Alternative to LUNAR for Mayday

Here is a very good article on the LUNAR concept for Mayday and consideration for an alternative that is more fireground friendly and effective.

Scott is a fellow instructor with Engine House Training, LLC and a Lieutenant with the Metro West Fire Protection District.

LUNAR....Is There an Alternative?
As a Fire Service, we have done a good job looking out for each other. We need to do a better job now and tomorrow due to the dangers that are increasing before us. We have no idea what lies ahead of
us with the next alarm that we are responding to. We need to be ahead of the game, plan for the worst and hope for the best.

The days of having “bread and butter” or “routine” fires are long gone. With the construction of buildings now and in the future, we need to be aware of possible catastrophic events happening sooner in the time line of our on-scene operations. In the Fire Service as a whole, we are
always looking for ways to “work smarter, not harder”. We have started with resources available to us, the training that we do as a crew, as a battalion, FDIC and the vast knowledge of firefighters that have
come before us.

After a MAYDAY is called, what is the information that the IC wants to hear? Do we want the firefighter calling the MAYDAY to be lengthy and use their air giving a report? Or do we want a message short, sweet and to the point so our firefighter can concentrate on conserving their air and/or getting out of their current situation?

I have been teaching Firefighter safety and survival for the past twelve years and the acronym LUNAR has been drilled into our heads. This acronym provides the Incident Commander and the RIC the information needed to get a firefighter who called a MAYDAY out to safety. LUNAR has saved countless lives on the fire ground and will continue to do so, however, think back when you were in a MAYDAY training and if you stumbled giving a LUNAR report. I know I have and many firefighters
have no matter if they are a probie or a 25 year veteran.

With that, I started to think, there has to be an easier way to give information after calling a MAYDAY. After doing research and reading NIOSH reports, the simplest form of giving information is

WWW,WHO ARE YOU, WHERE ARE YOU and WHAT DO YOU NEED/WHAT HAPPENED.

This provides the same information as LUNAR, and is easier to remember. Let's now break down WWW and how it compares to LUNAR.

In giving a LUNAR report we give the following information:

L – Location
U – Unit
N – Name
A – Air/Actions
R – Resources needed

All this information is pertinent and needed for Incident Command to send in RIC. As much as we train on LUNAR, we still stumble when giving this information or give the information out of order. It does not matter as long as the information gets out. But why not have a simpler way of getting that out after calling a MAYDAY. That is where WWW comes into play.

With WWW we give the following information:
W – Who are you, same as UNIT AND NAME IN LUNAR
W – Where are you, same as LOCATION IN LUNAR
W – What do you need/What happened, same as AIR AND RESOURCES IN LUNAR

The of utilizing WWW is that it is easy to remember, all you have to remember is one letter and it is very effective and efficient. When we use LUNAR, we are providing redundant information. The “U-Unit and N-Name” are the same information. “A-Air”, we shouldn't have to give an Air Report because RIC is bringing air (RIT Pack) with them when they are activated every time. You provide a more effective and efficient report to the Incident Commander when calling a MAYDAY. With all the
information that we have discussed, there is one thing....it is simple to use.

As you can see, with the three (3) little letters of W, the same information as LUNAR can be transmitted in a quicker time. I am not saying that LUNAR is broken; all I am suggesting is that WWW Will get the same information out in a quicker time. What is our #1 goal when a MAYDAY is called: to get help into the structure to elevate the situation.

I am not trying to say that the Fire Service needs to throw LUNAR out the window. All I am trying to say is that using WWW is another tool that we can put in our toolbox. Try using WWW, if you like it, consider using it, if you don't, then stay with what has worked. LUNAR has worked for us and will continue to work for us now and the future. In using WWW, it simplifies the information after calling a MAYDAY. While teaching at the St. Louis County Fire Academy as the Lead Instructor for Firefighter Survival and MAYDAY, I have started a trial of during practical evolutions, splitting the class in half. One half calls a MAYDAY using LUNAR and the other half calls a MAYDAY using WWW. I realize that that most of the recruits have no fire experience, approx. 10% have prior fire
experience. The half of the class that uses LUNAR stumbles thru providing the information. The other half that uses WWW provides the information and it seems to flow freely and faster. Also the recruits
are in a controlled environment with no heat and smoke. This is a small sample size, but it is a start.

