ANYTIME you put a rope or strap-based maneuver into play to move a victim, a firefighter, or even an object, you are acknowledging that you’re stretching the limits of achievability. You are putting these mechanical advantage-based procedures into play because you are nearly out of options. You may lack the appropriate crew size to achieve the haul required. You may also lack the leverage you need to force the lift.
In rapid intervention team (RIT) scenarios, you may not have the necessary space to wrap the victim or move debris out of the way. Regardless, being able to establish quick mechanical advantage using a 2:1 strap to your waist rescue harness or 3:1 or even 4:1 from the back side of your bailout rope has been discussed previously and falls into a category of skill that we can consider essential, even though we hope to never employ it. It’s important to practice—and master—these scenarios. And members should be ready to employ them while fully acknowledging that a rope-based removal would be, in essence, the last resort on the removal front.
- Rapid Intervention Team Size-up and Actions
- Maximizing Your Own Harness
- Moving Victims Alone Using a 2:1 Mechanical Advantage System
Possible Scenario
Imagine trying to drag an extremely large individual to safety across a narrow, carpeted living room floor. You have quickly set your fast 3:1 with the back end of your bail line, braced yourself in the door frame, and started to pull (photos 1 and 2). Nothing. Whether it is from the friction in the carpet, carabiners, or just too much weight, the victim does not move. What’s next? Consider the following questions:
- What happens when your mechanical advantage system begins to fail?
- What if the mechanical advantage you have established is just not getting the job done?
- Aside from continually summoning help or returning to square one and trying something else, what can be done?
1. “Flipping” the knot through the carabiner will make your work 3:1 faster. (Photos by author.)
2. A personal bail line 3:1 emergency haul.
In the realm of being out of options, you are nearly there. This is a dangerous place to operate for sure. But all hope is not lost.
In the simplified example above, with a minimal amount of equipment, you may be able to multiply the mechanical advantage you have established by compounding or complexing your system. In general hauling systems, a system is compounded when another system is tied into the haul line and then pulled.
The Math on These Challenges
A rope grab on the haul line usually gets this done, and then you can use a separate system to pull on the haul line. So, if a 2:1 is attached to a 3:1 haul line, you have a 6:1 system. It has alwayshelped me to remember that the haul line now becomes the load.
If the load to be moved was first a giant rock, and we hooked up a 3:1 to pull it to no avail, we are apt to set another 3:1 and attach it to the haul line of the first. So, we have a 3:1 pulling on a rope that was already a 3:1, thus multiplying the advantage to a 9:1.
In a fire scenario, the exact math is irrelevant. You are only concerned with more—more advantage, that is. How can you create more advantages quickly without resetting everything and by using what you have? How can you try to replicate this compounded advantage quickly and efficiently if you ever need it?
Referring back to the earlier example, to compound the advantage created by our 3:1, we have options. First, if the rescuing firefighter carries any kind of strap with a carabiner, which I highly recommend, a 2:1 is always in play. It does not matter that you have already set a 3:1. As long as you have a strap, a carabiner, and a harness, a 2:1 is possible.
3. A figure eight is tied in the haul line of the 3:1 and a 2:1 is attached
4. The rescuer hauls on a compounded 6:1 system.
Patience Is Key
In cases where you cannot slide backward to reset, you may be able to simply tie another knot farther up the load line and reset the haul from thatlocation. This would require unclipping the carabiner and reclipping it up at the next knot. This action mimics the motion of a prusik cord sliding up a haul line. Remember that this will take time, and keep in mind that you may only be moving a victim or an object a matter of feet. Salvation may be right on the other side of the door. Once you have the victim in a better spot, you can reset or disengage the emergency haul and employ a safer and more effective full removal.
5. One firefighter has set a 3:1 and is braced against the load.
6. The second firefighter ties a 3:1 to the directional knot of the haul line, creating a 9:1.
RIT Scenarios
In a RIT situation where a victim is in a small area and surrounded by collapsed building debris, you can employ this kind of haul system to move building materials out of the way or to get directly to the victim. Also, if two or more rescuers are available, don’t neglect the capability of one firefighter to tie his own mechanical advantage system into the haul line of another’s.
If two RIT members are trying to clear a collapsed area or even pull a victim to a safer spot, you can use the procedure outlined above to quickly create a 6:1 or even a 9:1 haul. One firefighter would set his 3:1 and tie a knot as close to the load as possible, and the other rescuer can affix his 3:1 to the knot and haul from there (photos 5 and 6).
For example, if building material is blocking a down firefighter’s exit, you may be able to wrap the obstruction and pull it out of the way. And while a 3:1 may not get it done, a quick 9:1 may move the load aside. (In training, one firefighter was able to move well over 700 pounds across an area with ease.) Again, with two rescuers, it is always better to have two members pull on the one line before electing to compound anything.
Also, you should never need a 9:1, even an imperfect one, to pull a single person. This would be extremely dangerous in a situation where no line of sight to the victim existed. However, if you’re moving a large piece of building off or away from a victim, this approach could work nicely.
In the past, I’ve written about having your 3:1 anchored to a braced halligan across the top of a window. You would use this to haul a victim up to the sill for a Denver drill-type removal. Hauling purely vertically creates considerably more friction on your carabiners/roll clipsthan a drag would. To help with getting a sizable victim up into the sill, this tactic of compounding your haul line could really come into play, especially when you only need a foot or two of movement.
Load Sharing and Self-Anchoring
Maybe your removal options have degenerated to the point where you are considering a compounded rescue rope removal. Completing this rescue will require you to go to extreme lengths. Remember that if you’re self-anchoring, you need to respect the limits of what your harness—and your body-will endure.
Even over a short pull, it’s safe to assume that you are operating “in the red,” in terms of what your harness will withstand. In a scenario where one firefighter is tying into another’s haul line and both are self-anchoring, they are, at least, sharing this considerable strain.
With all of this in mind, what can you (or you and one other firefighter) create quickly and with minimal equipment topull a victim? As it turns out, when you’re carrying only what is required, you can generate a great deal of force against an object.
We learn, over and over, that bail rope is for “life only.” If you are using it to move something that will allow for removal, that qualifies. Of course, the best way to achieve success in these scenarios is to have an adequate crew size, multiple avenues, and team integrity. It is far simpler to have a crew of members working on a tight space removal with a couple of firefighters moving debris and a couple crawling to the victim. A team push-pull drag is superior to ropes. Brute strength and locating a fulcrum are faster and perhaps more reliable for moving a load aside. The ropes come out when you are out of options. When that is not enough, you can establish mechanical advantage.
ALEX DEGNAN is a 19-year member of Squad Company 4 of the Jersey City (NJ) Fire Department, where he has been a captain since 2015. He is the author of Tough Fires: Keeping the Fight (Fire Engineering Books, 2024).
