Archive for category search and rescue

Hunting Season Is Here!

Sep 6

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in Arborist & Tree Climbing, Knots and Hitches, Lanyards & Shock Absorbers, Rescue and Rigging Training, Rigging Lab, Safety Equipment, search and rescue | No Comments

As hunting season approaches (or in some places, here), be mindful of others. It is a common accident… that hunters and tree climbers fall. Some are caught and others aren’t. It is a great skill and honor to be able to assist others in life. Preparation is a mind-set. Consider others and their needs as you travel.

Tree Rescue Education and Training Videos @ http://www.rescueresponse.com. Videos & dvds on safety, techniques, procedures, high angle, equipment, harnesses and gear. Some classes and courses available. Products included, Petzl, Sterling Rope, Traverse Rescue, PMI, Yates, Gear, CMC Rescue, ropes, harnesses, aluminum auto-lock carabiners, Petzl I’d, fall protection, headlamps, anchors, positioning lanyards, pulleys, ascenders, belays, arborist, hunting, etc. *This trailer is a preview of one technique in our comprehensive series, “Tower Rescue for Emergency Responders” and “Tower Rescue for Workers”.

For more information
www.rescueresponse.com

Peak Rescue Institute and Rescue Response Gear Present: Team Based Lower, Pick-Off, to Raise

Sep 1

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in Canyoneering, Edge Protection, Low Angle, Pulleys, Rescue and Rigging Training, Rope & Cord, search and rescue, Tracklines and Horizontal Rigging, Training for Technical Rope Rescue, Webbing & Anchors | No Comments

Peak Rescue Institue has been a long time friend and affiliate of Rescue Response Gear and for years, we have enjoyed hanging out with the Peak crew and being a part of both their Technician and Specialists courses. Check them out when you have an opportunity.

A line transfer may be performed to transfer the patient’s weight to the rescuer’s line. Since patients weight may vary greatly, as may the size of the rescuer, the most effective manner in which to perform this task is a pre-set “Set of Fours”, but in this video, a simple 2:1 MA (two to one mechanical advantage) is used (due to the slope of the terrain.

The CMC MPD is used on both the main line and belay line. A slight loss in efficiency is managed by the time saved in switching from lower to raise. This is a huge benefit for both the team and the patient.

For More Information See
www.rescueresponse.com
www.peakrescue.org

PRI and RRG Present… Team Base Lower Pick Off: Top Side Working Lines Only

Aug 28

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in Ascenders/Belay/Rappel, Pulleys, Rescue and Rigging Training, Rope & Cord, search and rescue, Tracklines and Horizontal Rigging | No Comments

This video excerpt was taken during a Peak Rescue Institute (PRI) Specialist course. This technique, Team Based Lower Pick Off, has some advantages over a rappel pick-off; especially with aggressive patients or when the rescuer requires both hands the entire time. Edge transitions are critical.
Shown are the basics of the lowering to raising system. The communication between rescuer and the top side team (via IC) is mandatory. Without this, an SRT (Single Rope Technique) or rappel pick-off could be a better choice.
For more information see…
peakrescue.org or rescueresponse.com

Rescue Response Gear Rigging Lab Courses are here!

Aug 14

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in Safety Equipment, search and rescue, Water Rescue | No Comments

The Rigging Lab at Rescue Response Gear, a state of the art rope access and rope rescue training facility, was designed with your training experience in mind for the purpose of providing top quality, industry standard training in tandem with elite instructors.

In the Rigging Lab our purpose is to teach the technique as well as the physics behind the technique so as to arm students with a complete understanding of the reason behind the action. Our goal is that you come out of the lab exhibiting a comprehensive knowledge of the spectrum of techniques applicable to your niche, with an understanding of the strengths and limits of those techniques, with the decision making capabilities for quick evaluation in applying relevant techniques to real-life scenarios and with the foundation of knowing the “why” behind it all.

Our new triple decker platform, The Fort, provides multiple groups and agencies complete access to an infinite number of evolutions… all at the same time. No one is stepping around another group. Indeed, a great advantage for instructional purposes.

