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. To help fire fighters prepare for and survive a Mayday, the IAFF has developed a comprehensive Fire Ground Survival training program.

Fire fighter fatality data compiled by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) 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 plan. 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.

So it's not a matter of IF the MAYDAY happens, it's WHEN!

The IAFF Fire Ground Survival training 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), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Underwriters Laboratories (UL), USFA, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the military was used to develop the five-part curriculum:

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 curriculum. Students 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.

In addition, students learn the specific actions a fire fighter must perform to assure the highest degree of survivability when things on the fire ground go wrong, as well as the specific actions the incident commander, dispatchers and others on the fire ground must take to assist in the fire fighter's rescue.

Mastery of the concepts are evaluated using a post-test for each section. This Fire Ground Survival awareness course is a pre-requisite for participation in the Fire Ground Survival Instructor Training (Train-the-Trainer/TtT) Course. Information regarding this course will be available soon.

Click here to begin the IAFF Fire Ground Survival Awareness Course. 

For more information, contact the IAFF Department of Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine at (202) 737-8484.