FIREFIGHTER EXAM STRUCTURAL SEARCH
AND RESCUE NOTES GRADED A+ 2023
Chapter 10 Structural Search and Rescue Notes
Firefighter Survival during Interior Operation
Firefighting and rescue operations are inherently dangerous. To ensure your survival and that of
your fellow fire-fighters, you must learn to:
• Recognize and avoid potential hazards.
• Escape unavoidable hazards.
• Rescue lost or trapped firefighters
Situational Awareness: Search and Rescue Operations
The following conditions specific to search and rescue operations should be observed and
communicated to crew members and/or your supervisor:
• Location and extent of the fire
• Changes in heat level
• Changes to fire behavior, spread, and growth, including signs of rapid-fire development
• Visibility level and changes to visibility (more difficult to see/less difficult to see)
• Changes to the neutral plane in the structure (smoke lowering/smoke rising)
• Smoke color or change of smoke color
• Volume and behavior of smoke
• Known locations of victims or occupants
• Number of known victims or occupants
• You and your team’s starting and available air supply
• Locations of safe havens and alternate exit routes
• Indications of ceiling/floor collapse such as ceiling burn-throughs or sagging floor Pg.433
Personal Preparation for Survival
If you cannot avoid a hazardous situation, you must know how to survive it. To do so you must:
• Practice sound firefighting techniques.
• Practice situational awareness.
• Anticipate the types of survival situations you may face.
• Practice MAYDAY and self-rescue techniques.
• Check your own and your team members’ air supply.
The basic skills of firefighting are also essential survival techniques. For example, forcible
entry techniques such as forcing windows and cutting debris can also be applied in an escape.
The hose line used in a fire attack can protect you from a rapidly progressing fire or help you
find your way out of a smoke-filled room. Under normal conditions, air management
increases your work time; but if you are lost or trapped, it increases the amount of time you
can survive before escaping or being rescued. The extreme stress of an emergency makes
conscious thought difficult, so practice these skills until they become automatic.
, FIREFIGHTER EXAM STRUCTURAL SEARCH
AND RESCUE NOTES GRADED A+ 2023
Situational awareness will warn you of rapid-fire development or structural collapse. If
you recognize the warning signs, you should be able to withdraw to safety. If you know your
physical limitations, you can monitor your stress level, air consumption, and workload and
withdraw before becoming incapacitated.
To be physically and mentally prepared you must:
• Practice basic skills.
• Train for the hazards you will encounter.
• Practice air management techniques.
• Practice emergency exit techniques.
• Make sure that your PPE matches the hazard and is working properly.
• Know your duties.
• Know your physical limitations: Watch for signs of fatigue, increased breathing, and
increased heart rate.
• Know the limitations of your PPE and air supply system.
• Look out for the members of your crew.
• Listen to your team members.
• Follow orders thoughtfully: If it does not sound right, ask for clarification.
WARNING: PPE has specific limitations and will not protect you from all hazards during a search
and rescue operation.
Practice situational awareness:
• Look for signs of key fire behavior indicators, particularly those associated with rapid
fire development such as rollover.
• Listen, feel, and watch for changes in the environment.
You must also be aware of psychological effects of obscured vision conditions and recognize
when they occur:
• Disorientation Pg.434
• Fear
• Claustrophobia
• Panic To overcome the psychological effects of obscured vision conditions you should:
• Remain calm.
• Control your breathing.
• Maintain your situational awareness.
• Stay in contact with your partner(s).
• Focus on your assigned task.
• Rely on your other senses (hearing and touch).
Personnel who experience emotional difficulties when operating in obscured vision
conditions should seek professional assistance with these difficulties. The department’s
member assistance program can aid those seeking professional help.
, FIREFIGHTER EXAM STRUCTURAL SEARCH
AND RESCUE NOTES GRADED A+ 2023
Recognition and Avoidance of Hazards
MAYDAY situations you may face include but are not limited to the following:
• Air emergencies — Your facepiece is dislodged; you run out of air; or your SCBA
malfunctions. It also occurs if your low-pressure alarm activates, and you are unable to
immediately exit the hazard area.
