Context of the Incident in the Fire and Rescue Project - Report Example

Context of the incident This report will outline an incident that happened in the work based experience in a fire and rescue organization where I was undertaking my project offering some of my services. It was prompted by the tutor announcing that we were expected to go to the field and identify organizations where we would offer our services as part of the project requirements. The tutor announced that our attitudes and values would also be incorporated in the final grading in the students portfolios (Audrey & Bruce, 2006). The tutors acting as our supervisors would also make their investigative appearances to check our progress and also accord us points to go to the portfolio. We were expected to undertake a research project on fire and rescue for work based learning for our semester report which was part of the university curriculum in the fire and rescue project. I undertook to go to the field and take a work period with a fire and rescue organization in the vicinity of the city and there I could have the experience as well as the required skills to undertake this project. I could also incorporate the theories that were had learnt in the class setting and also apply the different models that are used in the fire and rescue departments. This to me was the most exciting news and experience but on getting to the ground a number of critical incidents occurred which will be laid out in this reflective essay. Details of the incident On my first day of our second week of my work based experience at the fire and rescue company which I was working with we were called on an emergency service to rescue people who had been caught up under debris. This had been prompted by a terrorist attack on a building along the avenue street and a fire outbreak had resulted at the same sight which is deemed to have been as a result of the chemical reactions (Audrey & Bruce, 2006). I had never been in such an incident before and I was thus anticipating that I would be in the team that would be sent to the sight and I was incorporated in that team as a lot of manpower was needed at the sight. We set out with the fire rescue crew and the notable equipment were the hydraulic cutting equipment, foam supplies, and other fire fighting equipments (Neil & Sally, 1994). There was also an incorporation of new Dennis Sabres which had been supplied with compressed air foam systems which used very little water as compared to the water that is used by the other former systems (Arthur, 2003). I found myself composed and ready to step out to the main action as we got to the sight. The scene was surrounded by beams of smoke and the onlookers who were trying to rescue some people from the scene looked so shocked by the incident. I could not help noticing the terror in the faces of the onlookers and the first thing that crossed my mind is whether the set bomb had only been one or a similar blast would happen later in that sight but I noticed immediately that the sniffer dogs had already been set to action (Clive, 2007). I wondered whether these people were really safe. But the action had already begun. My team was busy now already putting the fire fighting equipment in place. There were also other teams at the sight which included the police force as well as the paramedics. Ambulances were now trickling into the sight and alerts were being sent from all the corners through the media alerts that people should stay confined within their premises. This announcement was meant to ensure people stay within their homes and movement was now restricted within the city and its environs as an emergency measure to ensure that no harm would occur to the people maybe as a result of a recurrent attack. Why it was a critical event The incident was critical to me because I had never before been involved in a real life experience of fire rescue or been to a fire and rescue mission of such intensity. I also had never got a glimpse of such a huge outburst of flames at a fire and rescue site yet I had been in campus pursuing a course in the same. Similarly I had not been to a blast sight of such an intensive nature. Further more after the incident I got more material for my project from the entirely new experience that I experienced on this particular day. This would involve use and application of research methods such as questionnaire issuing to the people who suffered either directly or the victims (Larry, 2005). There were silent cries from below the rumbles there were corpses and blood spilled all over the sight as people were carried to the ambulances and rushed to the nearby health facilities. Concerns at the incident At the time of the incident what I couldn’t put away from my thoughts out of my genuine desire to ensure that all the lives that were trapped within the debris would be rescued. I found myself wondering just how effective our services wee to ensure that any trapped life would be rescued from within the mess that was now being dug into by the various teams. Each time I found my mind racing back to what would actually happen if we would not put out the incessant flames and how the fumes that came from the flames affected the lives that were trapped would be affected by these flames (Herbert, 2003). I also kept wondering like I earlier noted what would happen if the terrorists had well hidden another bomb nearby like I had watched in the recent news where they had a habit of setting or planting multiple bombs in a same place and they give a time difference of maybe an hour between the two to ensure that the mission is totally accomplished. Thoughts and feelings at the incident My mind railed constantly on what the family members and friends of those reported missing was going through. Also each time I saw an injured victim beyond recognition I wondered if they were alive and whether they would ever recover to their former selves and whether they would ever be independent on themselves again. However due to the career prospects I found myself telling my mind to continue totally concentrating on rescuing those who we could not locate yet as more concentration would ,result into a better result or more effectiveness. I admitted in my mind however it was so hard to let go of that thought as my interest in rescuing lives had been born back when I was an early adolescent when I had lost my father in an almost similar incident. This thought now at he sight kept flashing through my mind as to what could have been going though his mind when it was him buried under similar debris. I also, remembered what we had gone through as a family as we hoped to hear from him against hope when we had received a report that the office in which he worked had been bombed. My feelings at the sight were feelings, of compassion and care towards those people who had lost their lives and also towards those who were badly injured and even traumatized by the incident. I also kept thinking of the probable things that could be done to make the rescue missions more effective and to ensure that no living person could die in the debris. Demands by the incident This incident demanded that I apply the whole of me to the rescue mission and to ensure that I did