Fire departments are using a wide array of equipment when an immovable object needs to be lifted or shifted to make a rescue. Such equipment includes air bags, hydraulic rams and other hydraulic tools, and lifting jacks, which most often can be found on rescue trucks but also sometimes on engines and aerials in some departments.
Tom Gavin, national sales manager for Paratech Inc., points out that Paratech produces three air lifting bag systems, each with different capabilities. The MaxiForce line is a high-pressure Air Lifting Bag available in 14 sizes. It’s made from three layers of neoprene-covered Aramid fiber reinforcement, Gavin notes, and has the power to lift, move, or shift weights up to 80 tons per bag. The Paratech Rescue Air Cushion is a medium pressure system designed for high lift requirements of nonreinforced broad surfaces found on trucks, vans, and light aircraft.
“Paratech’s MultiForce line is a new design that’s the world’s first dual chambered unitary weave Air Lifting Bag, providing high lift capabilities with unrivaled stability and incredible ease of use,” Gavin says. When inflated, MultiForce looks like a figure 8 but is actually a single bag with two chambers and no connecting plates, he adds. “The bottom chamber inflates first, then at a certain pressure a valve opens and inflates the top chamber,” he says. “It can lift a lot of weight high—31 tons to 26 inches.” The MultiForce bag can use a remote placement kit that comes on a frame with wheels and has a handle that can extend 60 inches to allow the bag to slide under a vehicle.
1 Rescuers use two Paratech Inc. MultiForce Air Lifting Bags to lift this school bus. The two Paratech Gold struts are employed as the catch struts for safety purposes. (Photos 1-2 courtesy of Paratech Inc.)
2 Paratech’s HydraFusion manual hydraulic ram, lower right, has a Paratech Gold strut fitted to it.
3 Power Hawk Technologies Inc. makes Power Pusher™ rams in versions that extend 27 inches and 41 inches. (Photos 3-4 courtesy of Power Hawk Technologies Inc.)
4 Three Resqtec air bags, placed on top of cribbing, perform a lift on this crashed truck.
Gavin says that Paratech also makes HydraFusion, a 10-ton manual hydraulic ram that Paratech’s Gold struts will fit into. The HydraFusion’s safety collar has a four-to-one safety rating of the ram’s 20,000-pound capacity, he points out, and the unit has a two-stage pump, a small reservoir, and a ten-foot hose. HydraFusion is available in models that can lift up to 4, 10, and 16 inches high.
John Sweezy Jr., chief executive officer of MatJack®, says the MatJack high pressure air lifting bags require only one inch of clearance and can lift up to 86 tons with the touch of a button. “MatJack bags are primarily used in low insertion height situations with heavy weight needing to be lifted, such as buildings, bridges, vehicles, structural rescue, load shifting, and heavy truck and aircraft recovery,” Sweezy says.
5 Firefighters use two Vetter® lifting bags to lift a pickup truck off a simulated victim. (Photo 5 courtesy of HURST® Jaws of Life.)
6 Amkus Rescue Systems makes the iTR500 telescopic battery-powered ram that has 46,500 pounds of pushing force. (Photo 6 courtesy of Amkus Rescue Systems.)
MatJack’s high-pressure air lifting bags are constructed of four full layers of DuPont Kevlar®/Aramid fiber reinforced neoprene per side, which are used primarily in rescues where lighter product weight is a benefit, Sweezy points out, or three full layers of woven steel per side, which are used in rugged, high-duty cycle applications like building lifting. MatJack high pressure bags are available in elongated, square, and custom shapes, Sweezy says. MatJack also makes medium-pressure air lifting bags in seven sizes and low-pressure bags in a dozen sizes and shapes.
Miles Butler, southeastern regional manager for Power Hawk Technologies Inc., says Resqtec’s NT Hybrid round bags give more lift while maintaining surface contact, compared with traditional square air bags. “With our bags, a rescuer can interconnect two or three independent bags using a metal, double-male securing device, allowing the bags to be stacked,” Butler points out. “We make three sizes of round air bag: 28, 77, and 172 tons.
Dennet Wempe, sales manager for North America for Resqtec, says Resqtec makes a line of square air lifting bags that range from one ton to 64 tons. Resqtec’s air bags are distributed in the United States by Power Hawk, he notes.
Butler adds that Power Hawk also makes two models of rams that can be used for lifting. “Our Power Pusher™ rams come in the P-25 and P-40 models, which extend 27 inches and 41 inches, respectively,” he says. “These rams use a completely mechanical, nonhydraulic system where the power source is a Power Hawk P-16 rescue tool or any other hydraulic spreader. Rescuers also can interconnect two rams together to extend the system to 120 inches.”
Chuck Sheaffer, sales manager for Amkus Rescue Systems, says Amkus makes the TR500 telescopic hydraulic ram and its battery-powered brother, the iTR500. “Both versions have the same speed and strength with 46,500 pounds of pushing force,” Sheaffer says. “The rams are 22 inches closed and open to 50½ inches, with a 15-inch stroke on the first piston and 13½ inches on the second for a total 28.6-inch stroke.” The iTR500 battery-powered ram uses a DeWALT® FLEXVOLT® 60-volt battery that can be shared with other DeWALT tools like saws and drills.
Timothy Shott, national sales manager for HURST Jaws of Life®, says HURST makes several models of rams that are used as lifting devices in certain situations. These include the R 430 ram that’s 18.7 inches retracted and 51 inches extended, with a push capacity of 30 tons and an overall stroke of 32.3 inches, and the R 421 E2 battery-powered ram, with a 23.5-inch retracted length, 53-inch extended length, and 29½-inch overall stroke.
Shott notes that HURST is owned by IDEX, which also owns Vetter®, a maker of air lifting bags. Vetter makes S.Tec 12 lifting bags with a .98-inch insertion height that can lift up to 112 tons, classic lifting bags that have a 1.2-inch insertion height and can lift up to 43 inches, and C.Tec12 Connectable Bags that can lift up to 82 inches high by connecting three bags.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist, the author of three novels and five nonfiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.
