Always Teaching, Always Learning
by Bea Peterson
Brian Rousseau was a Hoosick Falls Chief and volunteer fire fighter for 20 years. For 26 years he has worked for the NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control. As Deputy Chief of the Special Rescue Services Bureau he and his teams run training programs throughout the state. “We conduct 30 training classes a year and graduate 8,000 students trained in all areas of technical and specialized rescue,” he said. They minimize training costs by bringing trainers and equipped trailers to the various Fire Departments rather than having those departments bring crews to them. The training includes swift water rescue, ice rescue, building
or trench collapse rescue, rope rescue, confined space rescue and vehicle and machine rescue. Rousseau can do it all. He has participated in every type of rescue over the years. Because of his slight stature he has often found himself in confined space rescues. “These days I leave most of the rescue work to the younger people,” he said. He would like to be able to offer a fast moving water boat operator’s course. “No one else is doing it. Many fire departments have boats now and learning to operate them in floods or swift water situations is different than handling them in smooth water.”
He said New York state has one of the most diverse and one of the largest rescue programs in the country. “We’ve been at it for a long time, at least 17 years.” He said they were the second state to establish urban search and rescue, after California. “We started a technical rescue program in 1992 and started a rescue team program in 1995.” Needless to say Rousseau and his team were one of the first to arrive at the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Rousseau has spoken of his rescue training and experiences in Wales and Spain. He was keynote speaker for a United Kingdom Rescue Conference in Edinburgh Scotland. He recently participated in a rescue exercise in the oil fields of Trinidad. He has spoken at the Firehouse Magazine expo in Baltimore, MD, and evaluated a rescue exercise in Georgia and spoken at a conference in Kansas. “I like to share what we know and have experienced,” he said. “And I learn from others and pick up many good ideas to use here.”
Rousseau has been writing training manuals for 25 years. Many of them deal with one very specific technical rescue procedure or another. A chance conversation with other rescue trainers led them to the conclusion that there was no manual to cover the basics of all these rescues. “There is plenty of stuff for high end capabilities,” he said. “But there was no manual for average fire fighters to keep them safe, to help them evaluate a situation and to wait for the appropriate people to assist them.” That is when the idea for the book Fundamentals of Technical Rescue was conceived. The book will be sold worldwide. It is approved by the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Fire Protection Association and complies with international standards. A companion audio/visual trainer with lesson plans is in development now. Rousseau said retired Battalion Chief Robert Rhea of Fairfax County, VA, Fire and Rescue Department played a much larger part in putting the book together than he did, and it took many people to make it a reality. The finished product is very readable, well illustrated and informative.
Rousseau is modest about his career and accomplishments. “I’m just one of several Hoosick Falls people who have done well in this business,” he said. “Hoosick Fire Chief Bill Rifenberg is Deputy Chief of Fire Training for the State. Former resident and Trooper Chris Langford is Director of Home Land Security for Vermont.”
Rescue Services Exercise
Since April 1 Rousseau has been coordinating a combination exercise that will take place in Tonawanda, NY, from November 2 to 5. The exercise will involve 3,000 people, two thirds of them Army National Guard personnel. Participating teams will come from New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Connecticut, Vermont and New Jersey. Federal teams from the US and Canada will participate. New York teams are from Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers, Suffolk County and Albany. “There will be six types of teams covering various types of rescue.” Others who may participate or evaluate the exercise will be coming from Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and, possibly, the United Kingdom, Poland, Israel and South Africa.
“The scenario is an earthquake,” said Rousseau. There is a fault line that runs through Buffalo. “With all the old construction, buildings 100 to 150 years old, a 5.0 quake in the east could be as devastating as a 6 to 7.0 quake is in California.” The purpose of the exercise is to evaluate the preparedness of the various teams. “This is the first time we will have all of them exercise together.” Rousseau said. “In the middle of an emergency is not a time to get to know folks.”
It is the largest complex exercise ever put together in the United States. Were it an actual disaster, the major response and first responders would be the Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse Fire Departments and those from bordering Pennsylvania. The next level to arrive would be State teams which should be on the road within two hours, followed by FEMA teams, which may take six to eight hours to get on the road. “Each level takes longer and longer to organize and arrive,” said Rousseau. State teams would arrive within six to 12 hours, Federal teams 12 to 24 hours and the military, 24 to 48 hours. “It takes time to gear the systems up.” Rousseau will be part of a management incident support team that will be used for the first time.
One exercise in the scenario will be a structure collapse with contaminants and may contain live people. That exercise will involve the military. The other exercise will be a collapsed parking garage that will be wired for sound.” Because of the heavy concrete people will not be used in it. Both sites will be constructed in areas covering about 80 feet by 120 feet.
To some a project of this size would be overwhelming. To Rousseau it is an exciting part of the job. In September 2010 he hopes to participate in a 20 country exercise in the UK that will involve all of Europe.