By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- The UL Research Institutes’ Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) launched a five-week hands-on search and rescue training initiative called “HOT Drill Summer,” running from June 9 through July 11, 2026, open to fire departments nationwide.
- The challenge invites crews to complete a weekly research-based drill scenario, then share photos, videos, and feedback using the hashtag #HotDrillSummer on social media platforms.
- Each week’s drill focuses on a progressively more complex search and rescue scenario, beginning with victim removal and advancing through pre-suppression and during-suppression searches with both known and unknown victim locations.
- The drill sheets are drawn from FSRI’s Search and Rescue Tactics research program for single-family, single-story residential structures and are designed to translate fire dynamics research findings into repeatable, field-applicable training exercises.
- All drill sheets, an instructor guide, and supporting resources are available at no cost through the Fire Safety Research Institute’s Fire Safety Academy at training.fsri.org.
COLUMBIA, Md. — The UL Research Institutes’ Fire Safety Research Institute launched a nationwide five-week search and rescue training initiative June 9, inviting fire departments to complete a series of progressive, evidence-based drill scenarios and share their results publicly as part of a social media challenge designed to promote hands-on skill development across the fire service.
The initiative, called “HOT Drill Summer,” is built around a set of drill sheets developed from FSRI’s full-scale fire experiment research on search and rescue operations in single-family, single-story residential structures. The drill sheets are structured as a progressive training series intended to reinforce both task execution and fireground decision-making. Participating departments complete each week’s assigned scenario — which may include victim removal, entry point selection, ventilation coordination, isolation, and suppression integration — and post documentation of their training online using the hashtag #HotDrillSummer.
The five-week drill schedule began June 2 with the release of an instructor guide, followed by Week 1 on June 9 covering victim removal. Subsequent weeks address pre-suppression search with a known victim location (June 16), pre-suppression search with an unknown victim location (June 23), during-suppression search with a known victim location (June 30), and during-suppression search with an unknown victim location (July 7). Each scenario is designed to build directly on the skills developed in the preceding week’s drill.
An instructor guide accompanies the drill sheet series to assist training officers with adapting scenarios to their department’s local conditions, facilitating post-drill debriefs, and emphasizing tactical decision-making alongside physical skill execution. The drill sheets are integrated into FSRI’s updated online training program on search and rescue tactics, which incorporates additional guidance on search, suppression, and ventilation operations based on the organization’s latest experimental findings.
All drill sheets, the instructor guide, and access to the broader online training course are available at no cost through the Fire Safety Research Institute’s Fire Safety Academy at training.fsri.org. FSRI has not set a participation cap or registration requirement for the challenge; departments may begin at any point during the five-week window.