Pleasantville's Petzl EXO Bailout System Training @ West Harrison

[Guest Devil Dog]

The Following pictures are from Pleasatville FD's Petzl EXO Bailout System Training.

The Boys from Fireground Tech . com ran the trainning at West Harrison's trainning facility. All the Instructors are ether Retired or active duty FDNY members Of various ranks and companies.

The system is simple to use, ataching to ether a remote anchor point, (Steam pipe, radiator pipe, wall stud, ect; hand tool accross doorway or embedded into a wall) or onto the sill of a window in a worst case senario

The system comes packed in a small bag that attaches to the Gemtor harrnes system and uses D-rings on the harrnes to support the firefighters weight

Once out the window, the EXO decender automaticly stops decent untill you position youself safely, which is now easy because because you are now under the window out of the way of heat and smoke.

Edited September 26, 2007 by Devil Dog

[Guest Devil Dog]

The system gives you the controle to decend at any speed your comfortable with, it is recomended that a slow speed be used at all time

The Rope is rated to last 2 minutes at 900 Degrease

this ilistrates the method of using the window sill as an anchor point.

You can see the hand placement on the left of the sill, pressure must be kept on the hook and on the rope untill the firefighter is COMPLEATLY out the window.

This is easier than it sounds

Once deployed, the system can be repacked with relitive ease with another firefighter

Edited September 26, 2007 by Devil Dog

[Guest Devil Dog]

This picture shows how the system attaches to the Gemtor; both passively and actively

The harness gets quite tight in the Crotch region

Edited September 26, 2007 by Devil Dog

[Guest Devil Dog]

This is a great video of one of our guys

[HFD750 6]

Nice... yeah I saw you guys up there sunday morning. Me and my buddy drove up there with West harrisons Engine. Anyway how do you like the system? Is the class alot of money? Heard the system is going for around $350 is this true? How many of your members are going to be using this system?

[JustSomeGuy 0]

This system is great, I have seen it before. With some new legislation recently I wonder if this system well be used else where. FDNY has been using this for awhile, and a few others? Hope to see this more in westchester

[Remember585 815]

My buddy is in the FDNY probie school now, and he said this system is real simple to use and doesn't feel all that heavy. We issues 35' of rope, a beaner and a bag to interior members about four years ago. Sadly we have seen most members stop carrying them because they were bulky and heavy.

I would love to see all of our personnel get a system that will be there if (God forbid) it is needed that is easy, light and not so bulky.

One question I have, is the harness over the shoulders on that FF just as a precaution for the training? I assume it is.

And lastly.....smushynumnums?! LOL

Edited September 26, 2007 by Remember585

[DCurtis 1]

The harness over the shoulders is a fall arrest harness for training only. The Cost of the system including the EXO, the Gemtor and the training is in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars per person, however, its a small price to pay for something so valuable. Once you have the training your allowed to purchase a second unit, all I know is its 505 for the belt and EXO. Its really a failsafe system, the only thing that can fail is the person who is using it, its built with a 15:1 saftey factor and you can tell that a lot of time and thought was put into not only the design, but way you use it too. The guys who do the training are great, by the end of the day they had me and a few others doing it blindfolded.

Great system FTW

[Guest Devil Dog]

And lastly.....smushynumnums?! LOL

Yea.....ask DCurtis about that...

Short awnser: it short circuts my brain

The harness over the shoulders is a fall arrest harness for training only. The Cost of the system including the EXO, the Gemtor and the training is in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars per person, however, its a small price to pay for something so valuable. Once you have the training your allowed to purchase a second unit, all I know is its 505 for the belt and EXO. Its really a failsafe system, the only thing that can fail is the person who is using it, its built with a 15:1 saftey factor and you can tell that a lot of time and thought was put into not only the design, but way you use it too. The guys who do the training are great, by the end of the day they had me and a few others doing it blindfolded.

