This year’s IAFC Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week, June 19-25, focuses on surviving the fire ground and fire fighter, fire officer and command preparedness. The IAFF’s fire ground survival program is the most comprehensive survival skills and Mayday prevention program currently available and is open to all members of the fire service.

The purpose of the Fire Ground Survival program is to ensure that training for Mayday prevention and Mayday operations are consistent between all fire fighters, company officers and chief officers. Fire fighters must be trained to perform potentially life-saving actions if they become lost, disoriented, injured, low on air or trapped. These training exercises must be consistent throughout the fire service. Funded by the IAFF and assisted by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the Assistance to Firefighters (FIRE Act) grant program, our comprehensive Fire Ground Survival training program applies the lessons learned from fire fighter fatality investigations conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and has been developed by a committee of subject matter experts from the IAFF, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and NIOSH.

There is no other call more challenging to fire ground operations than a MAYDAY call — the unthinkable moment when a fire fighter’s personal safety is in imminent danger. Fire fighter fatality data compiled by the United States Fire Administration have shown that fire fighters “becoming trapped and disoriented represent the largest portion of structural fire ground fatalities.” The incidents in which fire fighters have lost their lives, or lived to tell about it, have a consistent theme — inadequate situational awareness put them at risk.

Fire fighters don’t plan to be lost, disoriented, injured or trapped during a structure fire or emergency incident. But fires are unpredictable, volatile and ruthless – and they will not go according to your plans. What a fire fighter knows about a fire before entering a blazing building may radically change within minutes once inside the structure. Smoke, low visibility, lack of oxygen, structural instability and an unpredictable fire ground can cause even the most seasoned fire fighter to be overwhelmed in an instant.

This program is suitable for all ranks and experience levels. The Fire Ground Survival course is a comprehensive curriculum developed using near misses, close calls and fire fighter fatalities to address the critical elements of fire ground survival.

Information from the IAFF, IAFC, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIOSH,  Underwriters Laboratories (UL), United States Fire Administration (USFA), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the military was used to develop the five-part curriculum consisting of:

1. Mayday Prevention.
2. Being Ready for the Mayday.
3. Self-Survival Procedures.
4. Self-Survival Skills.
5. Fire Fighter Expectations of Command During a Mayday.

Successful completion of this course requires the study of actual near misses and fatalities to reinforce the learning of each of the five parts. Students will listen to presentations, view videos of simulated Mayday incidents and read documentation supporting how best to prevent a Mayday, as well as how best to prepare for, and handle an actual Mayday. Students will learn the specific actions a fire fighter must perform to assure the highest degree of survivability when things on the fire ground go wrong.

You can begin the course here.

Read more about the IAFF Fire Ground Survival Program here. We’d like to hear your stories. Have you been in a Mayday scenario? Were you prepared?