BY DENNIS CARMAN
During the past few years, a large amount of information on rapid intervention teams has been published: How do you establish a rapid intervention team (RIT)? How do you establish guidelines? Should a department supply its own rapid intervention team or use mutual aid? How many members should the responding team have? What tools should a RIT team carry to the fireground? What type of apparatus is best suited for a RIT response? The list goes on.
One aspect of the RIT team that has not been addressed is the team leader or RIT team officer. Anyone involved with the rapid intervention concept will tell you that every member of the team has a specific tool assignment and job function once on the fireground. But who is responsible for the team and its operations? The RIT officer. The officer should be the most important component of the team—the brains—and in command of the team's decisions and actions.
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