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All posts tagged anchor

Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue Open Enrollment

Posted by rescue2training on April 15, 2014
Posted in: appalachian doortex, firefighting, high angle, knots, rope access, rope rescue, technical rescue, vortex. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment
We have just added an Open Enrollment Class for our Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue workshop on May 17 and 18 in Lancaster, PA.This class covers a lot of ground in two days. We will discuss and use the AZTEK in many of its essential uses. We’ll also be using the Two Tension Rope System concept with the CMC MPD. Additionally, we’ll be using the Arizona Vortex in some of its traditional configurations as well as the Rescue 2 Training original: the “Appalachian Doortex” configuration for urban anchoring and elevator rescue.

Come out and try the newest equipment and techniques in rope rescue. Cost of the class is $295.

Email Kelly M Byrne at kelly@rescue2training.com or call 240-462-6610 for more information.

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Easy Access with a Ladder

Posted by rescue2training on March 31, 2014
Posted in: firefighting, high angle, knots, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

The recent rescue by the South Walton Fire District’s Technical Rescue team in Florida is a great example of rescue where it is easy to access the victim by something as simple as a ladder, but where a rope based system might still be the best alternative for getting them down to the ground safely.

You can see in the pictures that the guys on the ground are able to guide the basket most of the way to the ground while it is supported on  the ladder and being lowered with rope.

Two quick points: If possible, I would have tried to line up my ladder with my anchors so that it was all in plumb. Maybe there is a good reason they didn’t. It’s hard to tell from just a picture.  Secondly, you can see how easily they overcame this by just having a rescuer on the roof do a very minor deflection by just pulling on the rope. It’s a good example of knowing how to easily overcome a problem by knowing a few physics tricks.

http://www.waltonsun.com/news/construction-worker-saved-by-swfd-1.297343#

Not all rope calls are high pucker factor incidents of life and death. Sometimes it’s just the simplest way of getting  the patient to the ground. Good job, guys.

 

swfd easy access

Skedge Protection

Posted by rescue2training on March 8, 2014
Posted in: firefighting, high angle, knots, rope rescue, technical rescue. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

We were messing around the other day with some variations on how to better perform the best way to get a vertically oriented basket up over a 90 degree edge, which is know alternately as the “Pike and Pivot” or “V Strap” technique.

The issue of effective, efficient edge protection for our ropes and webbing was given us a bit of a challenge until our resident old man (and connoisseur of Miller Lite on his days off) , Mike S, suggested that we try and use a Sked as edge protection. It’s smooth, tough, has plenty of places to tie it off, and is much wider than standard edge protection. We’ve dubbed it Skedge Protection.

It can only be described as having worked perfectly for this situation.

I have no idea what the long term durability would be if used as edge pro all of the time, but for what we were using it for, I’ll definitely grab it without a second thought next time.

2014-03-06 11.31.20

 

Water, Water, Everywhere…

Posted by rescue2training on December 2, 2013
Posted in: accident, high angle, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Here is a duo of rescues. Both involve rope and both involve water. They couldn’t be more dissimilar if they tried, though.

This first one is from Virginia Beach, VA where a worker on top of a water tower apparently slipped and fell and was caught by his fall protection system. He doesn’t appear to be a rope access worker; more than likely he is a brave cell tower worker who climbed over the side to do some work and slipped while climbing down or back up over the edge. That’s complete speculation on my part, but it fits the circumstances pretty well.

It looks like a pretty straight ahead pickoff with the rescuer being lowered and lifting the worker off of his system with a clearly visible AZTEK. Take a look at the victim standing in his relief step awaiting rescue. Kind of like a really small slack line attached to your harness. Not nearly as fun, I imagine. Good job by the fire department to try and do the simplest thing first: see if the ladder reaches, then set up for a rope rescue.  Thanks to Collin Moon of Elevated Safety for cluing us in on this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5acMiFmtKU

This next video was sent to us by Matt Hunt of Sterling Rope  and is now probably my favorite video on youtube! It really appeals to me for the fact that these guys are using really simple physics concepts, applied smartly, to accomplish a goal. Check out the slick use of the “pike and pivot” method as well as a two man rope winch. Not too far of a stretch from rescuing people instead of cars.

I was wondering who the brave guy was that hooked up to the car. The description says that they were able to snag a tow hook on it while standing on the ice without any problem.

