In part 1 of 3 of this training series, Poudre Fire Lieutenant Dan Santillanes provides instruction for Poudre Fire Academy Recruits working through a low visibility environment on a primary search assignment.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

When your tool hits something, it’s gonna go like that, right? So just recognizing that I’m hitting something, I’m in  pretty tight quarters.

What do we usually have in hallways?  We have doors. Doors leading to bedrooms, leading to closets. Bathrooms. What was that first room? You checked? A bathroom.

Right. And we probably would’ve recognized that off that stack on our 360 going, ‘okay, when I go in, I go, right, I’m probably gonna find that bathroom somewhere there’. If it’s not on that first wall, it’s probably down that hallway. Recognize that we’re going into an area that I, I don’t need extra people behind me ’cause it’s gonna make it crowded.

I’m gonna room hold him. Okay, room hold. That means you’re stopping and let him do his work. Okay. Let him search that area. So just recognizing that we’re not just standing there waiting. We’re actually watching conditions on the fire and seeing if it’s getting worse, going, Hey, we gotta get moving.

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