Once out of the lab you’ll be equipped for the vertical challenges ahead and sure to come back… guaranteed!
Come and rig up.
For More on Rescue Response Gear and The Rigging Lab, go to www.rescueresponse.com

Tags: C4 Waterman, irescue, lifeguard rescue, lifesaving, ocean rescue, rescue response gear, tow-in rescue

What is a true rope technician?

Aug 6

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in Confined Space, Industrial Rope Access, Knots and Hitches, Rigging Lab, search and rescue, Services & Education, Training for Technical Rope Rescue, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Any profession that requires advance skills in dealing with human life such as doctors, nurses, paramedics, and EMTs, requires a life-time commitment to their practice. This is the same for anyone seeking to be a rope rescue technician – it is a career commitment, it will require years of dedicated practice combined with actual rescues. There is no quick way to get there; only practice, practice, practice, and more practice…if your skills are not committed to muscle memory than you have not practiced enough.

A true rope rescue technician does not play within a box; a true rope rescue technician has no boundaries when it comes to rigging skills and/or imagination. The true rope rescue technician will be able to open his or her skills toolbox and immediately put to use the right skills combinations to get the job done in the quickest, safety means possible.

Overlooked, yet arguably just as important, a true rope rescue technician must have some semblance of physical conditioning. This is the sad truth in this country; the United States is one of the most out of shape societies on the planet. Technical rescue is a physically demanding job, no excuse; no labor/management compromise will ever change this fact. You can tie all the knots in the world; if you can’t get to the scene in a timely fashion, you may become more of a liability than an asset.

_Pat Rhodes-

Horizontal Rigging: Major Taglines

Jul 13

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in DVD and Video, Rescue and Rigging Training, Rigging Lab, Rope Access, search and rescue, Tracklines and Horizontal Rigging, Training for Technical Rope Rescue | No Comments

Pat Rhodes brings another great topic. Two rope offsets, building the “yoke” on the litters or a harness. Major taglines covers a lot of territory. Check in an check it out.

What is Technical Rescue?

Jul 10

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in Confined Space, Highlines, Knots and Hitches, Rescue and Rigging Training, Rigging Lab, search and rescue, Services & Education, Tracklines and Horizontal Rigging | 4 Comments

Technical rescue is a transportation problem that needs to be solved quickly. I need to get someone who’s not having a good day from point A to point B and conventional everyday means of transportation isn’t going to make it happen. I don’t have an elevator; I’m not walking or carrying him down the stairs or backing the ambulance up to his front door…and…there’s a high probability that some rope will be involved.

Of course we can expand and add to the required needs of this transportation problem. The person having a bad day may be at the bottom of a trench, or in a deep hole, like a confined space, or maybe hanging on some malfunctioned swing staging while window washing a high-rise. Now we have to address the environment and or safety of the location…not only for the victim and rescuer, but also for anyone else that might venture into this day of calamity. We start to develop rescue specialties like trench shoring, or confined space management, or electrical knowledge around transmission towers, or crane knowledge, or hazmat knowledge, or…well…you get the idea. The list of special rescue needs become truly endless.

NFPA 1670 has gone through great lengths to help us manage this special needs transportation problem. To their credit, they have contributed a wealth of knowledge to this profession, and yet we all know rescue is not black and white. There are no books or standards that cover it all. To address this problem as a scenario-based event; that is to say, we train on specific scenarios with the intent of matching the emergency with the training scenario, is a huge miscalculation. That would be like trying to fit one piece from a 1000 piece puzzle into a completely different 1000 piece puzzle!

Yes, we create scenarios for training purposes, and we practice, practice, and practice, but all too often rescuers and schools of rescue lose sight of the most important element of rescue…that is…the ability to adlib. To adlib or improvise means that the practitioner must be ultra-trained. It is erroneous to think good rescue results can be engineered through the use of the latest and greatest piece of equipment and not through long term development of the rescuer’s skill sets based on sound physics.

