technical rescue

Another Porch, Another Well

Posted by rescue2training on June 26, 2012
Posted in: confined space rescue, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

It seems that some builders have no foresight. For at least the second time in as many months, somebody has crashed through their porch flooring and into a well. This time it was under an overhang, so no aerial was able to be used…. and it was a 60 foot drop. This rope rescue occurred in Hendersonville, NC.

Click here for the article and more pictures:

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20120622/ARTICLES/120629943?tc=ar

I imagine that these guys had the same problem as the guys doing a well rescue that we talked about a couple of weeks ago: the tripod is going to want to tip towards the direction of haul because of the resultant force being outside of the tripod footprint. Just looking at the pictures, it might have been possible to use the bottom of the porch column for a change of direction down low to help minimize that.

Also take note of the VERY long bights an the end line figure 8 knots. Those are going to eat up a lot of valuable real estate when trying to get in and out of the hole. The knot passing pulley is also going to eat up quite a bit of that same space. By tightening the bights and using a smaller pulley, it is possible to gain several inches of extra clearance where it is needed most.

Rig Tight!

Highline Geekery

Posted by rescue2training on June 19, 2012
Posted in: rope rescue, technical rescue. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

While thoughts of highlines are what occupies the brain of rope geeks as they go to bed, Pat Rhodes does a very nice job point out some of the finer, lesser observed points of highline construction. The video below is a from the Rescue Response Gear TV Series they have on their website. In addition to the highlines, there are also lots of great videos on less complex subjucts, with the same great breakdown of the concepts into digestible bits.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiLyqhftlck?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Banff Rescue

Posted by rescue2training on June 15, 2012
Posted in: rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I’m heading up near Banff next week myself and while I hope to be able to enjoy the scenery, I don’t want to get the view of the mountain as up close and personal as this guy. While climbing a multi-pitch route, a falling rock hit a climber on the head and knocked him unconscious and caused to him to fall approximately 60 feet. His top  piece of climbing protection popped out, but his other pieces held.

A couple of things to keep an eye out for:

Check out the victim’s helmet, that thing has a huge crack in it on the victim’s right side.

I would have probably reached out for the short haul line as it is being flown back in (never been on a short haul, so I’m guessing); the rescuer in the video waits for it to come to him.

The release of the rescue package from the anchor station as the helicopter flies away. If there had been any snags at the anchor, it would have caused a world of problems for the pilot and the rescuer. I’m guessing these guys have trained on this before.

Here’s a brief report of what happened:

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/progs/np-pn/sp-ps/sec7/sec7-2010.aspx#DansDelight-aug28

Thanks to Mike Forbes from Spokane FD for making us aware of this video!

Runner Up for World’s Worst Edge Transition

Posted by rescue2training on June 8, 2012
Posted in: rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 2 comments

If you remember and appreciate our previous post of the world’s worst edge transition, here is a video of the runner up. I try not not be TOO critical of video because I wasn’t there, but there is always room for learning and improvement. Soooo…

Despite:

1. Having a high change of direction anchor at the edge

2. Having an attendant

3. And two tag lines

They still managed to get the basket hung up on the edge!

Possible fixes:

The high COD at the edge with a system behind it should have enabled the crews to do a vector pull between the anchor and the COD to raise the basket temporarily at the edge to clear obstacle.

It looks like the attendant was just going along for the ride rather than being an active attendant trying to help the basket to negotiate obstacles. While the low attendant position (legs below the basket) seems to be the most popular, I think it would be beneficial in this case, at least during the edge transition, for the attendant to ride in the high position. This is where the attendant’s legs are above the basket and below the attachment bridle. This would allow for keeping the basket away from the snags at the edge. Moving to the low attendant position after the first edge would allow the attendant to keep away from obstructions coming up from below.

Pull on the tag lines!

As a guy who loves to train, I’m reasonably sure that regular  training on rope rescue techniques, regardless of equipment, could have solved many of these issues. Get out there and play!

A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll

Posted by rescue2training on June 5, 2012
Posted in: rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

Not quite Donny and Marie (thankfully), but a here are a couple of links and videos; one from a rescue in Yosemite (thanks to MtnRsq on firehouse.com for pointing this one out) and the other, a video of some rope training in Madison, WI.

A Little Bit Country:

First, here is a picture from a recent rescue off of El Cap in Yosemite. There are links below the picture with the rest of the shots taken from that rescue. It was 1200′ from the top of the cliff to the victim and another 2000′ down to the ground after that.  There is also a link to a helicopter based rescue from September of last year as well.

