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Pack Confidence
2-3 hour, up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
In our Pack Confidence class we focus solely on the individual firefighter. Building pack confidence to the point of second nature is our main focus. The air pack is our lifeline so understanding how to move, operate, and navigate your SCBA in and around obstacles is paramount. The participant will rapidly repeat skills such as donning SCBA, forcing doors, left and right hand searches and crawling under, over and through obstacles. The participant will also be proficient in door control, wall breaching and bailing out windows. Being entangled, dealing with wall, ceiling and floor collapses are also skills that can be learned, repeated and mastered in this session. Firefighter down CPR is a huge part of the Pack Confidence brick. Firefighter down CPR, which we call NEFT CPR, stresses the firefighters need to gain knowledge of not only their SCBA but others’ as well. The way UFT teaches firefighter down CPR is different than any other method out there, it won’t easily be forgotten and it might just save the life of your brother or sister. The skills worked on and mastered in the Pack Confidence class will be carried into and built on in the following training sessions.
FF Survival and Rapid Intervention
2-3 hours, up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
In this training session it’s all about survival. When we are aggressive firefighters and we are mission obsessed with saving lives we may enter a building to search without a hose line or we may leave a hose line to perform a search. What happens if something goes wrong? What happens if we have a medical emergency or our SCBA malfunctions? Do you know what to do? Can your partner get you out or package you for removal by a rapid intervention crew? In this training session we give you the arena to answer all these questions and build your confidence.
UFT starts this session off with a small review of forcible entry then goes right into pack conversion. In UFT fashion we drill on converting yours and your partners SCBA air pack into a drag rescue harness in a way that creates muscle memory so it’s easily recalled when needed in a real situation. After the small sided drills we move to hogwall work with an obstacle course. The price of admission to any hogwall scenario is forcible entry. After forcing the door Firefighters will proceed through the maze, practice making mayday calls, on their own and with partners, at each environment change. With a pack malfunction it’s critical to go through a systems check of our SCBA. Your partner can make the call while you check and rectify the issue. We have a greater percentage of survival if our partner can rescue us so we train heavily on the two firefighter search. As the firefighters search, one of them will go down; requiring a mayday call, pack conversion and a drag to rescue. On the next scenario a rapid intervention team will be activated. The original search team will need to prepare and package the down firefighter for removal by the rapid intervention team.
Search & Rescue
2-3 hours, up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
The 3rd training session in this series is search & rescue. At this point the firefighter is proficient in their equipment, confident of self rescue and can function as part of a team to package and rescue down firefighters. What happens when the aggressive firefighter finds a civilian victim and needs to make the grab? Are they ready to move fast with good techniques?
The search and rescue session will instill the skills and confidence needed to do the job we are all called to do – save lives! As in the other training sessions we start on the outside in small groups to hone individual skills such as forcible entry and using webbing to drag victims before going in the hogwall. Once inside the hogwall floor plan we work on speed and technique to search for victims. Once a victim is found it’s all about transition. At UFT we are all about transition drills – how fast can we go from search mode to rescue mode?
Hose Confidence
2-3 hours, up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
Hose Confidence is where UFT ties it all together. Everything is on the table as far as skills go. Not only are we adding hose work but bail out, maydays and firefighter CPR can and will all be thrown into the mix. At the beginning of the session we do a short hose movement demo but jump right into the hogwall for some maze work. This time with no obstructions or obstacles the prop is set up for long stretches and pinch points. This will allow every firefighter to gain confidence in the movements and get a lot of reps in. Towards the back half of the training session we configure the prop into a house floor plan where we incorporate real world scenarios. Force entry, mask up, grab the nozzle and make the stretch! The back-up firefighter can search off the line while the nozzle firefighter moves through the layout. To make it more interesting we will throw search crews into the layout and start incorporating civilian and firefighter down rescue scenarios.
Fireground Basics
1 day (6-8 hours) up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
This all day training program is a great option to get a wide variety of skills and topics completed in one training session. This Fireground Basics training combines all four of our basic training programs - Pack Confidence, Firefighter Survival and RIT, Search & Rescue, and Hose Confidence. Working through the skills we quickly move from masking up to forcible entry and pack confidence training. MAYDAY calls, pack conversions and self rescue move right into search & rescue of civilians. Rounding out the day is hose work and combined operations. Fireground Basics is a great program to use for mutual aid trainings with surrounding communities.
Large Area Search & TIC Ops
1 day (6-8 hours) up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
In this training option firefighters will be able to utilize the UTF props in a way that recreates large areas/rooms such as classrooms, warehouses and large basements. Preparing rope bags for large area searches and then utilizing them in real world scenarios to find down firefighters and rescue civilians is the first section of this program. The second section is for searching with the available thermal imaging cameras from the department hosting the session. Using the “hogwall’ prop in any number of configurations firefighters will use search techniques designed around the use of TICs. As always, the price of entrance to any UFT training scenario is proper forcible entry and masking work. If any down firefighters are evacuated then firefighter down CPR must be performed.