Pat Rhodes

For more information on Pat Rhodes and the Rescue Response Gear’s The Rigging Lab, visitwww.rescueresponse.com

Simple Rigging Concepts Speak Volumes!

Jul 2

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in Arborist & Tree Climbing, Canyoneering, Confined Space, Firefighter Safety & Survival, Knots and Hitches, News, News Updates, Rescue and Rigging Training, Rigging Lab, Rope Access, search and rescue, Services & Education, Tower Rescue | No Comments

The act of tying a knot is a simple one, and at the same time, it is an act that is rich in history, tradition, and pride. In the world of rope rescue, tying a knot speaks volumes. It can tell me immediately how competent the rescuer is. Is he struggling to tie a bowline? Can you see him mentally trying to incite the rabbit through the hole and around the tree? Or worse yet; does he need to get his rigging pocket guide out? Wow…I wish I could say I’m only joking, but the fact is this simple scene happens daily throughout the US.

Not just the Bowline; I wish I had a penny for every time a well intentioned, yet misinformed practitioner would suggest to me “you really only need to know how to tie a Figure Eight on a Bight for rescue work”…and yet when they tie the Figure Eight on a Bight, it has a colossal loop with a foot and a half gain; it is so miss-dressed you wouldn’t be seen in public with it…and probably…our misguided soul will not let us forget, “it MUST always have a backup knot”. Why? “I don’t know…just because…that’s how I was taught”!

This school of thought has grown deep roots in the US fire/rescue community, promoting draconian training philosophies such as; “We teach the KISS system (Keep it Simple Stupid), or “you need to dumb-it-down”; or the old standby “you need to stay in the box”. This dumb-it-down, in the box philosophy is a leading contributor to a dangerous false sense of rigging knowledge, and increased potentials for training accidents.

For more information on Pat Rhodes and the Rescue Response Gear’s The Rigging Lab, visit www.rescueresponse.com

Pat Rhodes

Tags: bowline family of knots, bowline knot, figure 8 bend knot, figure 8 family of knots, knots and hitches, rope rescue knots

iRescue inflatable rescue board by C4: Now At Rescue Response Gear

Apr 2

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in search and rescue, Water Rescue | 1 Comment

Rescue Response Gear is now a distributor of the iRescue inflatable rescue board by C4

A new video of the iRescue inflatable in action, was filmed on location in Hawaii by Raven Collective media. Utilizing C4’s proprietary state-of-the-art inflatable construction, international water safety experts Brian Keaulana and Archie Kalepa have refined and perfected these new rescue tools in the rough and unforgiving waters of the Hawaiian Islands, drawing on their decades of devising, practicing, and teaching their revolutionary ocean rescue techniques to scores of government, military, and private organizations around the world.

iRescue inflatable rescue board by C4 from Raven Collective Media on Vimeo.

Tags: C4 Waterman, News, Raven Collective Media, rescue response gear, Video, water rescue

C4 Waterman Gear- Now At Rescue Response Gear

Mar 23

Posted by Rescue Response Gear in search and rescue, Water Rescue | No Comments

New Line Of C4 Waterman Inflatables And Gear

C4 Waterman iRescue | Inflatable Rescue Boards for Rescue Professionals

All C4 iWATERMAN products are fabricated from heavy-duty, military-grade, double-wall PVC material. Inside each product, thousands of high-tech fiber ‘cilia’ anchor the deck to bottom, allowing for superior rigidity and locking in C4’s proprietary rockers–features that grant never before seen durability and the closest thing to hard board performance of any inflatable surfcraft. And unlike the other brands that use only glue on their seams, the iWATERMAN products are finely stitched with 30% additional thicker, high-tensile fiber thread, making them much tougher, stiffer, and able to withstand a higher PSI (pounds per square inch) of inflation, ranging from 14 -18 PSI. The result: A rough-and-ready surf/paddle/rescue tool that is pliant enough to bounce off rocks, yet still deliver hard product performance and reliability.

C4 Waterman iNipper Inflatable Rescue Board

C4 Waterman iSled Inflatable Rescue Sled

C4 Waterman iRescue Inflatable Rescue Board