Dude, I Just Sharded

Posted by rescue2training on July 28, 2013
Posted in: accident, high angle, rope access, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

What, climbing up the outside of the Shard in London is not what you were thinking?

Six activists from Greenpeace were protesting oil drilling in the Arctic and decided to let the world know about it by shouting it from the roof top. The roof they chose, however, was the top of the Shard in London which is 1017′ high. It took them 15 hours to make the climb up the outside of the building. From looking at all of the pictures, it sure looks like they were well prepared to make the ascent without trouble.

shard protest

As a rescue consideration, it sounds like there were several points along the route where a rescuer could have accessed a climber without having to start at ground level. Letting them get to the top to make their point and then arresting when they came in was probably the easiest way to deal with the situation without any snafus and without placing anybody in additional danger. Should it have been necessary though, this kind of climbing and exposure is certainly outside of the normal scope of the urban rescuer. All the more reason to train and be equipped for just such a rescue.

Here is some video from the climb:

Climbing that is a little less well planned is the focus of the story Height of Stupidity which highlights the exploits of British youth who free climb cranes and other high structures. Ah, the invincibility of youth ! Sooner or later the inevitable will happen and somebody’s grip won’t be as strong as it was yesterday or they had a moment of clarity and decided they were scared and are hanging on for dear life. Whatever the case may be, somebody is going to have to go and get them.  Just as with the Shard climbers it is going to take some lead climb skill and in this case, will also require a harness be put on somebody who doesn’t already have one. Hopefully your team is prepared for that. If you don’t have a manufactured victim harness, make sure the team knows how to fashion a webbing seat around somebody who isn’t willing or able to lift their legs up to slide into a harness.

brighton20

Stay Safe!

Open Enrollment Time!

Posted by rescue2training on June 30, 2013
Posted in: appalachian doortex, firefighting, high angle, highline, knots, rope access, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized, vortex. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Enrollment is now open for our Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue. The class will be held August 24 and 25 at the Lancaster County Public Service Training Center in Lancaster County, PA at a cost of $295 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. As you can see in the pictures below from our last class, we did a good bit of work with the Rock Exotica UFO. One particularly challenging and fun scenario was to change the direction of our main and belay lines 180 degrees on an anchor that was free floating in the middle of the stair landing. There was also some excellent use of the UFO to simplify the rigging of a Two Rope Offset.

In addition to the Arizona Vortex, Appalachian Doortex, MPD’s, UFO’s, and AZTEK’s, we’ll also have available for use in this class three new products (some not even on the market yet) from Rock Exotica:

The little brother of the UFO; the rockStar.

The Enforcer load cell; which features swivels at both ends, a digital readout, and Bluetooth transmitting capabilities!

The AZORP (Arizona Omni Rigging Pod); an add on used to increase the already amazing flexibility of the Arizona Vortex.

open enrollment August 2013

Here are some pictures from our last MTRR class; we did some heavy duty 3D rigging along with some urban AZV usage:

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This class is different each time we run it and we’ve developed new techniques each class with input and ideas from the students. If you’re interested in seeing and helping develop 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

A Tale of Two Highlines

Posted by rescue2training on June 25, 2013
Posted in: high angle, highline, knots, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Best

Taken at face value, this is just a really ballsy, really beautiful shot of somebody walking a tightrope/slackline over Yosemite Falls. Completely ignoring the fact that I generally have the balance of a member of Delta House (Animal House) on a Friday night, I wouldn’t do that on my most fearless day even if I could walk a razor straight line.

The rigging, however, is what I was most focused on. The line that the guy is walking on is anchored on terra firma on one side and is anchored off to another highline on the other side!!!

The deflection in the anchor highline looks to be practically nil. The forces of a highline pulling on a highline, especially one with very little deflection, are likely to be pretty darn high. I guess that it worked, so I shouldn’t take too much issue with it. But there are several things that I saw that gave me a bit of pause. Aside from the fact that it’s a highline attached to a highline, the floating anchor side is attached with either multiple slings or a doubled up sling. Regardless, it is presenting a hell of a tri load on the single carabiner used for the attachment.

