FOCUS
Current affairs Salvage coordinator
This is a key role, as the person must interpret the salvage priority plan, brief the sector commander on what needs to be moved, and detail what resources are available or required. The sector commander and salvage coordinator must develop a dynamic plan. If additional resources are required – for instance, additional crews for salvage – the sector commander requests them through the incident commander. It is not essential for the salvage coordinator to be a conservator: they could be a security guard who has been briefed to act in this role while the salvage team travels to site. Simple prompt cards can even be written as aide memoires. Anyone with a good knowledge of the building layout can be trained to act in this role, and everyone on the salvage team should be able to act as the salvage coordinator. Another significant piece of learning for
Smoke grenades were used to add an additional element of realism to the Tower Guardian exercise (Credit: HRP).
A detailed plan of the target room should indicate the exact location of the priority objects. There needs to be a simple description: firefighters are unlikely to be art historians (the Mona Lisa is ‘painting of a woman’). Of more interest are the removal methods, the approximate weight, how many people are required to lift and carry, and any special equipment provided (carry slings/ trolleys, etc) to move the object. The plans need to be laminated and very clear. It is useful to have at least two sets available in your battlebox or grab bag.
Salvage sector
When the fire service arrives at a large historic building or museum, it will need to be briefed on the salvage priorities. In our experience, the duty manager will be too busy answering questions on the state of evacuation, the location of hazards, access routes, building services and so on, to focus on the requirements of salvage. At the same time, the fire service incident commander will be preoccupied with a myriad of details. The solution is to delegate. The fire service divides incidents into sectors.
Some are for firefighting and others are functional sectors, such as securing water supplies. As soon as possible, a functional sector for salvage should be established. An officer should be appointed sector commander, and the institution should provide a salvage coordinator.
Exercise Tower Guardian 2016: a large scale exercise to test emergency response at the Tower of London (Credit: Terry Crowdy).
48 JUNE 2019
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HRP in recent years is: don’t think of the salvage team as a single unit. One trained salvager can be allocated to a crew of firefighters. The salvager provides the expert advice on locating and moving the object; the firefighters ensure the safety of the salvager while inside the building. In a city such as London, it is not unreasonable to foresee multiple crews being allocated to salvage. Under a good salvage coordinator, a team of six salvagers can be paired off with firefighters to form half a dozen teams.
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