DOWN NARROW STAIRS - ONE MAN

Move victim to the top of the staircase with his head at the edge of the landing and his feet extending away.

Victim has SCBA on and is rolled onto their back with a “high side” available for movement.

Rescuer positions himself on the stairs, his chest even with the victims’ head.

Rescuer works from high side:

Reaching from high side across the back of the victims’ head.
Rescuer grasps the low side harness strap as far down the strap as he can reach.
The harness strap is grabbed with an underhand hold.
This allows the victims’ head and neck to be cradled on the forearm of the rescuer.
The rescuers other hand reaches across the victim and grabs his waist strap with an overhand grab.

The victim is now slid toward the rescuer and to the edge of the stairs.

NOTE: this method of grabbing the victims’ harness gives the rescuer the ability to release his grip on the victim and move away quickly if he should start to fall over backward or feels the need to move away from the victim.

Moving down the stairs:

Victim is drawn toward rescuer.
Rescuers’ moves down the stairs one step at a time.
One of the rescuer legs is kept up in position to block the firefighter should he start to slide down the steps out of control.
The rescuers’ other leg is kept straight back in a locked position prepared to take the force of the victim as he comes down the stairs.

The goal is to keep the victims’ tank on plane with the stair treads. This keeps the weight distributed over two treads and makes the slide down the stairs that much smoother.

Riding on the tank and cradling the victims’ head protects the victim from injury.

Submitted by mkirby on Wed, 10/17/2007 - 23:00.

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