rope

All posts tagged rope

Kickoff Pickoff Part Deux

Posted by rescue2training on January 18, 2013
Posted in: firefighting, high angle, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

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

Serious Rope Mojo

Posted by rescue2training on January 6, 2013
Posted in: high angle, highline, knots, rope rescue, technical rescue. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 2 comments

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!

powersteeth

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!

Another Peruvian Highline Disaster

Posted by rescue2training on December 28, 2012
Posted in: accident, high angle, highline, knots, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

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?

Appalachian Flag Pole

Posted by rescue2training on December 15, 2012
Posted in: appalachian doortex, confined space rescue, firefighting, high angle, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 comments

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:

cell gin

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.

IMG_1216

IMG_1224

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

CT Intercontinental00003.JPG

If you have any thoughts or comments, feel free to leave them or to contact me at kelly@rescue2training.com.  Enjoy!

Highline Failure w/Video

Posted by rescue2training on December 1, 2012
Posted in: high angle, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

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:

anchor failure

A pig and a dog walk into a…

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

A pig and a dog walk into … Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke doesn’t it? Really, it’s just the start of a bad day for two animal owners.

Some people like ham during the holidays, this pig in Colorado wanted no part of that family tradition and attempted to bury himself to get away from ending up on the family table. Thankfully, the local FD was on hand to make sure this giant hog didn’t stay in his makeshift hole for too long.

In all seriousness though, how would you have handled this incident had the pig not been able to assist in is own rescue. My initial thought would be to wrap a salvage cover and some large ratchet straps under his belly to make a sling, which could be rigged to a raising system. As for a high point… maybe a couple of ground ladders lashed together at the tip and a block and tackle attached? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Click on the “comment” button (above or below the post, depends on how you’re viewing it). Thanks to Statter911 for making us aware of this one.

In another animal related story, a dog fell down what is believed to be an airshaft for an abandoned mine. The shaft is roughly 150′ deep. The dog was uninjured in the fall and happy as heck to see his owner upon surfacing, naturally. The dogs owner also seems genuinely appreciative of the rope team’s work.

Make sure you click on the link ti the photo gallery to the left of the article. One of the pictures there shows the opening to the hole. It definitely looks like a pretty dangerous opening, with lots of debris ready to fall down the hole. A good high point looks like it would almost be mandatory, so your ropes wouldn’t be rubbing on the edge.

http://newsitem.com/news/kulpmont-couple-is-grateful-for-rescuers-who-saved-dog-from-150-foot-hole-1.1407105

Holy Rope Rescue, Batman!

Posted by rescue2training on November 16, 2012
Posted in: firefighting, high angle, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

While Batman may have nothing to do with these two stories, they are nonetheless a bit holy in that both of the following rope stories take place in churches.

The first story is of 85 year old Rev. Tim Harrison of St George’s Cathedral in Perth, Australia who rappeled 130 feet down the side of the bell tower for Seniors week. From some of the pictures, it looks like he has better form than a lot of 20-somehthings! Good job Reverend.

Heavenly Descent

And if you think bell towers and rope go together like milk and cookies, you might be right. But then again, you might end up like an unlucky bell-ringer from near Bath, England. While ringing the bells at her local church, the unlucky victim made the rookie mistake of not letting go of the rope in time. What followed was the inevitable flying up in the air and the requisite return trip to terra firma at the speed of gravity.

The victim was knocked unconscious and had to be lowered through a hole in the belfry floor rather than carried down the small stairway. Not an obvious place for a rope rescue, but certainly a heads up call by the responders on scene.

Unholy Ascent

World’s Sketchiest High Directionals

Posted by rescue2training on November 7, 2012
Posted in: high angle, rope rescue, technical rescue. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 comments

If you like Artificial High Directionals, but don’t have a lot of money to spare, consider improvising one. Feel free to use whatever you might have on hand. Perhaps a ladder from Home Depot or if you are looking to go the free route, how about just using a couple of friends?

 

Enjoy!

 

New Technologies in Rope Rescue

Posted by rescue2training on October 29, 2012
Posted in: appalachian doortex, firefighting, high angle, knots, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized, vortex. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Well it’s short notice, but we have had some significant interest in running another “Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue” class. So we’ve decided to add one more for the year.

We’ll be at the Lancaster County Public Service Training Center in Salunga- Landisville, PA on Dec 8-9 for this two day class covering a wide range of what’s new in the rope world. In particular, we will be working heavily with the CMC Rescue MPD (Multi-Purpose Device) and Two Tension Rope Systems. This system dramatically simplifies the rigging needed to execute the majority rope rescues.

We’re also going to be covering the use of  Arizona Vortex artificial high directional. While we will cover several traditional setup configurations, we  will also be showing the setup and use of the Appalacian Doortex in a couple of different configurations. Knotcraft, with a focus on the benefits of the bowline and it’s many variations, will also be covered in depth.

The cost of this 16 hour class is $280 per person. If you have any questions or would like more information, please give Kelly a call at 240-462-6610 or send an email to

rescue-2@comcast.net

Do Dropkicks Belong in Rope Rescue?

Posted by rescue2training on October 20, 2012
Posted in: high angle, rope rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I’m going to go out on a ledge here and say that they might. You can see the technique in action in the two videos below. This first video shows a more subtle version of the “Kickoff Pickoff ” that may or may not have been made up on the spot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLZzqNlpazU&feature=player_embedded

This next video clearly shows that this team has practiced this more aggressive version of the Kickoff Pickoff. Note that he was completely comfortable on a short, very fast rappel and the coordination of his partner dropping all of his excess rope as he jumps. Clearly they’ve trained on this enough to know that it will work. Because, if you get it wrong, it’s going to be a LONG day on the typewriter trying to explain this one away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn7SWTj9TIU