CONSTRUCTING A MORE ECONOMICAL TECHNICAL RESCUE PROP

BY BRIAN R. BRAUER

The University of Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI), the Illinois state fire academy, is responsible for delivering fire, technical rescue, hazardous materials, and other emergency response training for the state. The increased course load related to Homeland Security training has necessitated that the IFSI deliver more vertical rescue training. Since this training is held in the 74-foot burn tower that is also the site for our live firefighting training program, the challenge in delivering this additional training was not to compromise either program. Originally, we had proposed using a separate vertical rescue tower for the rescue training, but this was not cost-effective. The estimated cost for a 30-foot cube with simple stairs—basically, a steel exoskeleton without walls—was more than $300,000. And, the facility could be used only for vertical rescue.

THE ORIGINAL DESIGN

In Spring 2002, the Institute’s original Saving Our Own© props were irreparably damaged by wind. To replace these structures, the IFSI designed a new prop, with room for expansion, out of two stacked sea-land shipping containers. Since 1997, the IFSI has been using these containers successfully for live-burn, confined space, and SCBA training. The Saving Our Own© firefighter rescue prop seemed a logical extension.

The prop has two sets of stairs—one with a normal pitch and one with a steeper pitch—and four windows on the second story, for practicing emergency egress skills. The interior offers two props for replicating the Denver Drill, which teaches skills to remove a downed firefighter out a window,¹ and two scuttles for practicing the Nance Drill, involving rescuing a firefighter who has fallen through the floor. Additional props offer an entanglement station and several scenarios for following a hoseline to a safe egress.

Originally, the plan was to add two containers atop the existing two. To endure the forces that could be generated by an accidental worst-case fall from the top, a large steel superstructure would have had to be added to provide safe anchor points and avoid the possibility of an overturn. The structural engineer was concerned that the actions of lowering or rappelling would generate forces that could pull apart the prop. The cost for the amount of steel that would have been needed to create a structure strong enough to absorb these forces and provide a safety margin that would satisfy the engineering models began to again approach the $300,000 mark. Like the plan for a separate facility, this idea quickly became cost prohibitive and represented a limited return on the investment.

THE FINAL DESIGN

The final product combines aspects of both models. It consists of 10 additional cans (at a cost of $1,400 per can) arranged in a horseshoe constructed around a structural steel anchor system. This method transfers all loads directly to the ground and does not rely on the cans themselves to absorb the forces involved in rescue training or a “worst-case” accident in which a long fall is arrested. The only forces that involve the cans are wind load and live and dead gravitational loads. Orienting the prop so that a corner faces the prevailing winds marginalizes the wind loads. The live load consists of students and equipment; the dead load items are the decking and the cans. Since the containers we purchased are designed to be loaded and stacked up to nine high in transit, the two types of gravitational loads also have minimal effects on the props.

• Railings. They enclose all horizontal surfaces holding vertical or confined space systems. Four designs of railings—open rail, solid steel plate, chain rail, and open edge—are present. Students can select the appropriate type of railing to achieve practice in operating over a simulated sheer edge, parapet, fixed railing, or flexible railing. Other locations offer sheer edges that are undercut to add to the challenge of moving a stokes basket up and over the edge. All edges of the steel grate decking over which rope is to pass are constructed of 11/4-inch steel pipe; there is also canvas edge protection.
• Windows. The prop’s windows offer a host of laddering and rescue challenges. On the west side of the prop, windows are located at second- and third-story heights, for practicing raising the ladder for rescue, ventilation, or entry, as well as emergency egress. Belay points are provided for initial training and practicing head-first egress methods, in addition to providing room for “spotter” ladders. The south windows, spaced directly above each other, are on the second and fourth floors. These windows are arranged to allow for sheer edge operations, waist-high windowsills, and above-waist-high sills. Two windows on the northern exposure are at a sill height of 27 feet, offering a challenging and high, obstructed raise off the prop’s courtyard.
• Hatches. A series of hatches interconnects the majority of the cans. These secure openings allow for confined space rescue scenarios, as well as practicing entering tanks and containers. Additionally, the hatches can be opened to offer more challenging firefighter rescue practice involving a firefighter who has fallen through the floor. Two of the hatches are positioned on the underside of the can on the north face, simulating a ceiling hatch accessed by using a church raise and an industrial scenario simulating a long fall from a catwalk.

(1) View of the prop from the southeast. Note the removable railings on the top level, set up to simulate parapets or railings. They can be removed to simulate a sheer edge. The stairs, under construction at the time this photo was taken, are now complete. They have railings for improved safety. The windows on the second and fourth levels are set at varied heights to offer several levels of difficulty in going over the edge. The doors on the third level offer an undercut edge for a more challenging basket raise. (Photos by author.)

(2) View from the south. Note the positions of the windows and doors. The ladder provided access to the third-floor deck for the June 2004 confined space exercise of the Illinois Technical Rescue Team Validation Exercise, the first event of its kind in the state. From the third floor, crews used the several hatches at different locations within the structure to reach victims on the first floor, assess and package the victims, and raise them to the entry point and then back to the ground.