concentrate and get my mind my dad and friend whom I had lost under similar circumstances it also made me realize that as much as I used the notion of the families who had been bereaved through the incidence that I ought to have been concentrating more on rescuing the ones who were trapped beneath the shackles so as to ensure that my team concentration matched up to the expected standards. In the latter part of the project where I had to use the information and incorporate it into my written work through conducting research, I applied the research methods of observation especially at the venue of the incident where I had to capture the different scenarios and put them down as points of reference in my career in future. The incident also demanded that I use the sampling method to get further4 methods of improving rescue missions especially from the survivors of the incident. Impact of the incident to my studies The incident affected my studies as I know had a first hand experience at a site where my services were required. I thus realized that I had to really learn all the basic techniques especially for the sake of the day when I would be put in charge of a rescue mission later n my career and I would be required to issue and coordinate commands to ensure that most or all the victims were rescued from an incidence of such a nature to ensure that no one lost their lives due to my incompetence. It also made me to Want to learn more about the application of the more recent and updated techniques of fire rescue and these included such things as fleet improvement within the fire rescue company to include such machines as I witnessed being used by the team that I was working with like the new Dennis Sabres supplied with air foam systems that were compressed. The incident made me intensify my research on the most recent technology and I went a step ahead to think what still needed to be improved as far as the recent techniques were involved (Gary, 2004). Impact of incident on my career The incident made me also realize as far as taking this as a career was concerned concentration on the things at hand played a major role in ensuring efficiency and achievement of maximum results. As far as career was concerned I realize I could not continue carrying the memories of my late dad into such a scene for I realized that sometimes I lost my concentration due to allowing these thoughts to take effect on me. I also realized that physical exercise would help me a long way as I realized one needed to be highly flexible to fulfill such a role (Brian & Don, 2007). I was quick to observe and admit that I got worn out from the scene rather quickly and yet the days we spent at the site added up to almost one week and there were in such moments short hours of sleep allowed as the mission had to be fulfilled. Recommendations The incident made me to realize some loopholes that I realized needed to be sealed so as to ensure a more effective service delivery as far as fire and rescue is concerned. This I arrived at especially through the observation at the incident site and also through the interrogative interactions that I engaged in with the people who were victimized by the incident. There should first of all be an inclusion of a counseling site at a serene sight a bit far from the scene of the incident even as emphasized by Audrey and Bruce (2006). This will ,help the people who were affected by the blast to overcome the trauma soon before it sinks in causing some to fall into emotional disorders as I observed with some of the victims after the blast. The reason why I recommend the sight should be far from the blast sight is because the blast site acts as a constant reminder to the victims of the incident The fire and rescue services should also think of incorporating within their premises clinical measures and institutions within their domain and this will act to offer medical services to some of the people rescued from fire arenas. I realized this while I was at the fire rescue institute and at times we would go for missions and rescue people and no immediate clinical attendance was offered till the victims were rushed to the hospitals for care. This has also been recommended by Arthur (2003) and Larry (2005) as a way of always ensuring sufficient services that are fast and effective within the rescue center. I also found it appropriate for any student in the area of fire and rescue to constantly offer their services in the fire and rescue centers so as to get the feel of the rescuing mission as this improves one’s knowledge of the subject matter, these students or parties interested should offer their services voluntarily as I found out that putting into practice what one learns in the colleges is quiet important. Richard and Robert (2003) have also in their text emphasized on enough practice for the fire and rescue practitioners so that they may learn better how to assist in rescue missions. It also occurred to me to recommend to the management team of rescue missions to make fast decisions especially where fast action is needed. Lack of proper planning skills so as to ensure that the team implements their missions effectively and avoid delayed action which could cause deaths and deterioration of the state of the victims leading to ineffectiveness. Management is a key element in every form of organization. This topic has been tackled well enough in the text by Brian and Don (2007) and also by Arthur (2003). I also realized that team work within rescue mission is of utmost importance as I noticed any time there was, a breakage in the communication of the team or any time there arose, disagreements between the members there was delayed action as well as improper results achievement. Team work in our case meant to avoid all forms of frictions between the members within the team and it also meant that we apply subordination as well as role coordination. This meant to a large extent that we obey the rules coming from the team leaders and in different instances we also had to be flexible so as to switch roles. The final recommendation for people interested in the activity of fire and rescue is the discipline of always guarding emotions at the accident sites. This to a large extent means that the parties should be strong emotionally to avoid the emotional turmoil at the site to affect their effectiveness. Reference Arthur, E., 2003. Organizing for Fire and Rescue Services. USA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Audrey, W., & Bruce, R., 2006. Alphabetic Rescue. Alphabet: Scholastic Inc. Brian, K., & Don, P., 2007.Portland Fire and Rescue.USA: Arcadia Publishing. Clive, S., 2007. Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service. Great Britain: Tempus Publishing Limited. Gary, A., 2004.Disaster Response: GIS for Public Safety.USA: PennWell Corporation. Herbert, C., 2003. Miami, FL Fire & Rescue. Miami: Turner Publishing Co. Larry, C., 2005. Technical Rescue Operations. USA: PennWell Corporation. Neil, W., &Sally, H., 1994.Fire and Rescue. USA:PenWell Corporation. Richard, K., & Robert, H., 2003. Firefighter Rescue and Survival. USA: PenWell Corporation. Uncle, F., & Collin, Q., 2000.Sassy the Amazing Fire Fighting Rescue Dog.USA: Trafford Publishing. Read More