V.E.S…LMNOP
Disclaimer- some mild expletives.
I am tired of acronyms, especially our desire or compulsive need to keep adding letters to the commonly accepted acronyms. People who develop these must think we are stupid. Want to talk about micromanagement, tell me every step I need to do to go through a window and search a room.
I’m done. VENT- ENTER- SEARCH. THAT’S IT!
I have seen a picture that had V.E.O.I.S. in a textbook. Are you kidding me? Vent, Enter, Orient, Isolate, Search. You forgot an E, cause we need to exit too. Oh yeah, and if we find a victim, we need to add R. G. D. R…( radio, grab, drag, rescue). I regress, we will revisit acronyms in the future, this is about VES!
What is our goal with VES? When do we implement this tactic and why is it perceived as a tactic which requires an emergent radio message? Do we call an emergent message over the radio when we search or initiate an interior fire attack? No. The fire ground is dangerous. Every action we take can mean injury or death so why is VES different? Quit sending emergency traffic for a tactic we are purposely performing. Save the radio for important traffic like building collapse, a burst hose line, dead hydrant, or mayday. If command assigns me VES or I deem it necessary, they know cause it’s on their command board or I will them. Just like saying fire attack is entering the building… no shit.
Fun fact, there has never been a LODD caused by VES in the United States, and only 1 recorded in the world many years ago.
VES is a tactic used to gain access to the building using something rather than a ground-level door. I view VES as an opportunity for additional access points that could speed up our operations and save lives. We need to get out of the mindset of isolation during VES tactics. We are writing off square footage or delaying time if we immediately isolate the door. If I have the opportunity to extend the search beyond the VES room, I am going to take advantage of my position and search the searchable space. This reduces the time delay by having to exit and redeploy a VES tactic to another window. We need to become comfortable with these tactics and understand when and when we cannot perform an extended VES tactic. This is not for every situation and the interior conditions need to determine our actions.
When extending the search, communication becomes vital. We need to tell IC that VES is extending the search into the structure. We also need to make sure the crew has had previous discussions on these operations. Having a crew who are on the same page will have a greater impact on the fire ground by potentially saving citizens’ lives. This will speed up the search and cover more square footage to clear the structure. The building is not clear until we determine so.
VES can be an impactful tactic that should be considered at every fire incident. This tactic allows for quick access on multiple floors and also accomplishes egress issues with ladders in place for interior crews. Time is everything in today’s fire environment.
