Rehab Shelter

[BigCheese55]

Wondering if you guys have any thoughts or experience with inflatable rehab shelters. I have been doing some research and am leaning toward going with this company http://www.bigproductionsinc.com/portable_garage.htm They seem to be the best bang for the buck. 23' X 15' shelter for $3700.00. Just wanted to know if any you have experience with this type of shelter or the sealed units that don't require the electric blower on at all times for inflation but cost a bit more. Thanks for any input.

Carl

[tree68]

Something I've been suggesting for a while here (but which hasn't happened yet) is for each of our local fire departments to purchase a 10x10 canopy, with sides.

Since most incidents of any duration here involve several departments, combining several of these canopies could create a sizable shelter. F'rinstance, six might give you a 20x30 "room."

Space for storage is always a factor, but one of these, folded up, doesn't take up a lot of room. You gain the strength in numbers, and a rehab unit could carry several.

With the attachable sides, you can create a pretty cozy area, and even divide it into rooms.

If there's a down side, it's that such a "structure" isn't totally weather-tight, particularly when it comes to rain running down between the canopy roofs.

You'd probably want some sort of anchor system, but something that could be filled with water and secured to the legs would likely be easy to implement and store.

Pricewise, you're looking at under $100 for the average canopy, and maybe $2-300 for a premium item.

[mrpita]

(talking about canopies...snip)

You'd probably want some sort of anchor system, but something that could be filled with water and secured to the legs would likely be easy to implement and store.

There are several available solutions. Tie some filled 3 gallon water jugs to each leg. There's commercially available sand bags and water jugs just for this purpose. The canopy I use for tailgating, I have some concrete filled plastic weights (I think 10# each) designed to just fit over the legs at ground level.

[bburton]

Wondering if you guys have any thoughts or experience with inflatable rehab shelters. I have been doing some research and am leaning toward going with this company http://www.bigproductionsinc.com/portable_garage.htm They seem to be the best bang for the buck. 23' X 15' shelter for $3700.00. Just wanted to know if any you have experience with this type of shelter or the sealed units that don't require the electric blower on at all times for inflation but cost a bit more. Thanks for any input.

Carl

No experience with an inflatable model, but my paid EMS service uses a similar design that uses a frame similar to a folding camp chair. It's very sturdy with some ground anchors and very weather resistant, but requires about four people to efficiently set up. One or two less if you're willing to swear at it. An inflatable version seems less manpower intensive albeit less sturdy. Ours even includes places to connect to an electric heater/blower for those cold weather incidents.

[dday05]

We have a canopy and an enclosed trailer we used. We had problems with the canopy when it was freezing rain and very windy out. We looked into upgrades on the trailer and so on and so on. We ended up finding a little bus (like they use at the air port for shuttles) very cheap and purchased it for our rehab unit. It works very nicely and don't have to worry about the wrong person driving the truck and trailer if you know what I mean...