• Shaft. The two cans in the most easterly positions are being configured for shaft rescue. These cans are on end and offer a 40-foot enclosed drop. The plans call for the north shaft to be finished as an elevator shaft with a stuck car; the south shaft will be left as an open shaft. Entry for simulated victim placement is made from the ground level; entry for rescue teams is made from a platform atop the south can or a hatch on the top decking. Midway through the shaft is a crossover hatch, which allows for the placing of a mid-shaft system to move a victim laterally from one can to the next in the course of the rescue. Elevator doors will be added in the next phase of the prop, scheduled for late Fall/Winter 2005.
• Stairs. The stairs on this prototype far exceed what is necessary for simply accessing the various levels. We have used a combination of ground ladders and aerial devices with success. To increase the training opportunities on this prop, however, we added a complex stair design for practicing leading out hoselines up stairs and fire escapes, stairwell-hole stretches, and other methods of advancing exterior hose. These stairs provide access to all levels of the prop in an emergency, except the elevator shaft. Almost 50 percent of the current cost of the prop lies in the construction of the stair system. For organizations that do not need this level of complexity in their design, this would be an area in which costs could be trimmed.
• Anchor system. This system is located primarily on the top of the prop, around a 10-inch-diameter, 30-foot piece of rolled steel that is anchored to the ground by three 30-foot pieces of 10-inch tubular steel that are bolted to 10-foot-deep piers. This system transfers the entire load on a given system to the ground. Additional anchors for systems are provided at the levels of the decking. It is policy that all loads be attached only to the main or another engineered anchor, not to any of the existing “D”-style rings in the cans. The additional anchors for lowering systems are one-inch plate steel with a clevis-shackle attachment and the Tyrolean system anchors of triple-redundant plate steel construction.

COST

This prototype prop cost approximately $186,000. Some of these costs, such as the initial $15,000 for engineering design work and stamp, would not apply to other agencies constructing this prop.

(3) A view from the northeast, looking into the “courtyard.” The two different sets of stairs on the right are part of the original Saving Our Own© prop. Note the tubular steel anchor system along the back/south wall of the courtyard.

(4) Close-up view of the third-floor landing where the confined space exercise began. This landing also offers access to the anchor system so that new students can practice going over railings and sheer edges from this location before moving to higher points and a “high” anchor, in contrast with the waist-high anchors found on the roof. Access hatches into the fourth story are at the top right of the frame.

(5) The inside of one of the shafts on the east end of the prop. The rescuer is on the way back up the shaft with the packaged victim. He had made entry from the top-level, west-side hatch and was lowered to the victim. The hatch to the right of the rescuer leads to the north shaft. In a three-hour time frame, all three teams were able to rescue the two victims in the main shaft but were unable to enter the north shaft because of time constraints.

• The cost for the 12 cans was $1,400 per can delivered to our site. Two notes on the cans: The IFSI recommends inspecting the exact cans that will be delivered before the cans leave the yard, to ensure quality, and doing as much cutting and modifying of the steel on the ground as possible to limit the amount of crane and man-lift usage.
• The stair cost is $80,000 as built, again a prime area for budget modification. At the IFSI, we did not have any stairs with a wellhole or landings and no means for practicing fire escape work, so we made a decision to make these features part of this prop.
• There are four deck areas, three of them approximately 8 feet 2 16 feet with railings and anchors; the top decking is 40 2 17 feet. These decks and railings ran approximately $30,000.
• The remaining amount of $44,700 is divided among doors, hatches, and windows; interior modifications for the Saving Our Own stations and stairs; and movement and placement of the cans into the existing configuration.

Our prop is not to be used for activities that involve live fire, smoke, or water. This prop is used to teach techniques applied under those conditions at other locations on the site. These limitations are necessary to protect the prop’s rope and other sensitive technical equipment.

CURRENT STATUS

To date, we have used the structure to train students on skills for individual and team firefighter rescue techniques, ladder skills, operations, technician level vertical rescue training, and two complex scenarios for validation of Illinois’ Regional/MABAS Technical Rescue Teams. As the curricula for National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1670, Standard on Operations and Training for Technical Search and Rescue Incidents, is adopted and implemented in Illinois, the prop will be used for technician-level confined space training.

The next phase will add additional confined space challenges and tank work, and the elevator shaft will be completed. We will also be adding plates below all windows so that the beams of ground ladders will sit evenly on the wall. We are investigating a temporary platform for instructors to stand on while spotting students during head-first window-exit techniques, to provide better foot and leg support during training. Nonplumbed standpipe connections will be added on each level of the stairs, and a fire escape ladder is planned for the first-floor landing.

Additional information and pictures are available at the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute Web site, at www.fsi.uiuc.edu. There is no fee to access the site, but a free registration may be required. We recommend scheduling a site visit if you are going to try to construct a similar prop. Training agencies are required to investigate and comply with all local building codes and regulations, as well as be responsible for liability for any modifications beyond the existing design. For additional information, contact me at brbrauer@fsi. uiuc.edu.

BRIAN R. BRAUER is the firefighting program director at the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute, where he manages the certified firefighter II academy and annual fire college. He is a captain and an 11-year-member of the Edge-Scott Fire Protection District in Urbana and an Illinois certified firefighter III and instructor III. Brauer has a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Illinois-Chicago and is pursuing a master’s degree in education.

Endnote

1. “Saving Our Own: Designing a Firefighter Survival Training Aid,” Rick Lasky, Fire Engineering, May 1998, fireengineering.com, accessed Sept. 22, 2004.