What Is A Heavy Rescue Truck?

[e33]

So, what is a heavy rescue truck anyway? Is it a truck which weighs more than 25,000 lb...does it carry heavy tools?......does it rescue heavy things?

Well, on a serious note, im curious as to what folks consider a heavy rescue truck. Coming from a very intense rescue department, i think its rather interesting to see other companies with "HEAVY RESCUE" boldy adorning the sides of nearly empty apparatus. To me the term "Heavy Rescue" refers to an apparatus capable of handling tasks above and beyond vehicle extrication. Specialties including but not limited to trench, confined space, structural collapse, rope, agricultural/industrial, water etc. I'm talking about carrying some stuff to handle such emergencies as well..not a bag of rope or a few pieces of lumber http://www.firehouse.com/interactive/boards/smile.gif.

So, let me hear what you have to say, im curious.

Oh, i figure ill toss this one into the picture too.....what do you refer to these units as on the radio or in common terminology or numeric designation (i.e. Rescue, Squad, Tac....etc)

[TEKRSQ]

In our dept., we have three RESCUEs. Each unit carries identical firefighting and "rescue" equipment. This includes a full compliment of Holmatro cutters, spreaders, etc with an onboard & portable pump, jacks ranging from 2ton - 40 ton, a multitude of high& low pressure air bags, air & electric impact wrenches, ratchets & chisels, come-a-longs, chains, 4x4 & 4x6 timber, chainsaws, circular saws, & an assortment of standard & metric handtools that would make most mechanics envious. This doesn't mention the firefighting tools we have onboard.

What seperates them is that each unit also carries gear for their "speciality" and has a second specialized unit that stays in house until called for. EX. 1 rescue handles all dive & water incidents, 1 rescue handles all technical incidents, & 1 rescue handles haz-mat. Each rescue is trained to assist the others as needed, but the primary ops is handled by the specialized team. On our piece, we have almost 3000 ft of lifeline (in varying lengths) and all the hardware to rig several lines at once if necessary, as well as our confined space gear, firefighting tools, and the rescue tools mentioned above on our primary unit. Our collapse equipment is carried on a seperate truck. Let me tell you, every inch of space is used, we have no room for growth unless we get a trailer.

BTW: we call them RESCUES, neighboring counties call them SQUADS or UNITS.

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IAFF 995
When it has to be done right,
CALL THE RESCUE CO.!!!!!

[This message has been edited by TEKRSQ (edited June 12, 1999).]