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Here's a question that always made me ponder. If one had to bail out of a room via window with a harness/rope/etc......what can you anchor the rope to? For anyone who's taken a class on personal safety, is there any standards on what to do? Could a tool (ax, halligan, etc.) support you if it were jamed into somewhere with the rope tied around it?
I was told that a halligan jamed across the bottom of a window (triangle) would be secure enough to hold. But then again a house under construction would depend on how "constructed" it was.
The halligan with the Pike into the wall and forming a triangle with the Window, Bottom left or right corner. The way its positioned will create enough weight to hold you. Seems to be the Fastest and easiest way to bail out.
What about using your mask as an anchor point...i think ROCO teaches that technique, but it could also get real tricky doing it in smoke and in a hurry
dahub Ive also heard this from a member who learned it in Baltimore, im not convinced. I need to see it in action just to attempt it. Tool in the wall/corner of window will suffice for now.
If your forced to bail out, not for loss of air, but for Flash, collapse, anything. Why would you want to loose the air you have. I guess this idea is for if you dont have a tool.
Do you have a six foot hook? The strongest part of the hook is from the tip and downward six inches. Does the room have a closet? Cand the hook stradle the door way of the closet, with your rope held in place with a tensionless hitch (3-4 wraps)? Is the closet door in line with your line of descent? What exactly do you have with you? How high up are you? Are you controlling your descent with hardware or are you just running the rope around your back and braking with your hands? Is leg locking and hanging by an arm a viable option until they can get water on the fire, or bring a ladder to you? Sometimes just hanging out for help is all that's needed.
Is there furniture to tie off to? A bed, a bed frame, a dresser, can you expose studs in the wall? How are you tying off? 3 half hitches on the taut end of the rope? How much rope do you have?
I was taught about the halligan, the bed post, a dresser. my FIRST choice would be the halligan into the wall... then if i had to i would breach a wall around the window and tie off around a stud. that would be secure enough for me.. i have 50 feet of rope and 25 feet of webbing in my gear along with a gemtor harness... whatever the F!@# i gotta do to get outta there if the you know what hits the fan, i'll do it... If you have to do it though god forbid, you'll know it for next time and try training with it if you have a training house... this is a class that should be taught at the FSA next summer.. instead of vehicle fires or shipboard firefighting... :roll:
ive done it with the pak...it does work...obviously if u have a haligan or radiator that would be great...but fires are dynamic...u usually need to improvise...
the hook on its own with some webbing might do the trick.....its in this months Fire News...I think $39.....door or window frame anchoring looks EZ to do under shitty conditions...its called a FESH Hook
It's been done with EMS sheers as well. Anything positioned properly in the corner of a window will work. But why chance it? If the shit's on, your going out the window and your not thinking. And how can I put it into persepective ... well "the shit being on is you being burned and then you reacting." So if your friend holds a lighter up to your arm, your instinct is to pull away. So the last possible second that you could be in a room with conditions that warrant "bailing out" is probably going to be right about when you feel like your body is burning ... aka a huge lighter is being held up against you. So how are you going to react? Your going to pull away, except pulling away in this situation is going to result in diving out a window. So is there really much thinking involved? More or less instinct and natural reflex take over. So if you have the time, find the best possible anchor. If you can kick out the sheet rock and tie off to a 2x4 stud, do it. All the buff stuff and all of the stuff that you see guys at FDIC from Florida or somewhere out West demo'g and all of this acrobatic shit is cool. But it's just that, cool buff stuff. When the shit's on, there really isn't much thinking. Do what works, keep it simple and be able to do it fast.
For all truckies man this is just the reason that laddering is so important, even for the routine house fire, and you engine guys, if your truck slacks you probably have a ladder on your truck USE it. Especially with the nowadays situation of short manpower etc, that engine needs to be used to its full capacity........... Think outside the box..... remember even if your an engine guy your still a firefighter, we all learned how to throw a ladder and use it properly..... It just takes one time to realize that just saved a brothers life........
Bailing Out question...
