated much of his fire service career to teaching Rapid-Intervention and Firefighter Survival, tutored by Pittsburgh Firefighter and Rapid Intervention Training Associates founder Jim Crawford. At the same time, many individual members of all participating departments were obtaining knowledge and training in the area of Firefighter Survival and Rapid Intervention.

The awareness level of the group was high. Several recent firefighter fatalities made it perfectly clear that dedicated, specialty trained personnel were needed to effectively initiate a firefighter rescue and removal. The hardest felt incident was still fresh in our minds even though it occurred several years prior.

The Bricelyn Street fire in Pittsburgh, February 14th 1995, where three firefighters were unaccounted for, disoriented, ran out of air and died, was a fire-service changing incident in Western Pennsylvania and throughout the Country. The Bricelyn Street Fire, along with several other incidents, was a major driving force for what rapid intervention is today. Many of the lessons learned from this incident and subsequent changes in departmental policies laid the groundwork for the South Hill Regional Go-Team.

With the training online and the policies established, the Team was ready to go. On September 1, 1999 South Hills Regional Go-Team was officially launched.

Fortunately, in the time since, we have not seen the need to deploy a go-team for a rescue. However, we have seen great benefits of having a dedicated RIT established on scene over the past three years. Remember, our first objective as a Go-Team is to take actions to prevent a MAYDAY situation. To that I say, “great work”. Other benefits realized are the ties and bonds that have come from the regional team. Many departments are now training together and responding with others that in decades past did not occur.

Chris is happy to say that three years later we are stronger than ever. Initially we started with eight participating departments. While some of the actors have changed, we are currently 12 departments strong and still growing. Participating Departments include:

Bethel Park Bower Hill Broughton Castle Shannon Dormont Glendale

Green Tree Library Mt. Lebanon Mt. Oliver Pleasant Hills Whitehall

Chris Buttlar recently resigned as the President of the Organization to spend more time with his family; however, he has provided outstanding leadership and has laid a strong foundation for continued success. Dante Bongiorni from Bethel Park has replaced Chris as President. Rick Weisner, Castle Shannon, is the organization’s Secretary while Nick Sohyda, Mt. Lebanon/Rapid Intervention Training Associates, is the Training Officer. Membership in the organization is open to any Department. Member Companies do not pay any dues. Meetings are held on a quarterly basis followed by a “hands-on” training session. These training sessions are designed to train participating Department’s Training Officer’s to take back to their Department’s to train their own personnel in the required Go-Team competencies. These competencies include:

Advanced Search Denver Drill Firefighter Extrication Firefighter Up/Down Stairs Handcuff Knot/Sub-level Rescue

RIT Rope Lowering Systems SCBA Changeover/Assessment SCBA Facepiece Changeover Windowsill Lifts and Ladder Carries

All certified personnel as also required to attend a RIT classroom session and Fire Fighter Survival training. Over the past two years, training has focused on these procedures. Upcoming training will include Large Area Team Search Operations and Accountability.

Chris contends that “Our willingness to be flexible and meet the needs of the many is our greatest attribute. If we continue to promote and demonstrate this attitude, the SHRGT will be here to stay.”

About The Authors

Chris Buttlar is a career platoon chief with the Mt. Lebanon Fire Department, Pennsylvania and an Associate Instructor with the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy. For questions or more information, Chris can be reached at cbuttlar@mtlebanon.org.