By Drew Smith
Many fire departments regularly rely on automatic aid or mutual aid to effectively respond to fires and other emergencies. Training together is required to achieve this goal and also to qualify for maximum credit from the Insurance Services Office (Section 507, Fire Suppression Rating Schedule). The goal of this training is to enable companies from different fire departments to work on a common goal. Incidents such as private dwelling fires that extend beyond the room of origin or occur in large commercial occupancies can challenge smaller to larger suburban departments, making mutual aid necessary. Interaction with incident command; advancing hoseline and supply pumping; large-area searches; and nonfire incidents such as hazmats, natural disasters, and active shooters are some of the topics that demand interdepartmental training.
The question is, How do you do it? How do you drill with the departments north, south, east, and west of your jurisdiction?
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