Tech Rescue talk

2022 NYS Technical Rescue Conference

Steve Disick

March 23, 2022

Excited to announce we are once again presenting at the Technical Rescue Conference at the NYS DHSES State Preparedness Training Center - June 3rd - 5th, 2022!!


This year we will be presenting two 180 minute hands on workshops  1. Rigging Challenges and 2. Small Teams / Efficiency in Rescue.

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Factors of Safety

Cliff Freer

April 30, 2021

It is the responsibility of every Rope Rescue Operator and Technician to determine if the system they are utilizing is “safe”. There has long been the misnomer that our “Safety Factors” for rope rescue in the fire service were required to be 15:1.

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Open Enrollment Courses

Steve Disick

April 5, 2021

We are excited to announce multiple Open Enrollment courses and clinics that can take you or your team members from basic rescue knowledge to advanced specialty clinics. All of these courses are on our website now and are open for registration.

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April Fools! Tandem Twin Tension Rope Systems

Steve Disick

April 1, 2021

The new website has officially launched, however that was not at all an April Fools joke. Our Facebook and Instagram post of the "Tandem Twin Tension Rope System - TTTRS" absolutely was a joke, and we managed to hook a few big fish on that one! Honestly we are still laughing about it.

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Fall Protection in the Rescue Training Environment

Cliff Freer

December 29, 2017

The fire service is an amazing and rewarding profession with limitless potential. Like many other professions we face challenges that go way beyond our responses. Unions fighting for salaries, manning, training and equipment. Insurance prices increase to the same proportion as our benefits decrease. We have an enormous amount of latitude while we are operating at the scene of an emergency to accomplish our goals and occasionally we get injured and sometimes it’s much worse. That will always be as noble as it is regrettable. First Responders work in hazardous environments. That requires us to simulate these environments as best we can to achieve realistic and effective training. When someone gets injured it always forces us to take that moment to pause, that gut check that we did right by the people we are responsible for. Risk can rarely be eliminated completely but with a good look how we manage and setup our training environments we can get close while still providing excellent training.

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MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

Pete Hall

October 29, 2015

Five minutes into a seemly routine fire in a small two family you hear a crew on the floor above you call a MAYDAY. It’s a quick transmission and you were not quite ready to hear it, you didn’t hear the details and there is no follow up….


This is potentially one of the most stressful and challenging moments we can come across in our career. Hearing, or worse having to call a MAYDAY.
First up let’s deal with the stigma of even calling a mayday in the first place. We all know we work in an environment where peer pressure is at its highest, it’s what makes us want to improve ourselves, impress our peers with our skill set and knowledge. But could it hurt us? Could we be put in a situation that has all the potential to go bad and be reluctant to call for help at the fear of a bit of healthy ribbing after? Sure we could, sitting here reading a witty blog its easy to see that’s a bad idea, and a little (or even a lot) of teasing down the road is worth going home to our loved ones. Another reason we may not call is thinking we can fix the issue and get out alone. Wouldn’t it be better to have the help coming early and turn them away if they are not needed? The take away is, if we think we are in trouble, or could be in trouble soon, we should make the call. OK, I think we all get the message.

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