theres plenty of tools out on the market , for anything and everything , but theres no better equipment than the one you make yourself to fullfill your needs.
include any tools/equipment that u carry yourself on your PPE , or with u on specific scenes , also equipment that your company or department has made and fits your needs for the job.
show it to us ,post some pics , tell us how it was made , and what it is for !
Permalink Reply by Doug on September 3, 2009 at 8:31pm
We've recently modified an airsoft gun(runs off an scba cylinder)to shoot a small pvc pipe projectile with life safety rope attached, approximately 100 yards, for water rescue. It is easiest to deploy with 2 - 2 man teams, one firing team, one retrieval team on the other side of the river. Once the rope is deployed both teams immediately pull the rope taught, the firing team then attaches a life vest or flotation device to the rope. The retrieval team then starts to pull on the rope while the firing team gives slack, allowing the flotation device to make it's way to the victim. This is only able to be accomplished though if the victim is conscious and able to move their arms. We're still working the kinks out of it, and it has not been deployed on the apparatus yet, as the rope seems to want to get tangled once every other shot. I'm working on video of it too, it's actually quite the sight to see this thing in action.
Dont have pictures of it, but I made a cut about anything tool for rubber, fabric, glass, wood or even soft metals. Heck I use it on the farm to cut string off of round bales. The tool can be made any length out of sucker rod and two blades from a sickle bar and a welder to sew it together....Cost under $10.00 bucks and if you lose it, heck just make another.
we have a atapter made up for use on jetteys to figth boat fires n jetty fires it has out lets 1 in let n 2 shut offs so we can turn the water off with out havein to have the pumpy do it cuz some times they cant see us it is carreid on out tanker 1
Before we bought the compressed air line firing devices we had a single shot 22.cal line firing gun that used 150lb. test line from a spool. When we did training on this gun we did not want to keep using up line from the spool so we reloaded the line into a coffee can. don't bunch the line just reload into the can like packing rope into a bag
Really cool idea! I am the gadget buff myself. We are a very poor dept, and usually have to repair our own parts, like home made shut off handles on nozzles and repacking our own pumps. I will be waiting for the video, since we have had a few water rescues over the last couple years.
Permalink Reply by FETC on December 18, 2009 at 11:39am
I have to disagree with the best tools are the one's you made yourself. Especially when things go bad and someone wants to know who made, tested and assured the product meets fire service standards? It is called liability and most fire chief's entertain the firefighters ingenuity but hesitate when it is time to implement the device or equipment.
Doug, I am curious what size rope are you using with the air soft gun? Why not fire it with a 150 lb test spool line (like fishing line) and then attach the life safety rope / floatation device to that. The your retrieval crew can reel in the test line and haul out the floatation device.
Most do this with commercial guns to stretch a high line for swift water rescue operations. The commercial guns are quite expensive. I have seen locals do similiar work with a compound bow as well.
Permalink Reply by Doug on December 18, 2009 at 1:39pm
Thanks for the idea. Currently we're using a high tensile strength twine/string spool for the jet line, then once it's across the river it's attached to the life safety rope. We'll definitely be trying that out, because we've tested it again and it's still getting entangled upon itself.
And I'm still working on the video guys, but I probably wont have it until we have this thing working properly or around Spring time.
Permalink Reply by Doug on December 18, 2009 at 1:44pm
We do, I wasn't clear on that in my first response. Our jet line is a high tensile strength spool of twine, which is then attached to the life safety rope. But, after reading yours and David's response I'm going to suggest switching over to a large test lb. fishing line.