Synopsis
With over 20,000 copies sold, the CMC Rope Rescue Manual has become the standard reference for many departments and rope rescue training programs. The manual reflects what we've learned through many years of responding to resuces and teaching hundreds of students. Now in its third edition, the manual has been updated and several new chapters have been added. The extensive use of illustrations and step-by-step procedures help the reader develop or expand rope rescue knowledge and skills. Topics include: safety, equipment, rappelling, pick-offs, stretcher evacuations, patient packaging, improvised high-anchor points, and organizing the response. More than 240 illustrations and photos take you step-by-step through lowering and raising systems, mechanical advantage, and rappel based rescues.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
James A. Frank has been involved with technical rope work for more than 30 years. Twenty years with the Los Padres Search & Rescue Team, a volunteer Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) team in Southern California, has provided a wide range of search and rescue experience. He continues to serve in team administrative, incident command and field positions. Jim is a NR-EMT and has completed National Association of Search and Rescue's (NASAR) Wilderness EMT and Incident Commander SAR programs.
Jim began teaching in 1971 and over the years has taught rope rescue and rappel courses for NASAR, the National Park Service, the MRA as well as a variety of fire service and law enforcement agencies in California. He is a life member of the National Speleological Society and the National Association for Search & Rescue.
As Founder and President of CMC Rescue, Inc., Jim is involved on a daily basis with the design and manufacture of high-angle rescue equipment. CMC Rescue has grown to one of the world's largest manufacturers and stocking distributors of rescue equipment. In addition, the Rescue School instructors train emergency response professionals across the USA. In his spare time, Jim and his wife are kept busy in Santa Barbara with their two teenagers' many outdoor sports.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 2 - The Rope Rescue Team Rescue units come in a variety of types and sizes. Some are full-time paid professionals employed by large urban fire departments and others are small volunteer teams working in remote areas. A rope rescue team may be the rescue squad, the EMS responders, or the technical rescue team. Sometimes the rope rescue team will be organized at the scene using firefighters, paramedics and law enforcement officers who have had training from their departments. Wherever they come from, the rescuers arriving on scene will rely on teamwork, equipment and their experience to solve the problem. Some of the discussion below may apply more to one type of unit than another, but you never know when an idea for improvement may be stimulated.
Organization
Rescue cannot be done by committee. Before the action starts, your team must have a functional command structure to manage the approach to the problem. One key to success is to put the best man for each job in the position. Training Sessions are the place to develop new skills and evaluate member's capabilities, not rescues. On a rescue, the team is expected to give its very best.
An exception to this occurs when the Incident Commander can determine that time is no longer essential to the response, such as in a body recovery. This may provide the opportunity for the less experienced team members to get some real time experience. Could you gain operational experience with a stable, non-injured subject? That requires a judgment call balancing training needs and legal liability. In the medical professions, interns build experience by treating non-critical patients. On the other hand, if something goes wrong and you injure the subject, you may be in a difficult position explaining why you did not give your best effort.
It is important to accept that your team has limitations in what it can do. Very few teams have a high level of skill in all the various types of rescue work, plus the proper equipment, plus sufficient personnel. You have a responsibility to realistically evaluate your team's capabilities and to locate and evaluate the resources your team can draw upon from the surrounding area. Also, this process will let those resources know about your team. Someday that other agency may need your team, because the rescue they are responding to will need the skill, equipment or personnel that your team can supply.
If your team works regularly, or even just occasionally, with another department or agency, joint trainings should be held. This helps the management people to get their roles straight and lets the field people develop confidence in each other. Most important, good teamwork between agencies increases the level of safety for all involved.
The Rescue Pre-Plan
Many volunteer teams do not have the management or command systems that exist in professional departments, or the larger volunteer departments that operate like a professional department. Responding to fires, medical emergencies and rescues on a daily basis polishes the command system. For the less active team, we have found that too much time is often spent on the routine management work necessary to get the rescue started. If you are responding to a particular type of rescue regularly, analyze those responses and see how much time is taken just getting started. Look closely at the management decisions that you make each time you respond. How many of those can you make ahead of time? How many can be delegated ahead of time?
Prior to 1982, the Los Padres SAR Team would meet at the Sheriff's Station and then discuss the initial plan for the rescue. Recognizing that on each rescue we would always access, stabilize, and then transport the subject, we were able to define specific job positions and corresponding tasks. The resulting Cliff Rescue Pre-Plan provided an organizational framework in which everyone knew what was expected at the start. As team members would arrive at the station, the positions would be filled and the team would be on its way to the scene. As more information was received while traveling or upon arriving on scene, the plan was updated. We tested the concept in training situations and since then it has proven itself on many rescues. We review it after each rescue to look for improvements and update as changes in personnel, equipment, and techniques allow.
By staying close to the framework of the pre-plan, you maintain the flexibility to adapt to the particular response. When everyone knows their job and its expectations, then it is easy to add extra people as needed, or if necessary, have one person fill two positions. Also, the team leaders know how the initial part of the response should be developing, so less communication and discussion is required, yet the channels of communication remain open. Over the years the team has taught the Cliff Rescue Pre-Plan at National Park Service and Mountain Rescue Association seminars. The current Los Padres SAR Cliff Rescue Pre-Plan is in Appendix C. Using the same concepts, you can develop a pre-plan that works for you.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Search results for Cmc Rope Rescue Manual
Stock Image
Cmc Rope Rescue Manual
Seller: Meadowland Media, Fayetteville, AR, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
paperback. 3rd. SHIPS DAILY WITH FREE TRACKING! Seller Inventory # A130-021926-LLU-101X4N