When you absolutely positively need to be inside a building two minutes ago, you need a Mini Pro-Bar. Fire and rescue crews commonly reach for this Halligan-type tool as a one-stop multi-tool for forcing entry into a building.
Recently in Massachusetts, a semi driver was critically burned and later died after the tanker he was driving flipped, igniting over 9,000 gallons of gasoline. Bystanders valiantly tried to rescue him, but the flames and a stuck seatbelt prevented him from being rescued in time. A half-sharpened penknife could have made it possible to release him sooner, and that might have changed the outcome of this tragic story. For whatever reason, no one at the scene carried a knife or rescue tool — and it made me wonder why.
I once received detention for accidentally (I swear) bringing my giant SwissChamp to high school. Upon learning this, my father was surprised — because in his uphill-both-ways school days he was required to bring a knife to school. Pencil sharpeners weren’t available, and everyone carried a knife.
What do you all think? If you carry a knife or pocket tool with a blade, what issues have you come across? If you don’t carry one, why not? Tell us in the comments.
When firemen or other rescue personnel need to get inside a structure, every second counts. The Inforcer rescue training aide provides valuable practice in breaching all kinds of doors and lock configurations. Finding doors that can be cut, pried, or otherwise abused can be tough for your local fire department, so the Inforcer’s replaceable locks, hinges, and padlock loops make multiple training runs a lot easier to perform.
With their 6-in-1 rescue tool, Channellock has beefed up a pair of linesman pliers to specialize ‘em for rescue work. The extra-coarse texture of the pliers provides a stronger grip, and hardened cutters will cut through almost any wire. A hardened steel point on the tip of one handle will shatter safety glass, and a spanner wrench allows you to tighten or loosen standard hose couplings. The other handle functions as a pry bar and as a wrench that’ll fit over standard gas valves.
Pure oxygen is awesome stuff — combine it with with a fuel source, and it can produce a brilliant flame capable of burning through nearly anything. The traditional fuel source for Oxy-Metal cutting has been compressed acetylene; but now Petrogen offers a cutting system that uses regular gasoline.
Their gasoline cutting torch outperforms its acetylene cousin in several ways, and especially in fuel cost savings. Two and a half gallons of regular pump gas can do the work of approximately 250 cubic feet of acetylene, offering greater portability as well as significant savings — even with increasing gas prices.
L.C. Miller’s air-powered hacksaw, the Tigair, offers all the quick-cutting convenience of a reciprocating saw, without some of the recip saw’s shortcomings. For instance, it won’t get damaged if it bogs down; it makes fine burr-free cuts with a common hacksaw blade; and you can even operate it underwater or in flammable environments.
At about 2″ wide, 6″ tall, and 16″ long, the Tigair packs a lot of power in a small package – it runs at speeds up to 1,200 spm. It cuts with standard high-speed hacksaw blades or modified reciprocating saw blades, and it weighs about 5-1/2 lbs, so you can maneuver it easily, even one-handed. The Tigair requires 6-1/2 cfm at about 90psi, so you can power it with a moderately sized air compressor. L.C. Miller doesn’t list a price, but if you’re interested you can request a quote.
The Tigair [L.C. Miller]
Spend anytime in your shop and you’re bound to get splinters. A good pair of gloves can reduce the likelihood, but splinters are still an inevitability. If you pick at the splinter with some crappy tweezers and a sewing needle, you’re probably going to do more damage than the splinter would have done if you’d just left it alone. Why not buy the right tools for the job? For $20 you can add a splinter removal kit to your first aid kit.
Sometimes a great invention fails to hit it big simply because the financial circumstances aren’t just right — the Firelight Safety Switch is one of those potential innovations waiting in financial limbo. When a small fire filled his son’s house with smoke, Tony Abuiso came over to assess the damage, and the idea hit him: a switch that could “hear” a smoke detector’s alarm and then turn on a light or activate an exhaust fan.
Holding a door open doesn’t seem like such a big deal, until you realize that, for a firefighter, a pinched hose or blocked escape route can mean the difference between life and death. And firefighters would rather prop a door open than chop it off its hinges — it’s faster and easier! I was struck by the number and variety of doorstops offered at TheFireStore.com.
Clockwise from upper left:
The Open Door Inc Wedge-It [The Fire Store]
Via Amazon
Large Rubber Door Wedge [The Fire Store]
Hingelock Door Chock [The Fire Store]
GloWedge [The Fire Store]
Hingestar Door Prop (not pictured) [The Fire Store]
Does your multi-tool have an adjustable hydrant wrench? How about a non-sparking hammer, or a gas valve shut-off tool? Next time you need a spanner wrench or a sturdy pry blade, you’ll wish you had the EMI 511 Tool on your belt.
Just over a foot long and weighing one lb, this special-purpose tool will normally set you back about $50, but the Fire Store sells it for $30.
EMI 511 Fire/Rescue Tool [Lab Safety Supply]
EMI 511 Fire/Rescue Tool [The Fire Store]
With the right attachment, Paratech’s Airgun 40SC can punch through concrete, smash locks, and cut through metal at a rate of 600 blows/minute. That’s pretty damn cool. But what’s even cooler? It’s portable – perfect for forced entry in firefighting.
Sometimes a traditional knife just isn’t the right tool for the job. For example, I’ve broken knives while trying to use them as pry bars, and many workplaces limit the kinds of pocket knives you can carry or ban them entirely. Wilson Tactical’s “Cop Tool” is a stout multipurpose blade meant for police and rescue personal — that also happens to be perfect for anyone seeking a tough not-a-knife tool.
There’s no question that Hurst’s Jaws Of Life lives up to it’s name. But what if you don’t have them — or don’t have access to the hydraulic pressure required to make them operate? Defense contractor Hi-Shear developed the Lifeshear to provide a mechanically simple, lightweight, pyrotechnic extraction tool to supplement these larger, heavier options like the ‘Jaws.
Here’s another tool for breaking s#@! from the firefighters’ playbook. It’s called the Rabbit Tool by most, although it’s officially the Hydra-Ram. Whereas many of the other fire and rescue tools we’ve featured require some pretty violent swinging force — or a powerful pneumatic or hydraulic power source — to get the job done, the Rabbit Tool just needs one guy squeezing the handle and the tool together.
Dubbed the KATool by manufacturer Council, its “KA” supposedly stands for Kwik Access — but it could just as easily be Kick Ass. We hear that firefighters love this tool because it’s a classic fast attack tool, allowing you to tear up a wall quickly to check for fire extension, cut wires, clear doors, etc. And we hear they particularly like like the fact that it’s light enough to carry into a fire along with all their other gear.
Like Stephen said in a recent Dealmonger post, firefighters are the kings of breaking s#!$. Here’s another tool from their get-through-the-wall-fast-or-die arsenal: the T-N-T tool. It’s a true five-in-one multi-tool — an axe, a sledge hammer, a pry bar, a ram, and a D-handled pull hook.
We featured the LifeHammer last month – a plastic safety hammer used to escape a crashed car or truck. Nov8safty also offers the ResQMe, which similarly performs the thask of cutting seat belts and busting auto glass. But unlike the LifeHammer, it’s small enough to fit on a key chain — and inexpensive enough to give away as stocking stuffers.
www.flickr.com
|
