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PURPOSE

To establish a safe practice for the management of air contained within SCBAs while working in an IDLH atmosphere. Emphasis lies upon teams to exit a hazardous atmosphere prior to low air alarm activation.

PROCEDURE

• While operating in a hazardous environment team members and company officers will use the Rule Of Air Management (ROAM)

  • Know how much air you have used and manage the air you have left.

    Check the air in your SCBA early and often; report the level to your partner and company officer.

  • Leave the hazardous atmosphere before your low air alarm has sounded.

    Consider initiating the exit process with fifty percent of your air remaining to find an exit or engage in a self rescue operation.

• Air management responsibilities on the fireground.
  • Incident Commander
    • Maintains accountability of teams operating inside the IDLH atmosphere.
    • Anticipates team replacement based upon conditions and radio reporting. If a team’s air is low and, due to limited resources and/or the state of the firefight, that team cannot be reassigned to Rehab, the Incident Commander should instruct the team to do a bottle swap and then return to their assignment.
  • Company Officer
    • Develops the strategy for team air management.
    • Directs team members to check their air level often.
    • Communicates air/situation status to Incident Commander.
    • Maintains situation awareness and orientation to exit.
    • Determines when to exit prompted by the first team member reaching fifty percent of their air remaining.
  • Firefighter
    • Responsible for knowledge of their personal air consumption.
    • Must always be aware of the amount of air remaining in their SCBA.
    • Must communicate their air status with other team members.
• Status and air level reporting.
  • Company officers will report to the Incident Commander when the first member of their team has reached fifty percent air capacity. This report should be in the CARA format: Condition, Action, Resources, Air.
  • Company officers or lead firefighters should consider an emergency traffic report at low air alarm activations when life threatening conditions exist.
  • All members should consider a MAYDAY after a low air alarm activation. Consider calling a MAYDAY based on
    • Disorientation.
    • Unknown travel distance to exit.
    • Need for RIT assistance.