ResQ Jacks

[21Truck 8]

What is everyone's opinion on the ResQ Jack system and what drawbacks do you think they have. The captain of my company pushed for them and my chief just recently purchased them and are awaiting delivery. Did we make a good choice or just wasted money on another useless item

[Guest alsfirefighter]

They are a great system when used for stabilizing vehicles that are on their sides or roof, but I highly recommend using them in tandem with standard cribbing techniques also as a backup.

With any stabilization system or operation you can run into normal problems associated with slants and such. But these also work fairly well in those situations because of the straps you can use to lash them to the vehicle, each other or another anchor point, where standard box cribbing tends to slide out of position.

Train with them often to become proficient with their operation and use.

[PVFD113 6]

We purchased 2 Paratech set ups last year--outstanding--if like ALS had mentioned--you use cribbing as a back up and you train on them-there are quite a few different ways to use them. We have them in a rig out of each station-we do have the parkway running through which usually keeps us busy but it has been quiet for a while.

[Guest skibum]

We purchased them about 2 years ago and are very happy with them. As the others mentioned, it will take a handfull of training evolutions to get comforatble with them. Once you do, you will find they make the vehicle rock solid and are quick to setup. The one thing to watch out for in your training evolutions is set the jacks up where they will not block the egress of the patient or positioned right where you are actually going to cut and pry. Something you will always have to think about on size up of the incident. Again, once you practice a bit, you will find it easy to position them out of the "cut zone" and still stabilize the vehicle effectively.