Secondly, it doesn’t seem like the smartest idea to me to be cutting the trackline with a knife; especially with one so small, doesn’t lock, and isn’t tethered off. The release of tension on the anchor highline causes the predictable, violent release. The chances for that blade to cut something you’re hanging on is just too much risk for me… but nothing bad happened here, so maybe I’m just more risk averse. Maybe a happy compromise would have been cutting the line with some scissors or trauma shears. I’m curious why they had to cut the line at all, though. It had to get out to that point somehow prior to it being tensioned.

Regardless, it looked like a great time to be communing with nature while on rope.

Worst

A not so great communing with nature while on rope is summed up in this picture from India.

INDIA-NEPAL-WEATHER-FLOOD

Torrential rains in India this week caused some massive flooding and landslides that have left over 1000 people dead.  HERE is the story.

Nice use of two tracklines in order to keep the sag to a minimum and people out of the water. The slack control lines can be forgiven because, according to the article, these type of highlines were being used to transport multiple people to safety in a short amount of time.  A good trade off/ system analysis/ threat assessment in my opinion.

The Smoking Prusik

Posted by rescue2training on April 15, 2013
Posted in: appalachian doortex, high angle, highline, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Pretty awesome video just posted on youtube from a Pat Rhodes class in Australia recently. While testing the “what ifs” of a trackline failure, video was taken of a prusik capturing the load on the horizontal control line. You can see smoke coming off of the prusik/rope interface after the trackline is failed. Because I wasn’t there and am only guessing: I wonder if instead of smoke, it is actually steam from the moisture in the rope being cooked off ? Either way, it is very cool to see. Thanks to Richard Delany and the Rope Test Lab for making this type of video available on their facebook page. There is a ton of excellent information and discussion going on there. Check them out!

While not quite as cool as the  Appalachian Flagpole (or a smoking prusik for that matter), this video from the manufacturer Kong shows something like an App Flag and Gin Pole hybrid. I like the technique of being able to hook your haul system to your gin pole. It’s not really mind blowing, but just another cool incremental advance in the world of rope rescue.

Atomic Wedgies and Other Urban Vortex Thoughts

Posted by rescue2training on April 1, 2013
Posted in: appalachian doortex, confined space rescue, firefighting, high angle, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized, vortex. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 9 comments

While the Arizona Vortex is usually thought of as an industrial and wilderness rescue piece of equipment, it’s no secret that I think its full potential as a tool for the urban rescuer has not been fully explored. With that in mind, we are constantly trying (occasionally failing) to find out how to best use this tool to our advantage.  We’ve been working on different configurations of the Appalachian Wedge Pole (AWP) lately.

The first and perhaps the most useful version of the Wedge Pole is used to create anchors in a hallway where others might not exist. While no permanent name has been found yet, and because it appears to be bombproof, we’ve been calling it the Atomic Wedge Pole. Or Atomic Wedgie for short. As in: “Hey give him an Atomic Wedgie quickly, so we can get on with this rope rescue. ”  But again, no permanent name yet.

Below are some pictures we took during the discovery phase of these anchors, a scale model so to speak. They were loaded with a couple of guys giving it all they had, leaning into the load line. It was an initial test to see if the anchors would move at all. The next step in the process will be to load these with a one person load and operate a raising and lowering system. Then on to a two person load.

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A slightly more complex version that allows for a longer haul field that runs toward the edge.

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2 to 1 Wedgie

Some techniques might be setups in search of an application, the picture below being one such example. I envision using this above a hole in a hallway, where there are no other anchors present. This might be more of an industrial confined space setup, but it’s neat to see in action.

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These pictures above are of urban usage, but we developed the technique out on the rocks. Here are two pictures of the first AWP setups, one horizontal and one vertical, from when the idea first struck.

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This last picture comes to us from the men of Group 2 on Rescue 1 with the Boston Fire Department. They constructed an Appalachian Lean-To and changed the direction of the haul line 90 degrees at the head resting on the floor. To counteract the resultant force that wants to lift the left leg away from the wall, they front tied the setup to an anchor spanning the doorway with two AZTEKs, one of which is doing the job of keeping that left leg in compression when it naturally wants to pull away from the wall because of the COD on the head. Good job guys!

sandy lasa

Why Don’t We Drill More?

Posted by rescue2training on February 8, 2013
Posted in: firefighting, high angle, rope access, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 6 comments

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!

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