During the class, I tell the recruits that LUNAR is the primary acronym used when calling a MAYDAY. No matter ho much training we do on RIT, MAYDAY and LUNAR, (we all know that we do not train enough on it), there will always be pauses when a LUNAR report is given. When you give a LUNAR report, you will pause to think about what letter to give next. Try this in your next training and see which one works best for you and your department. Do not get caught up in the “150 years of
tradition, unimpeded by progress”. Always try something new, see if it works and it is a fit for your department. If you like it and it works, go with it and forge ahead. If you do not like it, no harm, no foul
and stay the course.

Let me end by saying....”OMNES CEDO DOMUS”.... EVERYONE GOES HOME.

Everyone stay safe out there and I look forward to the conversation and comments, good and bad from everyone.

Let me know your thoughts.

Scott Hulsey
Lieutenant – Paramedic
Metro West Fire Protection District
scotthu99@gmail.com

A Culture of What?

There has been a lot of talk recently, the last few years especially, about the culture of the fire service. There have been all kinds of cultures thrown around: a culture of safety, a culture of extinguishment, a culture of tradition, a culture of nexters, etc.  I think you get the point.

I'm going to keep this short.

First, cultures are created over long periods of time by attitudes, beliefs and habits.  Cultures of anything are not easy to change or fix, if that is the problem.

When I teach instructors and officers, I implore them not to go into a new position, crew, shift or house with the objective of changing the culture; it's just too big of a "thing."

Instead, in order to change or alter any culture there has to be a concerted effort to change individual attitudes, behaviors and habits.  You have to chip away at the stone piece by piece to change the size of the boulder that is culture.  It doesn't happen over night and it is never easy.

Second, why are we so hell bent on insisting that our culture has to be one way or the other?  Why can't there be a mix of cultures in our fire service like we have in our everyday life?

Too much of any singular type of culture is short sighted and limits us to a narrow path.  This job does not allow for that.

So, I hereby proclaim that the fire service needs a Culture of Proficiency. ([a high degree of competence or skill; expertise]Google)  If we train, educate, follow our guidelines, put water on the fire and not get ourselves in bad places without a line, read buildings, drill constantly with purpose, prepare our people for as many situations as possible, wear our PPE the correct way on all calls, and yes, even wear our safety vests on the highway; I would argue that we can still be aggressive firefighters, saving lives and property AND be safer without compromising firefighting traditions and the need to put ourselves in harms way when those situations require it.

It all goes together. Just my opinion.

Drilling for Prevention of Bad Things

Drilling for effectiveness cannot be overstated enough.  In posts and articles firefighters and officers are imploring that we, as a fire service, put a heavy emphasis on drilling and training on a regular basis.

Not just when training is scheduled, but everyday we are at the fire house, we must use the equipment and techniques to master our craft and to know the capabilities and intricacies of our equipment and that of ourselves.  What have we forgotten?  Where are we having difficulties?  What do we need to work on more?  Where are we slow?

Well, what about small changes in performance?  I have been debated that this job just isn't that hard by some who think they know it all.  For the sake of this post, lets assume that they do know it all and that they do it perfect every time.  But, that's still not a reason not to drill, check it out.

I have done hose drills many times with my crew and I know exactly how long our tank water will last with each line we have and with associated nozzles pressures.  We have done it enough know what to expect and how the streams look and what the hose feels like.  Our operators know what the motor sounds like and how long he has when the "fill tank" light starts to flash before he gets pressure drop. All of these we know because we drill.

I was working a trade day on a different crew and had an eager group of guys, so after dinner on a Saturday evening, the weather was perfect, we pulled some lines and pumped some water.  The firefighter at the nozzle was indicating that the stream looked weak and that the pressure didn't seem right.  We emptied that tank and it took much longer than it has in past drills. (We are ordering some in line gauges to help better measure our flow rates.)

