Jerry Smith from Baltimore City (MD) Truck 15 sent in these photos of some easily to defeat window bars. Jerry and the crew of Truck 15 A Shift were out performing some building inspections and found these bars on a local apartment building. Taking the time to learn about this style of window bars ahead of time can save a significant amount of time on the fireground. Check out the supplemental page with detailed pictures and information on how to defeat these bars.
Wow…. No comments the Donkey Kicks yet??
Gotta be careful donkey kicking those off could land on a victim inside. I’m going to suggest jet axe.
You could use a ground ladder and get above them and Horse Stomp them straight down… That way, no risk to the victims inside!!
Very, very true.
Good stuff, I’ll be on the lookout for any of these in our area and be sure to pass on the knowledge.
are those tubes and bars hollow? They appear to be so. Could they be smashed/cut easily? anyone?
Rafael,
The metal bars were hollow and made of a light gauge steel. Cutting these bars would not be an issue. I also think prying could be an effective means to force the lock, such as using the haligan bar. Smashing the bars to deform the locking mechanism or the internal catch (which is grabbed by the locking mechanism) to free it I think would work but probably not as efficient.
I think from the pictures we can see a lot of areas to attack these bars but you can never go wrong with going right to the saw and making the cut.
Jerry, great find. I like your last statement in the post more though…
“you can never go wrong with going right to the saw and making the cut.” Absolutely agree.
ahh in sveeden we have deeess
Im gonna do the firemen thing and not think about it and just hope they come off when they have too.
“Im gonna do the firemen thing and not think about it and just hope they come off when they have too.”
Spoken like a true ‘A’ shifter.
On the department I work for we equip every Truck and Engine with air chisel’s. Out of pure curosity, I was wondering if a lot of other department’s use them and how they feel about them being used to force entry.
BTW…As an ex-A shifter I can say that. So there.
Nick: I think air chisels are good for opening up sheet metal or other thin metals, but their use on the fire ground is limited. I feel a good circular saw will do all a chisel will and much more. Engines/trucks are already packed to the hilt with gear, so being able to maximize your space by having a circular saw on board will do more good than an air chisel…in my world at least…
In a class today, we were going through burglar bar evolutions, and one of the instructors mentioned a dept. he knew of that utilized air chisel setups quite efficiently for shearing burglar bar anchors, due to the many housing projects they had. Maybe not ideal for every jurisdiction, but I can definitely see how it could be applicable.
Can anyone verify if this button is electronic or strictly mechanical?