Great system FTW

Yup

is easy to use and not heavy. the only issue is when we sit everyone now faces slighty left

Theres 13 or so members that now have the system, all are FAST team members

Im proud to say that Pleasantville is now the FIRST Westchester Fire Dept to have the system

FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

Edited September 27, 2007 by Devil Dog

[Guest CRASH]

VERY INTERESTING I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT IN USE ANY IDEA WHEN YOU ARE TRAINING ON IT AGAIN

[Guest Devil Dog]

VERY INTERESTING I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT IN USE ANY IDEA WHEN YOU ARE TRAINING ON IT AGAIN

Not sure, to train on them we need a belay system and alot of prep

[Guest partyrock]

Good luck Pleasantville. All right, let me get my soap box dusted off here. Departments need to get their members something. I personally love the EXO. Its as close to idiot proof as you can get. Petzl or the guys at fireground tech know the sales pitch a lot better than I do, but its safety margins are through the roof. There have been no failures of the system in thousands of training evolutions. You can go as simple as a rope bag and carabiner. Depts need to train every interior ff and equip them with something. We've all seen the videos of brothers bailing out windows where they've been lucky enough to go out where there was a roof or a ladder under the window. I know other guys who have had to hang drop as much as 30 feet to save their butt. I've read stories on this forum about guys who admit they were lucky to have a ladder or brother show up just in time. Luck eventually runs out. ALS having to cancel a survival class due to lack of interest is embarrassing. Isn't the training free to you guys in Westchester? Why not take it again? You guys who have taken the class a year or more ago when was the last time you bailed out of a window, went down a rope, or flipped on a ladder? I understand how much time you guys give up as volunteers, but this is the stuff that will keep around to b**** about how much training you have to do. Add self rescue to your mandatory annual training. Fires burn hotter and faster. Building construction allows less burn time. Our response times aren't getting any better. Manpower is just getting worse everywhere. We're seeing less fires and are less experienced. This all adds up to us trying to get ourselves killed and before it starts happening we need to do something about it. This is something you can do right now. Depts that can afford parades, annual dinners, trips to conventions, etc have no excuse for not equipping their members with a self rescue system. Why not put off replacing that perfectly functioning engine or ladder for a year and put that money towards saving your members. all right, this has rambled on long enough. Thanks for reading and good luck brothers.

[x129K 1,393]

Could someone post a pic of the device itself please?

[x129K 1,393]

Disregard, I found a pic, and a ton of info.

[Remember585 815]

Hope this helps.

System components

1. EXO self-braking descender

provides an extra margin of safety during exit sequence

descent can be controlled or stopped at any time

individual serial number for traceability

2. OK TRIACT-LOCK auto-locking connector with captive eye

3. 50 ft of heat & cut resistant 7.5 mm Technora rope

4. A hook anchoring device

Allows the escape line to be rapidly anchored in multiple ways

5. NOMEX transport/deployment bag

Securely attaches to the harness & stays out of the way until needed

Velcro tabs allow instant access to the system

Edited September 28, 2007 by Remember585

[ex-commish 490]

Good luck Pleasantville. All right, let me get my soap box dusted off here. Departments need to get their members something. I personally love the EXO. Its as close to idiot proof as you can get. Petzl or the guys at fireground tech know the sales pitch a lot better than I do, but its safety margins are through the roof. There have been no failures of the system in thousands of training evolutions. You can go as simple as a rope bag and carabiner. Depts need to train every interior ff and equip them with something. We've all seen the videos of brothers bailing out windows where they've been lucky enough to go out where there was a roof or a ladder under the window. I know other guys who have had to hang drop as much as 30 feet to save their butt. I've read stories on this forum about guys who admit they were lucky to have a ladder or brother show up just in time. Luck eventually runs out. ALS having to cancel a survival class due to lack of interest is embarrassing. Isn't the training free to you guys in Westchester? Why not take it again? You guys who have taken the class a year or more ago when was the last time you bailed out of a window, went down a rope, or flipped on a ladder? I understand how much time you guys give up as volunteers, but this is the stuff that will keep around to b**** about how much training you have to do. Add self rescue to your mandatory annual training. Fires burn hotter and faster. Building construction allows less burn time. Our response times aren't getting any better. Manpower is just getting worse everywhere. We're seeing less fires and are less experienced. This all adds up to us trying to get ourselves killed and before it starts happening we need to do something about it. This is something you can do right now. Depts that can afford parades, annual dinners, trips to conventions, etc have no excuse for not equipping their members with a self rescue system. Why not put off replacing that perfectly functioning engine or ladder for a year and put that money towards saving your members. all right, this has rambled on long enough. Thanks for reading and good luck brothers.

Party....well said. Please keep rambling

[ny10570 745]

As one of the lucky few to have gone through this training (a week later and I still have the bruise to prove it) I have to admit this device is a great idea and worth the expense. At first I thought it was overkill, but I've been won over. I've gotta thank Ex Chief Ferg for getting it going and Chief Lamonica for keeping it alive.