We did it again and boosted up the pressure a bit, but we were using a smooth bore and we had no kinks.  Same problem, we were only flowing around 110 gpm with that smooth bore.  Something was really wrong.

As we broke down the lines we started looking at the hose.  We found on one section of hose the inner jacket had separated and was blocking the water flow.  A significant finding.  

I can remember being a firefighter and doing some drilling.  The typical drill was pull the line, flow it and repack it.   Fast, easy and not much work.  But, also not a lot of attention to detail.

Had we not paid attention to the details in previous drills we would likely not have noticed the flow problem.  The  trigger was the amount of time it took to empty the tank water.  It threw up a big red flag which led us to try it again and then to look for the problem.

We don't want to find these issues during a fire.  We figured, non-scientifically that we were losing approximately 75 gallons per minute with this blocking the interior of our attack line.  That is a critical failure.  Just imagine the loss of flow had there been a kink that went unseen?

The point, be thorough and pay attention to the details when you drill.  Working pump pressures and flows, working air and resting air on SCBA, etc.  Don't make drilling busy work, make it meaningful. It just might save your life!

Are You Ladder Ready?

A few months ago I posted about operating on a quint and the idea of reverse laying for first due engines that run with quints.  A great deal of us are operating on these apparatus everyday and don't have a single designation as an engine or a truck, rather we are assigned based on our order of arrival and on what tasks need to be done.  Most of the time we are not assigned by what type of apparatus we arrive in.

We are also running thin in regards to staffing.  These two circumstances requires us to be resourceful and smart when it comes to preparing our people and apparatus for any type of call and assignment.

Being no different than the majority of the country, we run a ladder truck (quint) on car fires, EMS calls, motor vehicle accidents, CO calls, hazardous materials calls and everything in between.  We don't get a chance to deploy our ladder on many fires, so that requires us to do a lot of training in between those times.  It also requires us to ensure that we are as effective as possible when we do get the call and need to operate as a ladder/truck company.

Our apparatus is a 105' ladder and we have two 16 foot roof ladders mounted on each side of our aerial.  When I got assigned to this apparatus one of the first things I did was face one roof ladder with the butt to the rear of the apparatus and the second facing the opposite way.  While checking my truck the other day I noticed that both were positioned with the butts facing the rear.

Although not a huge deal, we turned one back with the butt of the roof ladder facing the front of the  truck.  I had a guy not on my shift with us that day and he asked why we did that?  Well, a great opportunity had just arrived.

Having two roof ladders at your disposal is really convenient and saves a lot of time.  One roof ladder has the hooks facing front.  This ladder would be used for a pitched roof or a roof elevation with a peak or ridge.  With the hooks facing front I can easily un-cradle the ladder and simply drag it up with me and slide it right onto the roof without ever having turn or flip the ladder.

The roof ladder with the butt facing the front the of the truck allows us to easily deploy the ladder over a parapet wall without having to turn or flip the ladder.  It makes deployment much easier.  

It's the small things that make a big difference and saves time and energy on the fireground.  Think and work smarter, not harder.   Check your rig and be familiar with what it's capabilities are and what you might be called on to do.

How the Dominos Fall

I just want to take a moment to share an experience with you. I normally post positive experiences or situations that went well.  This one is different. Although there was not a bad outcome, the call itself went poorly, mostly due to my lack of focus.

I am the first to preach tactical proficiency and the first to tell people that training is the most important task, outside of calls, that we can do while at work.  Let me be the first, now, to share with you how things can go bad from the dispatch because of a lack of focus.  Let me share and hopefully you will learn from my mistakes

During a recent rotation we were in our spare pumper. I am normally on a quint and it is in the shop, so we are running out of our spare pumper.  Since we are in the spare, our dispatch has a habit of not dispatching us to our own still area because we don't have the ladder. Go figure, right?

Well, on this day we are preparing dinner and the district tones drop for a commercial first alarm, smoke coming from the basement.  At first I didn't think much of it.  Then, I was thinking that the address sounded like an apartment complex in my still area.  Sure enough, they did not dispatch us to our own call.

