The "Technical Rescue Weekend" Course

The "Technical Rescue Weekend" course debuted in the fall of 2016 and quickly gained popularity.  We had immediate requests for it and hosted another in the spring of 2017.  This course represents a conglomerate of technical rescue disciplines and can be tailored to individual departments or regions.

This "hybrid" style course begins with an interactive Friday evening session.  Participants are rotated through various "skills" stations where we introduce various concepts related to the practical scenarios.  This includes an introduction to much of the technical rescue equipment that is used in the course.  In addition, we also discuss and integrate new and innovative equipment that is being used around the country in the field of tech rescue.  This has proved to be a beneficial way to start the weekend and is a great "warm-up" to what lies ahead.
Beginning on Saturday morning, groups are established and everyone goes to work.  Each rescuer will rotate through 4 mixed discipline scenarios that will challenge even the experienced rescuer.  Depending on the site and logistics, those "mixes" can be anything imaginable!  You might face an auto extrication while suspended from a rope rescue system, a confined space rescue that includes structural collapse, or any combination of technical rescue functions.  Some more advanced scenarios are made up of 3 or more disciplines, such as rope rescue, water rescue, and auto extrication all combined into a single activity.
Here a rescuer has been lowered into a confined space...in this case, a large rock hopper...where a victim is awaiting rescue.  All confined space procedures were followed including permitting, lock-out/tag-out, etc.
Once removed from the confined space, rescuers transitioned the victim to the next phase of the rescue.  This involved lowering him to the ground with an attendant from the roof of this roughly 100' tall structure.
Scenario rotations continue throughout the weekend, again with 4 different challenging and difficult rescue problems to mitigate.  While each scenario is instructor led, there is plenty of opportunity for individualism based on the experience level of the group.  On Sunday afternoon, after all groups are finished with scenarios and equipment is cleaned up, each participant who attends the full weekend is presented a certificate of completion.  

This program can be brought to you and only requires you to provide a facility or site that will accommodate these types of rescue scenarios.  We allow up to 40 students in each program.  Please contact us for more details.
Left: Rescuers must first remove a 5,000 lb. rock before they can made access to this confined space.

Right: Once inside, rescuers are faced with structural damage and must erect a 3-post vertical shore prior to proceeding.

Below/Left: Further down into the "bowels" of the confined space, another rescue system must be constructed to reach the victim still several levels below.

Below/Right: Finally the rescuer has reached the victim, packaged him, and is being raised out of the space.

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Above: This multi-discipline scenario included auto extrication, heavy lifting, and confined space rescue.  The car is perched upon a 20 ton (40,000 lb.) rock.  Under that rock are two victims.  After the car is lifted off the rock and stabilized, the rock must be lifted to free those victims.  Finally, a third victim is in the confined space in front of the car.

Left: In this very difficult scenario at a local industrial site, participants completed a multi-part scenario with this short section of a limestone kiln.  While only 10' long, this chunk of steel weighed just over 201,000 lbs.  That's right, over 100 tons!  The scenario including lifting the "shell", removing trapped victims from under it, removing another victim who was trapped by debris on the inside, and finally raising that victim up and over the shell to the outside.