By Jeremy Rifflard
Technical rescue teams (TRTs) may be called out to execute a low-frequency/high-risk response to a patient trapped at an elevated location, in a confined area, or on steep terrain. The responders must have knowledge, skills, and ability to execute the complex rescue. TRTs should internally assess their team to determine if the team is prepared to attempt the rescue. Part of this internal team evaluation is to review the knowledge of the rescuers and the equipment available for use. There must be sufficient rope hardware and ropes to lower the rescuer and retrieve the patient.
The team must have several life safety ropes of various lengths available for immediate deployment. The most common diameter static kernmantle rope used by civilian and military urban search and rescue (US&R) teams is ½ inch, which has a tensile strength of 40 kilonewtons (kN) and is resistive to just less than 9,000 pounds of force. Knowing the overall distance of the rescue (from the technical rescue preplan) is vital to determine the rope length needed.
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