Looking at national statistics, there are fewer fires in recent years, but the trends of civilian casualties have not shown a parallel decrease. Research and anecdotal evidence both suggest that there can be improvement in civilian survival rates. Among the Los Angeles area fire departments, there is inconsistent adoption of nationally recommended search and rescue practices.
This course aims to strengthen a culture that looks for rescue opportunities through intentional search practices on the fireground. Specifically, window initiated search is introduced. Another goal of the training is to identify and address concerns that firefighters may have, and then encourage wider consideration of search and rescue tactics that may lead to saving more civilian lives.