Torches are not a tool that we use everyday, month, or year on our emergency scenes, but if needed can you pull it off the rig, work truck on a job site, or cart in an industrial setting and go to work quickly? Entrapment and impalements possibilities are never ending and some may require cutting a victim free with a torch. Brothers in Toledo, Ohio were recently faced with a victim impaled on a 6′ tall Victorian style wrought iron fence. While stabilizing the victim, they used a Metabo with an abrasive disk to cut the spike free. If the Metabo didn’t work in that situation, Plan B might have been using a torch. (more…)
Archives for
See all posts in the network tagged with
As always with a post, we try to add a training piece you can add to your tackle box. This time the training piece is going to be quick and first thing then on to a pretty exciting bit of history at the firehouse yesterday followed by a bit of physical fitness. Get the training piece at least and keep reading for a little extra. The picture to the left is from the other day when we were searching for walleye again on Lake Erie without great luck.
One of our greatest forcible entry challenges is getting firefighters repetitions, especially on commercial doors. We made a trip to the Attica Venice Reed (AVR) Fire District with a homemade prop that helped get some reps for the firefighters. The AVR FD is a progressive organization that really seems to get the morale and motivation up by training. Check them out on Facebook. For the rest of this post we will cover a few teaching points from the class in Attica and a modification to the prop for those that have been following it. For previous posts on the prop, click here, here, here or type in forcible entry into the search box
Yes, one heck of a title, but I like to keep the fishing tackle box in the mix with some firefighter training as well. So a few days ago, a group of us went walleye fishing on the Megacatch. Let me first say that Captain Park is so into fishing that when he doesn’t have a charter scheduled, he takes his friends and family out fishing. If your planning a trip to North Central Ohio and the Lake Erie Islands, check out Captain Parks site for more information, here.
Last week another prop idea came to mind and was quickly constructed with some help from fellow firefighter Bob Lieblein and owner of Holiday Harbor Marina who found some old boat cleats. The prop itself is a small replication of a boat’s gunnel with several variations of cleats. We quickly made this training into a EMS / rescue scenario that covers penetrating injuries and basic hand tool operations.
In Part 1 of this discussion on air chisels we touched on operating hazards, general operating techniques, and a homemade chisel prop. Several videos of training on the prop along with the entire post can be seen here. Again, air chisels seem to be a love them or hat them type of tool, but in many scenarios they can provide a quick means to rescue entrapped victims. In this post we added some more training tips, street-smart techniques, and pictures of possible uses. The list isn’t all inclusive, but at least a start for your training.
Here are two quick topics for discussion around the firehouse kitchen table as we try to stay cool when temperatures soar. The heat is even making for some tough fishing. A bunch of us dumped the tackle boxes the other day trying to fill our coolers without success.
Stay cool.
Air chisels seem to be a love them or hate them type of tool. In our opinion they can certainly be helpful in a variety of extrication and rescue scenarios. In Part 1 of this post we will take a look at operating hazards, general operating techniques, and a homemade chisel prop to instruct students on how to use the chisel. Several videos are included for review and discussion.
We have been fortunate to train with the Ajax Rescue Kit for the last several weeks. This chisel kit fits both 2216 PSI and 4500 PSI scba bottles. It also comes with a regulator that is adjustable from 0 to 300 PSI so the air pressure can be set appropriately for the material being cut. (more…)
