Is this a picture of the world’s most hardcore truckman or of the world’s dumbest Rope Access guy?
You make the call!
high angle
I don’t mean drilling as in training ( I’m sure that’ll be another post), but drilling as in: taking out a drill and putting a hole in a wall to make an anchor point. It’s just not something that I’ve heard talked about in the fire service rope rescue community as a viable option for anchoring. I’m not sure why though.
We’re pretty comfortable putting holes in roofs, breaking windows, forcing doors, etc… We might even be comfortable drilling holes for anchors in a building collapse situation in order to lift a slab of concrete. Bet when it comes to rope rescue; No Way! Maybe that will change in the future.
Looking at bolting initially, I was surprised by how relatively simple and quick it is to do. There is no voodoo knowledge or ninja rope skills required. The key points are to drill to the correct depth, far enough away from an edge, and to get the dust out of the hole before inserting the bolt. All of that information is available from the bolt manufacturer. In the video below, I’m using a 1/2″ diameter 3 1/2″ length Hilti KB3 rated at over 6000 pounds of pullout force. The Fixe hanger is rated to over 6000 lbs as well. Those aren’t bad numbers. Drop in a couple of more for your system and you have a pretty bomber system with very little effort. Before, a blank concrete slab was a thing to for the urban rescuer to fear. Now, it could be looked at as something to seek out!
Keep an eye out when you walk through buildings on routine calls. Look around for the concrete columns and beams to see where you could drill. I did this and was amazed at where I now feel comfortable knowing I can set up a system.
As seen in the video below, it takes roughly two minutes to drill and clean the hole, set the bolt and hanger, and finally torque it to spec. There are some tricks to keep you from cranking on the nut too much if you don’t have a torque wrench, like using a stubby box wrench. You just can’t get the kind of leverage needed to overtighten unless you are REALLY cranking on it.
So get out there and start drilling!
[wpvideo BCF9Ybo8]
Enrollment is now open for our Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue. The class will be held March 30 and 31 at the Lancaster County Public Service Training Center in Lancaster County, PA at a cost of $280 per student.
This class covers multiple versions of the bowline along with some pretty god reasons to consider them, several uses of the AZTEK kit, a thorough introduction to the Two Tension Rope System concept with the MPD, and the use of the Arizona Vortex Artificial High Directional in some pretty typical urban setup configurations as well as some Rescue 2 Training exclusive uses of it in a few of the Appalachian Doortex configurations.
Below are some pictures from the last MTRR class in Lancaster. It was during this class that the Appalachian Flagpole was developed. The AF is designed to create a high point for grain silo rescue while not having to rely on the lightweight roof for support. A couple of the pictures show its first inception. The picture of the AF with the an MPD attached to the A frame head (next to the conex boxes) is where it is currently at. It is another high directional/anchor combo.
If you’re interested in seeing what’s on the cutting edge of rope rescue equipment and techniques, contact Kelly to reserve a spot in this popular class. Call 240-462-6610 or send an email to rescue-2@comcast.net
Another one off the front page of Statter911 is this video that redefines the Kickoff Pickoff. While the previous coverage HERE actually showed people getting kicked backwards into the structure, the video below is of the fire department’s lead off kicker on the kickball team trying his hand, foot actually, at technical rescue. Perhaps the speediest method ever of getting the victim safely to ground.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhSlSHQvfVk&feature=player_embedded
Well, if too fast is bad ,then slower should be better right? I’m not so sure in this case. The rescuer looks to be rappeling on a figure 8 descender with some sort of autoblock, so he can go hands free if he needs to. Not a bad thought. The trouble comes from clearly not being comfortable using the autoblock. It causes him to start and stop suddenly a couple of times. Worst of all is that he overshoots the target because of it. If you’re taking yourself down a rope, it ain’t a bad idea to have a way to get yourself back up.
Do you equip your team with the equipment and knowledge to quickly switch to ascent should they need it while on rappel?
It wasn’t a huge issue here, but it could have a lot worse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A11QlQ3V6hw
Near Olympia, WA a man was rescued after falling approximately 30′ down a well into waist high standing water. Good heads up by the rescue team when they threw him a PFD to help keep him from drowning into water of an undetermined depth. Note also, the presence of well known volunteer Batt. Chief Andy Speier of the technical rescue team.
