Parbuckling

[DaveS]

About two years ago Tim, posted pix of parbuckling. Today we went out to our Lake Stevens Fire/Rescue boat and "shot" a video clip of our parbuckling set up. The following is the clip which we posted today on YouTube....



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yifqvtg4yw

 

[Grumpy]

Dave,

Nice set up, no gaff needed. That would work with Halibut!

How did you calculate it so he rolls face up on the gunwhale?

Merv

 

[B~C]

sweet, we usually harpoon and gaff any guests that fall overboard....oh sure, sometimes with the extra fiesty one you have to break out the 410

Who's that guy in the video with the short, white hair

 

[DaveS]

How did you calculate it so he rolls face up on the gunwhale? Merv

Merv, it just happens that the height of the top of our gunwhale of our Aluminum Chambered Boat from the water is perfect for the roll of the victim to end up face up. You can see how quickly we are able to get the victim into the boat and to a point where we can easily access and maintain a patent airway in the patient.

I also have sent out this video to all of our department personnel for training purposes. Over the past three days we had the vessel out of the water for routine maintenance and the installation of cleats inside the vessel to accomodate utilizing the cargo net for parbuckling.

 

[matt_unique]

Ha ha - Grumpy I was wondering the same - impressive!

I have been meaning to practice the recovery of an unconscious victim with my crew. Last season I was thinking about a hoist similar to what Bob Austin has but I like this idea too. At present the procedure is to pull the victim up onto the swim platform (just a few inches above the water on the Tomcat) and then into the cockpit

Where did you buy the webbing?

 

[dotnmarty]

Sure looks good. Do you ever put a rescuer in the water with that nice backboard to slip under the victim? Or maybe just roll him up onto a backboard laying on the gunwale. That might help prevent a back injury to the rescuers in the boat when they lift him down to the deck. Just a thought from the far too distant past. Thanks.

 

[thataway]

Nice video and technique. Have you done this with one person?

I have the SS mount for the cabin side fabricated, which fits into a fishing rod holder, so that the Garhauer davit would bring a person in a sling or harness into the cocpit.

 

[DaveS]

Sure looks good. Do you ever put a rescuer in the water with that nice backboard to slip under the victim? Or maybe just roll him up onto a backboard laying on the gunwale. That might help prevent a back injury to the rescuers in the boat when they lift him down to the deck. Just a thought from the far too distant past. Thanks.

Marty,
Yes, I have backboarded patients in the water, however there are some real considerations to be made in actually securing a person on a backboard in the water. We discussed illustrating a backboard on the deck of the vessel to lay our victim down upon after parbuckling the patient in the video, but we did not want viewers to perceive that this particular patient had a spinal injury and would then criticize a mishandling of a spinal injured patient. Actually, had we not been video taping this for training purposes, we would have had a backboard there in order to facilitate easier transfer of the patient from the boat to the waiting gurney at the dock.
In the scenario that you viewed, caution must be made so as to not let the rescuer's center of gravity get too high so that they fall overboard. Even though it appears that my body mechanics were not the best, the viewer must bear in mind that we are sharing the victims weight and the parbuckling does provide a mechanical advantage. There was really very little real effort needed in getting the victim on board and at no time did I feel undue strain on my back. As for the potential "back injuries" of rescuers, this is a very real problem for us in our line of work and we strive to use good body mechanics. (Imagine extricating an obese individual out of a bathtub....down a narrow flight of stairs, additionally we train bringing victims down ground ladders, dragging each other with full bunker gear and breathing apparatus out of structures so that we are ready to do these tasks in a rescue situation ....etc. etc.) The cargo nets that we carry on all of our aid and medic units are there for precisely the purpose of carrying large individuals out of precarious situations. (Not necessarily glamorous for the patient, but you sometime do what you have to do to accomplish the task.

Matt,
We purchase the cargo nets from an industrial supply store. Ideally, we will eventually have a davit mounted on our vessel so we can have a stokes basket pre-rigged for extricating a spinal injured patient out of the water much more efficiently. Our mechanic is in the process of designing such a piece of equipment, but he is kept extremely busy keeping up on all the maintenance and repairs of the fire apparatus we have. (He has done some amazing modifications for a great deal of equipment in our department).

 

[DaveS]

Nice video and technique. Have you done this with one person?

Dr. Bob,
No, I've not tried "this with one person". While I was typing the above posting, the thought occurred that I should try it with one person. Next time I'll give it a try, but we always have at least two fire department personnel on board.

 

[Sarge]

I was on another site when I came across this article and discussion thread. The sad topic is about someone getting tangled in the boat's anchor line, being pulled overboard and drowning.

How this relates to this thread...if you read the messages, the fourth message is by the drowned man's 17 year old son who was on board when the whole thing happened and his first person description (written only hours later) of how he and others tried to save him and pull him onto the boat....unsuccessfully.

http://www.aluminumalloyboats.com/viewt ... =36&t=1224

 

[DaveS]

Who's that guy in the video with the short, white hair

B~C, isn't it amazing how when a guy turns 65 yrs. of age, his hair suddenly changes from long, jet black to "short, white". :roll:

 

[Alyssa Jean]

but we always have at least two fire department personnel on board.

I KNOW this would never happen, BUT, when one of the two falls in the water and for whatever reason can't get out on his/her own, there is only one left.

I need to go watch the video now.

 

[Alyssa Jean]

but we always have at least two fire department personnel on board.

I KNOW this would never happen, BUT, when one of the two falls in the water and for whatever reason can't get out on his/her own, there is only one left. It would be nice to know that you could do it with only one.

I need to go watch the video now.

 

[Dory-Ling]

Depending the direction your victim is facing on that board you could go from parbuckling to water boarding pretty easy! :wink:
Martin

 

[Chester]

sweet, we usually harpoon and gaff any guests that fall overboard....oh sure, sometimes with the extra fiesty one you have to break out the 410

I don't blame you, I've seen the neighborhood you live in...

 

[localboy]

Smooth as silk, Dave...














...but then you firefighters have a lot of time to work out. :wink:

 

[timflan]

Nice video, Dave. Do you mind if I make it the centerpiece of a Navagear post? Anything you want me to link to, in particular?

Tim

 

[DaveS]

Tim, we also snapped a lot of slide pix of the operation as I intend to put together a slide show for instructional purposes unique to our vessel for the ongoing training of personnel in our department. I sent you a PM with my cell phone number so you can call me.
Thanks, Dave S.