Static line rescue, spar rescue, conifer rescue (using a speedline), standard DRT rescue.

Tom and others,
I know standard DRT rescue and have been working on several types of SRT rescue. But what is spar rescue and static line (pine) rescue? If the answer's too long, e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Thanks in advance, and hope we can bridge the divide between east and west coast someday and climb together.
Keep on climbin',
Wild Bill

When a climber becomes injured while climbing a conifer, or any tree with an excurrent shape, instead of trying to bring the injured climber back down thru all the branches, potentially causing more injury, one can quickly set up a speedline. Both the injured climber and the rescuer ride the speedline out away from the canopy where they can be safely lowered to the ground. This type of rescue takes a little more time to set up, but can actually be faster than the trying to weave an unconscious climber back thru
all the branches.
A spar rescue is needed when a climber is injured while removing a tree, and all that is left is the main trunk without any branches, or 'spar'. If you are interested in learning more about aerial rescue, contact ArborMaster training. I attended a class a few months ago, and it was very good. Hope that was helpful.

AR in trees is not covered very well in literature. There are some really dangerous and scary techniques described that would not stand the scrutiny of professional rescue standards.

"Self Rescue" by David J. Fasulo is a good start.
"Technical Rescue Riggers Guide" by Rick Lipke

To find out more, look into rope rescue forums.

Tom

Hey Tom,
Which unprofessional techniques are you talking about?

I've been involved in our chapters EHAP training for years. Within the time/money constraints, it is impossible to do very much training. The scenario for the AR test is pretty basic. I've had people who only had a saddle on twice, pass the AR test. I do take time to let the people know that what we have setup as a test is completly synthetic. It's beyond the scope of the EHAP training to teach real AR.

Arbos are taught to do body rescues. In all of the literature about AR for arbos, very little, to NO discussion about patient care is given. No talk about doing any assessments. Barely talk of ABCs.

Getting the patient to the ground is what's taught. If the accident were on the ground, would anyone be moving the patient as much without backboarding first? Even just putting on a neck brace/collar.

Why the need to get the patient to the ground? A lot of FA can be done in place.

In the FA classes that I've taken, stabilization is taught. Nothing taught to arbos.

Another issue is rescue loads. Rescuers aren't cautioned about the dynamics of two people on one tie in point. Having two people on a climbing hitch is dangerous!!! What would happen if the rescuer tied into the same limb as the patient and did the rescue. If the rescuer doesn't consider shock loads, they might be sucked into setting up in a limb that might only be strong enough for one climber. Add another along with some drops, and the limb could fail.

When has a rescuer in training brought a FA kit along?

These are some points that come to mind without putting my thinking cap on.

The best thing to do is to take an Advanced First Aid class first. Be prepared for FA on the ground. Unless you have some training in moving patients, it might be better to leave that to professionals.

Tom