“The building collapsed with four firefighters inside!” Our customer, Travis, called to tell us how well his fire company’s accountability system worked.
There were 27 volunteer fire companies at the working structure fire. I’m sure you can imagine how easily a fire scene can become confusing. The trucks are loud, there are fire fighters from different companies and the adrenaline is running high. Four fire fighters, including Travis, were inside the building and the building collapsed, thankfully, all four men were able to escape unharmed. A firefighter from one of the other companies was shouting that there was still a man inside. The safety officer assured him that everyone was out. He was correct and all of the firefighters were out of the building.
The fire company in charge of the fire scene has 
established an accountability system. Travis is our contact and he orders the 421-FF accountability tags from us. They use a two tag system, one tag stays on the fire fighter’s gear and the second tag is given to the safety officer when the fire fighter enters the building and is retrieved when he exits the building.
We are very proud to have our tags involved in programs to keep our firefighters safe. The design, implementation and consistent use of the accountability system is very important. The team needs to understand the routine and to use it every time at every scene.
Travis has had three of the volunteer companies that were at the structure fire contact him to help with the design of their accountability programs. He assures us they will be ordering their accountability tags from Ketchum!
Thank you, Travis, and all your fellow firefighters, for the dedication and time you spend training so that when we call, you are able to come to our rescue.
