In the first installment of our two-part series on selecting life safety rope, we examined the differences between technical-use and general-use life safety rope and helped firefighters determine which one they need for their operations. With people’s lives literally on the line, ensuring that the rope that’s used in these dangerous situations meets or exceeds life safety requirements for the job at hand can’t be emphasized enough.īut with so many rope choices on the market, how do firefighters determine which rope has the right characteristics to meet their needs? Headlines abound with similar rope rescues, and even more don’t make the news but are successfully performed by fire departments and other personnel nationwide. Earlier this month, firefighters used life safety rope to safely lower a rescuer and victim to the ground during a dramatic high angle rescue in Charlotte, N.C. “Not clear what proceeded it, but came across the rescue itself and it was awe-inspiring,” the passer-by tweeted with video and pictures from the scene, which were republished in the Charlotte Observer. The higher the angle, the more challenging and technical a rescue becomes because more weight is dependent on the rope setup instead of the ground. High-angle rescues are made on terrain with a slope of 60 degrees or higher. It’s unclear why the worker needed to be rescued, but in less than a half-hour, he and the firefighter were safely on the ground.

In this video recorded by a passer-by, a firefighter is carefully lowered from the building on a life safety rope while clutching a rescue basket with the construction worker inside. 19, firefighters used a ladder, crane, and life safety rope to help a construction worker to safety during a “high angle rescue” in uptown Charlotte, NC. With life safety at stake, taking time to understand these key characteristics is essential before purchase

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