Good times with the slow pull machine

In November of last year, the Rescue Program Coordinator from Rocky Mountain Fire visited us in Ouray with an interesting question: can wildland firefighters use their fire hose as anchor material in an improvised rescue scenario?

The following videos show two pulls that we did on a .75" forestry hose (commonly referred to as a "garden hose") and a 1.5" single jacket forestry hose; both samples were heavily used prior to testing.

The .75" hose was configured as a wrap two pull two with a ring bend, and broke mid-strand at 6.83 kN.

The 1.5" hose was configured as a single strand anchored at each end with an overhand knot, and broke mid-strand at 18.93 kN.

Both of these are considered "quick look" tests and are far from comprehensive. Nonetheless, it's fun to see things break.