I have been teaching Large Area Search and Rescue for many years. My department uses the Chicago R.A.S.P. system for our primary rope. ( Do a Google search on "R.A.S.P.) and use there deployment methiod.
Personal equipment I carry a 50' and a 20' section of 1" tubular webbing with two 'biners and a 8 with ears, all held in a roll by intertube bands. it fits perfect in my leg pocked of my pants. I use the 50' as an emergency decent line along with large area searches and the 20' is for smaller areas and can be made in to a quick harness.
We have a very similar set-up for our RIT search Kits.
(In fact the distributer said he had just designed the bag for people in Chicago)
We use kevlar rope and its got rings and knots for directional every 10'. OUr RIT carries 50' tubular webbing in bags as personal search ropes. (I think 50' may be too long)
I'm really looking to see who's doing what for large area, you know with leads and leashes and what not.
Tom
I was at Firehouse expo for on of if not the First H.O.T. season and had chief Cobb's presentation.
We encorporated some stuff into our RIT program.
(its our only officially taught search rope class)
I started this thread because I've heard that some folks are now teaching to tie the knots as you go this way there is no question as to what has been searched.
Just wanted to see what if anything was being done along these lines.
Try google again though I was able to get a couple of training articles out of my search.
The info just came out on CFD Strategies and Tactics Expo and Conference, Aug. 22-26. This is Conference where I was first introduced to RASP 2 years ago. If you get a chance it is a great expo now put on by Firehouse.
We (Training) recently purchased a Chicago system. We'll be teaching Large Area Search later this year, using that system.
The base system is an open-topped bag with 200 ft. of kevlar rope. The lead searcher wears the bag, using a shoulder sling. It is anchored outside the search area in a similar manner that we do with our current RIT searchlines. (Think the DaVino's fire and Engine 6's initial assignment.)
We also have 3 secondary search lines. These are smaller bags containing a smaller kevlar search rope on an inertial reel. Individual firefighters wear one reel each. The secondary ropes have snap links that can either slide down the master search line or be hard-linked to the search rings. We had our rings installed every 25 feet. We're also experimenting with some new-style chemlights that clip directly onto the search rings to make it easier to see to make the connections.
I'll see you at one of the classes. If you have questions in the interim, Lt. Walters can fill you in at shift change.