Special Operations
1 day (6-8 hours) up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
The UFT Drill Day will focus on Rapid Intervention Crew (RIC)) based drills. The four drills we will focus on will be the Denver, Pittsburgh, UFT and South Beach Street. These drills will test the firefighters’ ability to think through and solve various firefighter down scenarios. Communication, teamwork and basic firefighter skills will be emphasized in this 6-8 hour class. All drills require and include full PPE, SCBA (on air) and forcible entry. Knee pads are recommended.
Denver Drill
Firefighters will rescue a downed firefighter placed in a room that is reduced to 28 inches wide through a window that is 42 inches above the floor.
Pittsburgh Drill
This drill uses a Rapid Intervention Crew equipped with RIC pack and rope bag. The down firefighter is 50 feet away and the RIC must go under, over and through obstacles to reach the firefighter and bring them back through the obstacles.
UFT Drill
The UFT drill is similar to the Pittsburgh Drill however the down firefighter is located, evaluated and evacuated by firefighters OTHER than the RIC. Moving through obstacles using only the tools that firefighters have on hand to rescue a down firefighter will show how difficult rescuing firefighters is.
South Beach Street Drill
The South Beach Street Drill replicates a mayday call and rescue of a down firefighter in Manchester, NH in 2021.
This drill will test firefighters' speed in locating a down firefighter, calling a mayday, extricating the firefighter and performing firefighter down CPR.
Down & Dirty RIC
1 day (6-8 hours) up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
Down and Dirty RIC is a great training session if you are working to get your people confident in responding as a Rapid Intervention Crew. With a large rep count on quick rapid intervention scenarios your personnel will grow together and create lasting bonds working together as a team. UFT is all about high reps and short burst scenarios. What this does is increase confidence and as we like to say here at UFT - confidence saves lives! UFT will come to your department and start the day with setting the groundwork. Firefighter down CPR, pack conversions and smaller scenarios with your departments RIC equipment. Once proficiency is attained with RIC equipment then UFT sets up the “hogwall” prop like an actual apartment or house floorplan. We will bring furniture, rugs and other items you might find in a structure where a RIC might be activated. The RIC team will need to soften the building by forcing doors before activation and move quickly and decisively once the MAYDAY comes in. The RIC team will locate the down firefighter and package them for extraction. Once the right extraction point is identified the firefighter is removed assessed and treated. Firefighter down CPR is the critical skill at the end of these scenarios.
Basic RIC
2 days (12-16 hours) up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
Basic Ric is an extended version of Down & Dirty RIC. We take the basic concepts of RIC and hone those skills through repetitions in the hogwall. Multiple floor plan evolutions make this training dynamic and challenging all the way to the end. Anyone can save a firefghter if there are no obstacles impeding extraction. UFT arrives with a trailer full of furniture, carpets and other objects to challenge your RIC skills. If and when you are assigned as a RIC at a working fire UFT wants you to be confident in basic RIC skills. We will work with your departments protocols and manpower options to design the best RIC training experience your department has been involved in. We will use your departments RIC equipment, force doors, search for down firefighters, extricate them and conduct firefighter down CPR to finish the evolutions.
NFPA 1407 RIC
3 days (24 hours) up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
Our 1407 RIC training is a 3 day intensive course following the NFPA standard.
We begin this 3 day course with a RIC classroom presentation. To meet the NFPA standard we focus on getting reps on the following skills:
FF rescue from 1st floor window
FF rescue from 2nd floor window
FF rescue from basement
FF rescue from hole in the floor
As with every UFT class we go above and beyond the standard using the Hogwall prop to train on realistic scenarios. This class will make use of the hosting departments available RIT equipment and use the departments RIC protocols. Through repetitions with RIC scenarios in and around furniture in the prop firefighters will gain much needed confidence for participating as part of a RIC team at actual events.
This program is a great way to get your mutual aid partners involved in training.
First Due and Setting the Stage
2 Days (12-16 hours) up to 20 firefighters
Class Description
Day 1 of our First Due and Setting the Stage class starts with a classroom presentation where we discuss scene size up and the first 5 minutes of operating at an emergency scene. The arrival, deployment and call for resources are all discussed in depth. We learn how to create a mindset, habits a script and increase confidence through repetitions. The back half of the day is used for practice in making first due radio calls and giving size up reports in the classroom during tabletop exercises.
Day 2 is filled with real world scenarios using the hogwall prop right in the firehouse. Participants will be making arrival windshield reports in the apparatus and deploy their immediate resources to mitigate the situation. A thorough size up and call for additional resources will round out each scenario.
The Firefighters Mindset
3 hours
Class Description
The Firefighters Mindset presentation is a conversation about how we as firefighters have a responsibility to develop the right headspace to better process and assimilate information so that we can utilize it to better serve the community where we operate.
We begin the conversation by talking about how we as firefighters are predisposed to learn and acquire knowledge. How does a firefighter process information? How do we assimilate new knowledge? We discuss who we are, what we do, and how we do it and ultimately come to the core reason of why we do what we do.
Once we have discovered our purpose as firefighters we can now see why having a clear direction is so critical to information processing. We now have clarity through a correct mindset. All of our experiences can now be seen through this new lens in the community, on the fire ground and especially in training.
The ultimate goal is retention. We can only process and assimilate experience, education and training through a true purpose and a correct mindset. With this in mind we begin to actually enjoy the learning process because ultimately we know we will retain the knowledge and utilize it in the field.