While both rescues were from similar locations, the more recent rescue was conducted from the top of El Cap, while last years rescue was helicopter based. Of interest to me in the helicopter based rescue was how the rescuers used a throw bag to the victims and pulled themselves into the wall. It’s a neat technique that doesn’t cross the brain of this urban rope guy that much.

http://www.elcapreport.com/content/elcap-special-report-rescue-elcap-53012

http://www.elcapreport.com/content/special-edition-elcap-rescue-92611

A Little Bit Rock and Roll

Is Madison, WI really rock and roll? Enough to help make a catchy title for this post I say!

The link to the short video shows some recent rope training from the Madison, WI Fire Dept. The Batt. Chief giving the interview does a pretty good job of explaining the progression of technical rescue disciplines and how they all have their roots in rope work. Nothing crazy in the video, just some rappeling on racks and tandem prussik work.

http://host.madison.com/news/video/rescue-training-at-kohl-center/vmix_ae80ca42-ae8c-11e1-b90f-001a4bcf887a.html

Given that it is just a simple rappel option, what are your thoughts on weather self belaying, a la Rope Access, is a worthwhile idea? I think that it would simplify and speed up the operation, particularly if there are a limited number of people on hand.

Race to the Bottom

Posted by rescue2training on May 28, 2012
Posted in: rope rescue, technical rescue. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

Thanks to Collin Moon from Elevated Safety for pointing us the recently released PBS and Frontline half hour documentary taking a look at the dangers of the cell tower climbing world and who is ultimately responsible for the safety if the workers.

There are several layers of sub contractors between a major carrier like AT&T and the guy who is actually climbing the tower to do work. Because of time pressures and the contractor at each level taking their cut of the pie, the result is that climbers feel pressured to climb without taking proper safety precautions, like tying off, while at height.

While the report is insightful and eye opening, it seems like it is looking to place blame on one group or another. It would seem to me that regardless of time pressure, OSHA mandates, etc… that the worker themselves has the ultimate responsibility to save their own life. The race to the bottom of doing the work on these communications towers is both literal and figurative and looks like it will only continue if people are willing to do things like free climb a tower in order to make $12 an hour. Keep in mind that my thoughts on this are formed having never worked in the communication tower industry, however, I’ve been aware of the effects of gravity for some time now.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cell-tower-deaths/?autoplay

Somewhat related is the recent release from New Zealand’s Department of Labor and the unfortunately acronymed Industrial Rope Access Association of New Zealand (IRAANZ) of new best practices guidelines in answer to three workers falling from height over the past year. That’s a lot of falling in a small country from an industry that has a great safety record thanks to groups like SPRAT and IRATA. Here is a link to the Best Practices guidelines:

http://www.osh.dol.govt.nz/order/catalogue/pdf/industrial-rope-access-guidelines.pdf

Two Waterfalls, Two Rescues

Posted by rescue2training on May 23, 2012
Posted in: rope rescue, technical rescue. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

2070 miles separate Wallace Falls in Washington State and Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada. What brings these two closer together is that each of these falls were the scene of a rope rescue within 24 hours of each other.

The rope rescue at Niagara Falls was performed after the victim attempted suicide by jumping off of the 180′ tall falls. The man waded ashore after eddying out and was hauled topside in a Stokes basket attached to the bucket of a Tower Ladder which was used as a high point. The picture below shows the 2:1 system that appears to be operated from within the bucket. No belay line noted, however, there does appear to be a prussik on either side of the pulley that would theoretically catch the load should one of the legs of the 2:1 fail.

More pictures and an accompanying article can be found here:

http://news.yahoo.com/man-stable-condition-niagara-falls-plunge-132328661.html

The second and, in my opinion, more dramatic happened at the lip of the 270′ tall Wallace Falls in Washington state. A 13 year old was swept to the edge of the precipice after losing his footing on a smaller 10′ waterfall that was upstream.

According to the article, he was clinging to the rocks under an overhang on the side of the river opposite the hiking trail, which precluded use of a helicopter hoist operation. Apparently rappelling to the location was a dangerous prospect as well. I’m paraphrasing, but the article references a main line failure caused by rubbing on the rocks, with a subsequent successful belay line arrest. Hairy stuff indeed. Better still is the video shot by one of the Snohomish SAR volunteers. Take a look at that water and then remember that it is only feet away from the edge of a 270′ drop.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/42556237 w=500&h=281]