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No one plans on getting lost or trapped in a structure. Hence, when it does happen it comes as a surprise. What does fire fighter preparedness entail when it comes to personal survival? I think it involves both mental and practical preparedness.

Practical preparedness involves hands on training in how to deal with specific challenges like wall breaches, ladder bail outs, rope exits and other skills designed to help us deal with being lost or trapped in a structure. Practical preparedness also involves having the right personal tools and equipment with us at all times to enable us to carry out our training. These are the simple straight forward things we can do to prepare for our personal emergency.

Mental preparedness is perhaps the more difficult challenge. Survival skills are easy to do once we figure out what to do when we become lost or trapped. Here are some guidelines to follow once you realize you are in trouble.

When you realize you are in trouble, call for help immediately. Even if you have an escape plan, get help on the way in case your plan fails. Use the Mayday format to make the call. This will ensure (hopefully) a timely response from command and the RIT crews.

Calling a Mayday is only the beginning of the process. We do not relieve our selves of personal responsibility in our efforts to assist ourselves just because we call a Mayday. Nor do we delegate our rescue to some one else. Our Mayday should be viewed as request for help in rescuing ourselves.

We then move to the mental tasks of deciding what to do about our situation. This is where the four E's of personal survival, Escape, Evade, Entrench and Emit come into play. Keep in mind there are no rules when it comes to saving your own life. Be as creative and as determined as the situation requires. Improvise, adapt and overcome. (Thank You Clint Eastwood!)

Our first personal rescue priority should be to escape the building. We should size up the building, fire conditions, our predicament and our preparedness and come up with a plan of action which will result in our ending up outside the structure. If we can escape we solve everyone's problem. Once safely outside we can join up with a crew, report our situation and cancel the Mayday. If we have a radio we should report our escape intentions to command. In this way we can get help from the RIT crews.

If escape is impossible, and circumstances require it, we should then attempt to evade the fire as long as possible. You may need to move within the structure to areas the fire has not yet reached. This might entail breaching walls or floors to move to less involved areas. Moving from one occupancy to the next in a commercial structure may be an option. Breaching a wooden floor to get below a fire will buy you some time. Make use of any and all opportunities to keep your self alive and away from the fire. These efforts may lead to escape routes previously not available to you. Again, keep command and the RIT informed of your efforts and if possible, your location.

There may come a time when moving with-in the structure is impossible. In these cases entrench your self in your location. By entrench I mean do every thing within your power to make you area tenable. Ventilate. Block doors and openings to slow smoke spread. Remove fuel from the fires path. Position your hose line for personal defense. Do anything and everything you can think of to prevent the fire from overrunning your space? Keep command and the RITS informed of the conditions around you. Command can use your information in formulating a plan for your rescue or protection.

Finally, in all cases of personal rescue, emit as many signals, both audio and visual, as possible to make your location known. Sound your pass device. Call out to other firefighters. Pound on the floor, walls and pipes to attract attention to yourself. Mark your interior position on the exterior by driving a tool through the wall or breaking a window and hanging something outside your location. Turn your flashlight out ward as a signal to others. Use your radio to guide others to your position. Describe your surroundings to command. Someone on the fire ground may be familiar with the building and deduce your location from your description. Do anything and everything to make your location known to other responders.

As a final thought, remember to be creative in your endeavors to save yourself. Look for any opportunities to better your situation. There are no rules or prohibitions when dealing with firefighter survival. View the building as disposable and any existing opening as potential egress. Make use of furnishings in any way you see fit to benefit your situation. Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.

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