• Lost/disoriented — You are in extreme darkness, or you lose contact with your partner,
your hose line or search line, or an orientation point such as an entry door.
• Entanglement — You are caught on exposed wires, a fallen ceiling grid, or other debris.
Pg.435
• Rapid fire development — Rapid rise in heat release rate that exceeds your PPE’s level
of protection.
• Collapse/trapped — You are unable to exit due to structural collapse
Determining Tenability
An untenable environment is not necessarily dangerous to life and health if the proper level of
PPE is provided. For example, most interior fire environments are untenable for unprotected
victims but can be tenable for fire-fighters equipped with full structural PPE and SCBA. For
firefighters, the environment may remain tenable as long as there is no evidence of structural
collapse and heat levels and duration of the interior operations stay within acceptable limits for
the PPE and SCBA provided.
Firefighters have to use situational awareness and communication to remain alert
to changes to tenability. The environment of a structure fire or damaged structure can
change swiftly due to:
• Sudden or unexpected fire spread and temperature increase within the structure
• Loss of structural stability and possible collapse
• Buildup of smoke and products of combustion
If conditions within the structure become untenable, the personnel operating in and
around the structure must be alerted. This alert may come from personnel within the structure,
the IC, or the Incident Safety Officer. Personnel should evacuate the structure or take shelter in
a safe haven. The IC must be notified once all personnel have evacuated or have taken shelter
in a safe haven.
Identifying Safe Havens
During search and rescue operations, firefighters should identify possible safe havens within
the structure. Safe havens may be rooms or closet areas where the door can be closed to
prevent the spread of heat, smoke, and toxic gases into that space. Occupants may be in these
safe havens seeking protection from a fire. Even a hollow core interior door may provide
several minutes of protection even if it is adjacent to the fire compartment. If conditions
deteriorate, firefighters can use door control methods and safe havens as survival procedures.
If you seek shelter in a safe haven, you must notify the Incident Commander of your situation.
AND RESCUE NOTES GRADED A+ 2023
Chapter 10 Structural Search and Rescue Notes
Firefighter Survival during Interior Operation
Firefighting and rescue operations are inherently dangerous. To ensure your survival and that of
your fellow fire-fighters, you must learn to:
• Recognize and avoid potential hazards.
• Escape unavoidable hazards.
• Rescue lost or trapped firefighters
Situational Awareness: Search and Rescue Operations
The following conditions specific to search and rescue operations should be observed and
communicated to crew members and/or your supervisor:
• Location and extent of the fire
• Changes in heat level
• Changes to fire behavior, spread, and growth, including signs of rapid-fire development
• Visibility level and changes to visibility (more difficult to see/less difficult to see)
• Changes to the neutral plane in the structure (smoke lowering/smoke rising)
• Smoke color or change of smoke color
• Volume and behavior of smoke
• Known locations of victims or occupants
• Number of known victims or occupants
• You and your team’s starting and available air supply
• Locations of safe havens and alternate exit routes
• Indications of ceiling/floor collapse such as ceiling burn-throughs or sagging floor Pg.433
Personal Preparation for Survival
If you cannot avoid a hazardous situation, you must know how to survive it. To do so you must:
• Practice sound firefighting techniques.
• Practice situational awareness.
• Anticipate the types of survival situations you may face.
• Practice MAYDAY and self-rescue techniques.
• Check your own and your team members’ air supply.
The basic skills of firefighting are also essential survival techniques. For example, forcible
entry techniques such as forcing windows and cutting debris can also be applied in an escape.
The hose line used in a fire attack can protect you from a rapidly progressing fire or help you
find your way out of a smoke-filled room. Under normal conditions, air management
increases your work time; but if you are lost or trapped, it increases the amount of time you
can survive before escaping or being rescued. The extreme stress of an emergency makes
conscious thought difficult, so practice these skills until they become automatic.
