By Carl J. Haddon

Many of you will remember a tragic rescue attempt caught on tape some years back.

A cyclist had been struck/run over by a car and was trapped underneath the vehicle. The video shows a first responder with a hydraulic rescue spreader that he deploys to vertically lift the car off of the patient. The lift occurs, and as rescuers attempt to remove the victim from under the car, the spreader loses purchase, causing the car to fall and fatally crush the victim.

1 The TL-9 spreader. (Photos by author.)

Without being a Monday morning quarterback or pointing fingers at anyone, let me just say that this was a case of using the wrong tool for the right reason. Hydraulic rescue spreader arms and tips are not wide enough to provide any kind of stability for such an application. I am unaware of any rescue tool manufacturer that endorses such a practice because of the typical configuration and construction of rescue spreader arms and tips and the nature of the way that spreaders open. There is nothing bad about the tools themselves; it is simply a matter of the wrong tool for the job-until now.

Fast forward to today and the introduction of the TL-9 Stabilizer. The TL-9 is a heavy duty universal appliance designed to fit all commercially available rescue spreaders. Made of one-half-inch-thick plate steel, the stabilizer is designed to offer a six-inch by six-inch base with vertical gusseted support towers on which a spreader can be used to effect a more stable vertical lift.

2 Step chocks are positioned on the opposite side from the lift to offer additional lateral stabilization.

Additional features of the patented TL-9 Stabilizer include the following:

• Base plate-six- by six-inch, half-inch-thick plate steel; compression-tested to 60 tons.
• Stabilizing towers-four inches high and 2½ inches wide, half-inch steel, with 2½-inch steel gusset supports on each tower; tested for lateral strength to 15 tons with 1⁄8-inch deviation.
• Rolled limiting pin-5⁄8-inch traveling pin, hardened, travels approximately 15⁄8 inches within the towers; designed to limit the spreader from hyperextending (maximum opening of the spreader is limited to 70 percent); a 5⁄8-inch square steel stock stopper at the front of the plate with a lock slot for the lower tip of the spreader adds a heavy duty spreader tip stop to the device.

Recently, during a new vehicle extrication training program in Ticonderoga, New York, I had the opportunity to take the new TL-9 for a test drive. Simply stated, it does exactly what it purports to do. I have to admit that it was weird to intentionally use a spreader in this fashion, as we’ve always been taught not to lift a vehicle with a spreader. It is vitally important to note that the manufacturers of this product insist that proper cribbing techniques be used (lift an inch, crib an inch) while performing this maneuver with the TL-9. The TL-9 is instantly deployable and has a small footprint for stowage on the apparatus.

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1 The TL-9 spreader. (Photos by author.)

Without being a Monday morning quarterback or pointing fingers at anyone, let me just say that this was a case of using the wrong tool for the right reason. Hydraulic rescue spreader arms and tips are not wide enough to provide any kind of stability for such an application. I am unaware of any rescue tool manufacturer that endorses such a practice because of the typical configuration and construction of rescue spreader arms and tips and the nature of the way that spreaders open. There is nothing bad about the tools themselves; it is simply a matter of the wrong tool for the job-until now.

Fast forward to today and the introduction of the TL-9 Stabilizer. The TL-9 is a heavy duty universal appliance designed to fit all commercially available rescue spreaders. Made of one-half-inch-thick plate steel, the stabilizer is designed to offer a six-inch by six-inch base with vertical gusseted support towers on which a spreader can be used to effect a more stable vertical lift.

2 Step chocks are positioned on the opposite side from the lift to offer additional lateral stabilization.

Additional features of the patented TL-9 Stabilizer include the following:

• Base plate-six- by six-inch, half-inch-thick plate steel; compression-tested to 60 tons.
• Stabilizing towers-four inches high and 2½ inches wide, half-inch steel, with 2½-inch steel gusset supports on each tower; tested for lateral strength to 15 tons with 1⁄8-inch deviation.
• Rolled limiting pin-5⁄8-inch traveling pin, hardened, travels approximately 15⁄8 inches within the towers; designed to limit the spreader from hyperextending (maximum opening of the spreader is limited to 70 percent); a 5⁄8-inch square steel stock stopper at the front of the plate with a lock slot for the lower tip of the spreader adds a heavy duty spreader tip stop to the device.

