Cutting the bridge is considered a “last ditch” effort. I was very round about when describing it in the video because I did not want to have it viewed as a standard operating procedure.

Here’s something else about this knot. Let’s say a climber gets stuck in the tree, like a heart attack or something. The 911 call is put out and up rolls the fire department. I have utmost respect for these folks, but by far they are not trained in aerial rescue like a professional arborist might be. When the fire department arrives, it is their rescue event and they will not take any outsider’s advice (with good reasoning). They generally go up and belay the climber down from the ground. This usually involves severing the rope. So the rescue knot is quite useful for firemen. A trained arborist would probably not even consider using a knife unless the climber’s rope was mangled and unusable, like cut from a hand saw or chainsaw.

Firemen should be able to identify the bridge. But making a cut on a rope under load can create an unpredictable situation.