Rescue
LOW
Many fire departments today are compelled to offer rope rescue capabilities to the communities they serve.This is a challenging task Dalan Zartman for any department. Staying current with techniques and technology, developing and maintaining proficiency as a team and individuals, and budgeting for the cost associated with high performance, pose significant obstacles to overcome. If you find yourself struggling with developing these capabilities, a great starting point can be low angle rescue systems. This also makes sense for many organizations based on risk and frequency of events. High angle emergencies are defined as those that present angle requirements of 60 degrees or steeper.The Carolinas are loaded with ravines, valleys, culverts and other natural terrain features that are more gradual angles than 60 degrees. These terrain features also accompany roadways, recreational areas and water bodies.This means that they fall higher on the frequency matrix simply because they are highly accessible to the public. Focusing on this application of rope rescue allows groups to make more modest investments in training and resources and develop knowledge, skills, and abilities that will serve as building blocks for more advanced high angle applications down the road. Every department should be prepared to handle low angle incidents because of their commonality in every municipality.These can be vehicle accidents in which a car is over a gradual embankment, or a mountain biker who slid off the trail down into a ravine. In all of these events, we have
Carolina Fire Rescue EMS Journal
Angle Rescue
to move quickly and safely as rescuers from the top side to the bottom side, package the victim, and then safely and effectively extricate them to the top side.Too many times, these incidents are accomplished without any rope systems in place. A lack of safety mechanisms for the rescuers and the victim place everyone in harm’s way and could be easily prevented with minimal gear and some basic training and practice. This is an example of a universal system for low angle rescue sequences and includes basic equipment recommendations.There are many ways to develop these systems and this is just one example. Let’s first describe a scenario. You arrive on scene of a vehicle accident in which a single passenger car drove through a guard rail and descended down a low angle hillside approximately 100 feet. As you visualize the wreckage from the roadway, you can identify one female victim lying on the ground approximately six feet from the vehicle with the driver’s door open. The vehicle sustained heavy damage and it appears that all of the airbags deployed.You call out to the victim and she responds verbally and moves spontaneously. She states that she thinks her left arm and hip may be broken. She says she was restrained and did not lose consciousness. Now it’s decision planning time. As you analyze the hillside, it is slick and muddy and has large rocks as well as exposed tree roots. It is steep enough, deep enough, and obstacle ridden so simply deploying rescuers down the hillside would be high risk and the victim is not immediately critical. This is a strong example of when to deploy an appropriate low angle rope rescue system. Now we can define an action plan and implement it.
Safely Deploy Four Rescuers to the Victim Deploy three rope legs to the bottom.This can be done by splitting a 200-foot rope with a midline knot and then deploying an additional 100foot rope down the middle. Envision two stair rails of rope with a tracking rope running down the middle. A fire
www.carolinafirejournal.com
apparatus, properly placed, can provide all of the anchor points you need. Remember to only attach the rope to structural elements on the apparatus that will withstand the load you may apply.The two “stair rail” ropes are just fixed lines that are tied into anchors see LOW ANGLE page 36
Fall • 2020 35