, FIREFIGHTER EXAM STRUCTURAL SEARCH
AND RESCUE NOTES GRADED A+ 2023
Situational awareness will warn you of rapid-fire development or structural collapse. If
you recognize the warning signs, you should be able to withdraw to safety. If you know your
physical limitations, you can monitor your stress level, air consumption, and workload and
withdraw before becoming incapacitated.
To be physically and mentally prepared you must:
• Practice basic skills.
• Train for the hazards you will encounter.
• Practice air management techniques.
• Practice emergency exit techniques.
• Make sure that your PPE matches the hazard and is working properly.
• Know your duties.
• Know your physical limitations: Watch for signs of fatigue, increased breathing, and
increased heart rate.
• Know the limitations of your PPE and air supply system.
• Look out for the members of your crew.
• Listen to your team members.
• Follow orders thoughtfully: If it does not sound right, ask for clarification.
WARNING: PPE has specific limitations and will not protect you from all hazards during a search
and rescue operation.
Practice situational awareness:
• Look for signs of key fire behavior indicators, particularly those associated with rapid
fire development such as rollover.
• Listen, feel, and watch for changes in the environment.
You must also be aware of psychological effects of obscured vision conditions and recognize
when they occur:
• Disorientation Pg.434
• Fear
• Claustrophobia
• Panic To overcome the psychological effects of obscured vision conditions you should:
• Remain calm.
• Control your breathing.
• Maintain your situational awareness.
• Stay in contact with your partner(s).
• Focus on your assigned task.
• Rely on your other senses (hearing and touch).
Personnel who experience emotional difficulties when operating in obscured vision
conditions should seek professional assistance with these difficulties. The department’s
member assistance program can aid those seeking professional help.
, FIREFIGHTER EXAM STRUCTURAL SEARCH
AND RESCUE NOTES GRADED A+ 2023
Recognition and Avoidance of Hazards
MAYDAY situations you may face include but are not limited to the following:
• Air emergencies — Your facepiece is dislodged; you run out of air; or your SCBA
malfunctions. It also occurs if your low-pressure alarm activates, and you are unable to
immediately exit the hazard area.
• Lost/disoriented — You are in extreme darkness, or you lose contact with your partner,
your hose line or search line, or an orientation point such as an entry door.
• Entanglement — You are caught on exposed wires, a fallen ceiling grid, or other debris.
Pg.435
• Rapid fire development — Rapid rise in heat release rate that exceeds your PPE’s level
of protection.
• Collapse/trapped — You are unable to exit due to structural collapse
Determining Tenability
An untenable environment is not necessarily dangerous to life and health if the proper level of
PPE is provided. For example, most interior fire environments are untenable for unprotected
victims but can be tenable for fire-fighters equipped with full structural PPE and SCBA. For
firefighters, the environment may remain tenable as long as there is no evidence of structural
collapse and heat levels and duration of the interior operations stay within acceptable limits for
the PPE and SCBA provided.
Firefighters have to use situational awareness and communication to remain alert
to changes to tenability. The environment of a structure fire or damaged structure can
change swiftly due to:
• Sudden or unexpected fire spread and temperature increase within the structure
• Loss of structural stability and possible collapse
• Buildup of smoke and products of combustion
If conditions within the structure become untenable, the personnel operating in and
around the structure must be alerted. This alert may come from personnel within the structure,
the IC, or the Incident Safety Officer. Personnel should evacuate the structure or take shelter in
a safe haven. The IC must be notified once all personnel have evacuated or have taken shelter
in a safe haven.
Identifying Safe Havens
During search and rescue operations, firefighters should identify possible safe havens within
the structure. Safe havens may be rooms or closet areas where the door can be closed to
prevent the spread of heat, smoke, and toxic gases into that space. Occupants may be in these
safe havens seeking protection from a fire. Even a hollow core interior door may provide
several minutes of protection even if it is adjacent to the fire compartment. If conditions
deteriorate, firefighters can use door control methods and safe havens as survival procedures.
If you seek shelter in a safe haven, you must notify the Incident Commander of your situation.