Recently, during a new vehicle extrication training program in Ticonderoga, New York, I had the opportunity to take the new TL-9 for a test drive. Simply stated, it does exactly what it purports to do. I have to admit that it was weird to intentionally use a spreader in this fashion, as we’ve always been taught not to lift a vehicle with a spreader. It is vitally important to note that the manufacturers of this product insist that proper cribbing techniques be used (lift an inch, crib an inch) while performing this maneuver with the TL-9. The TL-9 is instantly deployable and has a small footprint for stowage on the apparatus.

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1 These two Darley-built UHP pumping systems were ordered by a fire department in South Africa. (Photo courtesy of W.S. Darley & Co.)

Bill Carroll, general manager of HMA Fire, says HMA has been shifting its focus from military and government sales to municipal fire departments “now that National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus (2016 ed.), and NFPA 1906, Standard for Wildland Fire Apparatus (2016 ed.), have UHP sections in them.” He notes that one of HMA’s UHP units is going on a rapid response vehicle (RRV) built on a Ford F-550 chassis with super single tires manufactured by Pierce Manufacturing for the Middleton (WI) Fire Department with a 300-gallon water tank and 30-gpm bumper turret. “Instead of a skid unit, it’s coming off the live-drive power takeoff (PTO) that allows pump and roll. The system will pump 30 gpm at 1,300 psi,” Carroll says.

Carroll points out that HMA Fire has built 30-, 60-, and 90-gpm UHP skid unit systems using Waterous and Hale centrifugal pumps. “We build a 90-gpm system at 1,300 psi that will supply a 70-gpm bumper turret and a 20-gpm handline simultaneously,” he adds. “But the 20-gpm UHP is our most commonly used system. It can fit in the back of a pickup truck or be fitted into a small rescue.”

2 Darley makes the 2BE-23V UHP pump running at eight gpm at 1,300 psi that’s driven by a 23-hp Vanguard gasoline engine. Darley also makes the 2BE that’s driven by a Kubota 24-hp diesel engine. (Photo courtesy of W.S. Darley & Co.)

Kevin Quinn, president and owner of E.J. Metals, says his company makes UHP systems i

By Alan M. Petrillo

Ultra-high-pressure (UHP) pumping systems have been around for a while but are attracting more attention recently in using their higher pressure to extinguish flammable liquid fires; wildfires; and, in some cases, even fires such as room-and-contents fires.

Offerings

Ryan Darley, international sales manager for W.S. Darley Co., says Darley makes an ultra-high-pressure-high-volume (UHP-HV) pump that has proven popular for wildland and rescue truck use in the United States, as well as in New Zealand and South Africa. “It’s two pumps driven off of one engine, plus Class A or B foam,” Darley says. “The Model 2BE-23V has a UHP side running at eight gallons per minute (gpm) at 1,300 pounds per square inch (psi) driven by a 23-horsepower (hp) Vanguard gasoline engine driving a CAT 7CP high-pressure piston pump with foam injection, typically through a ½-inch-diameter hoseline. The system also is available with a 24-hp Kubota diesel engine.”

1 These two Darley-built UHP pumping systems were ordered by a fire department in South Africa. (Photo courtesy of W.S. Darley & Co.)

Bill Carroll, general manager of HMA Fire, says HMA has been shifting its focus from military and government sales to municipal fire departments “now that National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus (2016 ed.), and NFPA 1906, Standard for Wildland Fire Apparatus (2016 ed.), have UHP sections in them.” He notes that one of HMA’s UHP units is going on a rapid response vehicle (RRV) built on a Ford F-550 chassis with super single tires manufactured by Pierce Manufacturing for the Middleton (WI) Fire Department with a 300-gallon water tank and 30-gpm bumper turret. “Instead of a skid unit, it’s coming off the live-drive power takeoff (PTO) that allows pump and roll. The system will pump 30 gpm at 1,300 psi,” Carroll says.

Carroll points out that HMA Fire has built 30-, 60-, and 90-gpm UHP skid unit systems using Waterous and Hale centrifugal pumps. “We build a 90-gpm system at 1,300 psi that will supply a 70-gpm bumper turret and a 20-gpm handline simultaneously,” he adds. “But the 20-gpm UHP is our most commonly used system. It can fit in the back of a pickup truck or be fitted into a small rescue.”

2 Darley makes the 2BE-23V UHP pump running at eight gpm at 1,300 psi that’s driven by a 23-hp Vanguard gasoline engine. Darley also makes the 2BE that’s driven by a Kubota 24-hp diesel engine. (Photo courtesy of W.S. Darley & Co.)

Kevin Quinn, president and owner of E.J. Metals, says his company makes UHP systems i