A local press release:
THURSTON COUNTY TEAM RESCUES MAN FROM WELL
Shortly after 10:30 this morning, members of the Thurston County Special Operations Rescue Team (SORT) assisted Mason County Fire District #4 in the rescue of a man that had fallen into an abandoned well at a residence located in the 300 block of SE Arcadia Road near Shelton. According to Andy Speier, Battalion Chief with the McLane Black Lake Fire Department, the man was in the process of demolishing a shed and was standing on what he believed was a four foot deep sump when the earth gave way, plunging him 35 feet down the well into deep water. First responders from Mason County Fire District #4 and the Sheriff’s office were able to successfully lower a floatation device and protective clothing to the man who was treading water to stay afloat.
According to Speier, “With the rescue team in place, Lt. Mark Schreck of the Olympia Fire Department was lowered into the well to prepare the victim to be hoisted back to the surface”. “Once secured in a harness, the man was then hauled up and out of the well”. While the patient was wet and cold, he appeared to be uninjured from the fall.
Technical rescue trained firefighters from Mclane Black Lake, Olympia, East Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater Fire Departments assisted in the rescue.
[brightcove vid=2081848354001&exp3=836564316001&surl=http://c.brightcove.com/services&pubid=309144709001&pk=AQ~~,AAAAR_p154k~,Ay3i1IziTki8aMdGaY0jFtvV8ga6DiJN&w=615&h=392]
Thanks once again to Mike Forbes for the heads up on this.
Roughly translated from the ancient Nordic from which it derives, it means: a polytribal gathering of rescue people. Okay… That might be a bit of creative license. IKAR stands for the International Council for Rescue and is located in Switzerland. You can find their website HERE.
Check out the full length review of what happened at this year’s IKAR meeting in Poland. One of the neat things that stood out to me was the team from Tyrol, which does around 2000 calls annually, was using 8mm Spectra ropes. They’re ultra static and have around a 7000lb breaking strength. As you can see and hear in the video, you can’t put a knot in it and all terminations have to be spliced. Apparently it works for them, though.
Thanks to Spokane FD tillerman, rope geek, family man, and all around nice guy Mike Forbes for alerting us to this video.
While we’re on a highline kick, check out some footage from this year’s IKAR (International Council of Alpine Rescue) in Poland . If you think that you have some pretty good rope mojo, check out the video below of a highline to highline transfer of a packaged victim after they did a counterbalance raise for the vertical control line.Talk about some great line management and setup to be able to accomplish this. Go to the 2:50 mark to get to the rope stuff.
Yeah, baby!
The 5:00 mark of THIS video shows how they got the trackline across. Looks like I found a legitimate excuse to buy a crossbow!
If you ever find yourself in the country of Peru and are offered a ride on highline, it might be in your best interest to politely decline. If the trackline failure that we posted a while ago HERE doesn’t convince you, perhaps the videos below will.
The first video of this event shows the accident and subsequent recovery of the victim. It is interesting to see how the highline started up through a piece of metal that was used as a high directional. A little ways into the video you can see that the HD collapsed at some point, but you don’t see where.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVTdpbUBjSE
This second video shows a different viewpoint that shows the HD failing right after the rescue package hits the lines; my guess is from the shock (not intended as a pun, but I suppose it is anyhow) loading. Also of note is what appears to be a multi (20!) point anchor that looks like it just goes to a bunch of guys holding each point. Pause the video around the :14 mark to see what I’m talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngr8DbOxkO0
Three points to note:
They were lowering the rescue package VERY fast and probably could not have communicated the “Stop” command in time, even if they saw the issue coming.
There was no horizontal control line for the down hill side. It wouldn’t have made a difference here, but there seems to be a lack of highline knowledge in Peru.
The people who set this trackline up apparently had no idea how to calculate the sag in their trackline that was needed to clear objects in their path and maintain a safe number on their (obviously) sketchy anchors and high directionals.
Does your team have the ability to calculate sag before setting up your trackline or is it a calibrated eyeball and more trackline tension that you rely on?
This post was originally published in Dec of 2012. After switching servers we lost the video and some of the pictures. We’ve recently found them again and wanted to repost this for the many people who contacted us during the past 4.5 years asking about it. Enjoy.
