He is the lead Author of Fire Engineering’s Residential Fire Rescue & Tactical Firefighter books. Mark is an international instructor teaching in Canada, the United States, FDIC and India. Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is currently a firefighter with the FGFD. If you get a serious case of sudden deceleration syndrome the whistle test was failed. Regardless of the system being used, it is one other way for a firefighter to escape the untenable conditions of the building. In escape systems there is no belay in the real life bail out so letting go of the rope with just a few wraps on the pompier hook or carabiner wont stop you. There are other anchor points that can be used like the door handle, halligan tool, radiator grill as well as other pre-engineered systems that are attached to the firefighter’s pant like Photo 1. This escape tactic requires practice and training to perfect it, along with the basic set up described above. Once on the ground, they can let go of both ropes and walk away from the building. They can then release some of the tight grip they have on both ropes to let the roe slide through their hands so that they can descend.

When they are completely out of the window, they should be facing the building with their feet hanging toward the ground as seen in Photo 6. Photo 6: When out of the window, they should be facing the building.

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