Firefighter Rescue Operations
James Crawford
Friday June 14, 2024
10:45 AM – 12:15 PM
This lecture-based program will assist the student in understanding the concept of Rapid Intervention and the role that the Rapid Intervention Team plays in coordinating a successful firefighter rescue. Areas of discussion will include team setup, size up, deployment, extrication, and removal. Chief Crawford will use his on-scene experience at two multiple LODD firefighter fatality incidents and several near miss incidents in the City of Pittsburgh along with thousands of hours of Rapid Intervention training experience from across the country. This program will assist you through the process of understanding true firefighter rescue procedures. This will be a no nonsense, tell it like it is approach to firefighter rescue operations.
James Crawford
James K. Crawford is the Assistant Fire Chief for Midway Fire Rescue in Pawleys Island, SC. He retired as the Assistant Fire Chief with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire in 2010 after 20 years of service. He is also the retired Deputy Fire Chief of Operations for the 171st Air Refueling Wing Fire Department, Pennsylvania Air National Guard after 23 years of military service. He is a graduate of the Air Force Fire Academy spending four years on active duty as a firefighter. Jim is also the past Deputy Chief of Training for the Pennsylvania USAR Strike Team where he also served as a Rescue Manager. He is a life member and past Fire Chief of the Ben Avon Volunteer Fire Company in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. He has over 48 years’ experience in the career and volunteer fire service. Chief Crawford was the lead HOT instructor at FDIC for the popular HOT program “RIT Combat Drills” for 19 years. He has also taught RIT programs at events such as Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Firehouse on the Road, Worcester Safety Symposium, Houston Safety Symposium, Boise Safety Symposium, FDIC International and FDIC East. He was a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine and Firehouse.com authoring several articles on firefighter rescue. Jim received the Instructor of the Year award in 2002 from the International Society of Fire Service Instructors for his aggressive national efforts in firefighter rescue training. In 2003, he assisted the Department of Homeland Security and the US Fire Administration in developing their in-depth technical report titled, “Rapid Intervention Teams and How to avoid needing them”. Chief Crawford instructs nationally about firefighter rescue operations and holds several national fire service certifications. He has an associate degree in Fire Science from Columbia Southern University and is an instructor for the training groups Rapid Intervention Training Associates (RITA) and On Scene Training Associates (OSTA).