Now we're already behind the 8 ball.  I rounded up the company and we started bunking out.  We are in a hurry and I am feeling  a little anxious.  As we pull out, one of our compartment doors is open and we have to stop to shut it.  Not typical!  But, you can start to see how things start to go bad before you ever get there.  And, it can happen to the best of us, and quite honestly, I was extremely embarrassed afterwards.

As we were responding our computer was not working and our pager did not activate because we were not on the initial dispatch.  We got the address and proceeded.  As we entered the complex we knew that the building fronted one street and backed another and access could be made from either road.  Some people standing on the road directed us in: to the wrong side of the building!  I normally trust my instincts and this time I did not and made things even worse.

My size up was rushed and incomplete and I left the truck without my normal tool selection of  New York hook, but I did take the TIC.  It was going to be a long stretch once we found the correct unit.

As it was, maintenance was already on the scene repairing the burned out blower motor on the unit's AC.  No fire, no hazards and luckily, it ended my lack of focus.

These were all of my decisions and they were not good ones. I was angry with myself as someone who trains and studies our profession.  I was also embarrassed that I made such elementary mistakes.

I share this show how easy it can be to screw up.  Had we had a fire I would like to think that I would have hit the reset button, but who really knows.  I would like to think I would have reverted back to my training when it really mattered.  

The point is this, stay vigilant, train and train some more.  Discuss you short comings and fix them. We are all going to have bad days and we need to limit them as much as possible.

I can assure you that this call will stick with me longer than the ones that went well; I want to make sure I never respond at a call this way again.  It happens fast and without notice.  Be tactically patient and train hard.

Thanks and learn from others.

Jason

I Will Not Get Out of Your Way

We have all worked with those that just don't care, we discussed it in an earlier post.

We exhaust ourselves to make the fire service, our fellow firefighters and us better and safer by training and mastering our craft.

We are asked "why" continually and it is easy to think about giving up.  It would just be so easy to ensure that I know what I'm doing and leave you to your own mediocrity.

I know you just want to push me and those like me aside, for us to just get out of your way.

Well, I, and those like me, will not move.  We will not get out of our way.  We will not quit.  This is to those that are okay with being "okay" at this job.  This is to those officers that wont take a stand against the loud, vocal minority that are just "okay" at this job.  This is to those that think they know everything about fighting fire but refuse to practice their craft.

We will not get out of your way.

You might be my partner at the fire that things go bad at and I want to make it home; I wont get out of your way.

You might be my last chance for survival when I call the Mayday; I wont get out of your way.

You might be the firefighter arrives when my family has a crisis and you need to be at the top of your game; I wont get out of your way.

You might be the incident commander seeing conditions deteriorate from the exterior as I am operating on the interior unaware; I wont get out of your way.

For every firefighter and officer out there trying to make a difference, no matter what road block they throw up, Do not get out of their way.

Keep plugging along and take your lumps, just don't get out of their way.

This is NOT Your Side Job!

So, you want to sell real estate?  You want to pour concrete?  You want to be the next top seller in a multilevel marketing scheme?  You want to build houses? You want to sell insurance? Well, then go do it and get out of my fire serivce!

This is my rant!

I have no issue with you doing whatever you want to do on the side. I don't care what you do on your days off.  I even don't mind if you need to do some work during YOUR down time at work so long as it doesn't encumber your efforts to be a masterful firefighter so that YOUR fellow team members can return to station safely because YOUR proficient.

If you can't do that............GET OUT!

I have no issue with you not being a "Fire Nerd." I encourage you to have a life outside of the fire service, but when your here, give me all I you've got because my wife and kids depend on it.

Don't ASSume you know it all because you have been in the serivce for xx number of years.  It makes an ASS out of you, not me.

When it's time to drill don't tell me that firefighting just isn't that hard; it can be.  It just goes to show you have no clue.

So, when you walk in the door, you have a choice; you can be a firefighter that cares about those that serve with you or you can be an employee that wants the paycheck, benefits, days off and the ability to wear the cool t-shirts but who will let down the person's family next to you because you just..........don't..........CARE!

What do you choose?

That's all