During our most recent “New Technologies” class in Lancaster, PA, we we were posed with the scenario of how to create a high point and system for rescue from grain silos. It was explained to us that the flimsyness of a roof on a silo doesn’t exactly inspire confidence to operate on. Not to mention that there aren’t that many anchors up there.
After thinking on it for a bit, we were able to come up with what basically amounts to a gin pole lashed to the interior ladder and rising up above the top of the silo, much like a flagpole. So we called it the Appalachian Flag Pole (naturally).
After searching around for a while after class, it appears we were not the first people to figure out the AF. The cell tower industry uses this sort of thing to raise sections of their towers. They just call it a gin pole…BORING. As far I can tell, nobody has tried this as a rescue technique.
Boring Gin Pole:
The basic setup of the Appalachian Flag Pole consists of lashing a few sections of an Arizona Vortex to the interior ladder of the silo. With about 3 feet of it sticking up above the top of the structure. Yes, it is unsupported, but there is not a lot of bending force on the top of the AFP. The resultant force is pretty much straight down the leg, with the force being transferred to the ladder.
Version 1 of the of the AFP had the haul system attached to the orange head, which is at the bottom of the AFP and lashed to the ladder, with a change of direction at the top of the AFP and the rope going back down to the victim.
It worked well, but required a lot of resets.
So, while working with Collin Moon and the guys from Elevated Safety in Chicago, we were able to refine the technique by attaching out MPD to the top of the AFP and do a counter balance raise. We also figured out that we could the blue AZV head for out top anchor point instead of a foot. And when Rock Exotica comes out with the 720 head…watch out!
Check out the video below to see the AFP in action. A couple of things to keep in mind: Where the camera is filming from would actually be the outside of the silo. Collin is the rescuer in this case; the victim outweighs him by a good 50lbs and he was still able to easily accomplish the task. This only happens when the rescuer hauls upwards on the victims line while simultaneously sitting down on the counterbalance line. Lastly, after the victim is out of the hole at the top (the metal grating in this case) they can be pushed to the outside of the silo and lowered with the MPD. If the video below is taking too long to load, CLICK HERE for the video on Youtube. Take a peak:
There are some urban applications that we believe the APF would excel at and will post the results when we complete the testing on it. It is our belief that it can be used successfully in the urban setting, such as the chimney in the picture below, where a man suffered a fatal fall into the chimney while attempting to take pictures. This happened in Chicago on 12/13. Article Here
If you have any thoughts or comments, feel free to leave them or to contact me at kelly@rescue2training.com. Enjoy!
This dramatic highline failure in Lima, Peru looks like somebody tried to go bungee jumping while attached to a Stokes basket loaded with a (previously) uninjured victim.
A couple of points to note:
Just before the track line snaps, you can see the carriage kind of “chugging” along down the line, indicating that something is binding up somewhere. One thought is that the control line used to lower the rescue package down the trackline is on the downhill side of the carriage, which would cause the side cheeks of the pulley to dig into the rope until there was enough force to cause the pulley to move down the rope a bit before binding up again. Hence the chugging motion.
The tension on the trackline seems to be way too tight. While it is a sloping highline, there seems to be very little sag, which would indicate that the trackline was too tight and easily susceptible to being cut by something…like, say, a pulley that is loaded sideways.
There is no horizontal control line on the downhill side. When the basket falls, there is a substantial fall distance as well as one hell of a swing fall at the bottom of the ride. When the basket reaches the bottom of its arc, it starts to swing back up again, only to be stopped by the second floor walkway, which I’m sure did quite a number on the rope.
Had there been a lower horizontal control line, the total fall distance would most likely have been less, and the swing fall most certainly would have been all but eliminated.
Despite all of those things, the system still kept the load from hitting the ground. Not a ringing endorsement, but it does give you an idea of strong our equipment actually is.
I’d seen this video before, but Matt Hunt from Sterling Rope passed along a facebook link to it that caused me to search for a linkable version of it. Thanks for bringing it back to the forefront, Matt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unF2shRE2KY
And just for kicks, here is a dramatic presentation of what happens when there is not enough sag in the system between your anchors. It’s a good showing of the load pulling the anchors towards each other:
