Here is the latest addition to our Beyond the Academy: Video Training Series. This clip includes some tips and tricks for forcing slide bolts and drop bars on outward opening doors. Feel free to add your comments, questions, or suggestions! As always – no framing square needed!
Ever since my first blog on modifying a standard rex tool to be able to carry it in your pocket I have received lots of emails and had lots of questions about which modification (the pipe or the adz bracket). The reason why there is a debate about which one is better or more applicable is because I tend to like the adz bracket modification better because it allows you to rock the tool side to side and "walk" tough cylinders out off the door, with the pipe modification you loose the ability for the side to side movement.
The main reason that some guys like the pipe modification better is because in their company they utilise the wide adz halligan. So my latest project was to come up with a way to use either the pike or the adz to pull the cylinders. I have also seen on different blogs and websites several other modifications by other people to give the ability to use both, this was usually accomplished by welding a pipe on the top of the adz bracket. This modification made the tool extremely heavy and awkward. Remember that this is a tool that you want to carry in your pocket most of the time, it should not look like something that a gas station should have the rest room keys attached to!
The first thing I did was cut the handle off a standard Rex Tool with a band saw. The next thing was I cut the length of the head down by 1'' to decrease the weight and size of lock puller, the head was now ready for the new staple. The new staple had to be made to accommodate the pike and the adz, the answer was far simpler than you might think. With the help of Jamie Hiller at H and R Machine I used a shop press to bow the centre of a piece of 1/4'' plate, the ends were then bent to fit the width of the lock puller. A MIG welder was then used to attach the bracket to the lock puller.
This modification gives you the best of both worlds, it allows you to be able to perform through the lock using either the pike or the adz. This new modification gives you a tremendous and light weight lock pulling option that you can keep in your pocket.
Check out this info sheet for some forcible entry tips when dealing with slide bolts. Feel free to print it out and post it in the firehouse.
There are numerous ways to manipulate an American Series 2000 type lock to force entry (hockey puck locks with the key way on the rim of the lock not the face). You can cut the lock ¾ opposite of the keyway, 
you can cut the rail above and below the lock and bend the rail out of the way, or you can use a pipe wrench and twist the lock off (if it doesn’t have a guard) just to name a few. What happens if you’re on an engine and you don’t have all the tools that the truck carries to force these locks? A simple solution to your problem is the Bam Bam tool. The Bam Bam tool doesn’t take up much space and allows you to start forcible entry on American Series 2000 type locks until the truck arrives. The Bam Bam tool utilizes a hardened screw to screw into the key way of the lock and a handle that slides along the shaft of the tool. It is important to make sure that the screw is hardened. If it isn’t then the screw may not screw into the lock cylinder, or when you go to force the cylinder the threads of the screw may strip causing the screw to come out of the cylinder without forcing the lock.
To force the lock using the Bam Bam tool you need to place the screw in the center of the key way and begin to screw the tool into place. It may take a few seconds to get the screw to bite into the cylinder, but once it does you want to screw it in about 3/16ths to ¼ of an inch into the cylinder. It is about 4 or 5 threads deep into the cylinder. You want to screw it in this deep so that you don’t strip the threads when you go to force the lock. It is important to keep the Bam Bam tool as strait as possible while you are screwing it into position, so that the screw bites into the cylinder evenly giving it a better bite into the cylinder. Once the screw is set you need to hold the Bam Bam tool with one hand while the other slides the handle back and forth along the shaft of the tool to force the cylinder and the pin of the lock out. After the cylinder and pin is pulled out remove the lock. Don't forget to pull the pins after forcing the locks!
Using the Bam Bam tool would not be my first option for forcing American 2000 series type locks, but is something good to have in your bag of tricks when other methods of forcible entry can’t be used or are not available. This method will not work on the American Lock 2500 Series.
Anyone who has ever forced a challenging door in zero visibility knows it can be one of the most difficult forcible entry challenges a crew will ever face, for those of you that have not… This challenge still awaits you.
Weather it is an apartment door on the fire floor of a garden apartment, the illegal basement apartment door in a private dwelling, or the door in a SRO on the floor above the fire the potential to need to force some tough door under arduous conditions is always present. The fact is that we as a fire service typically don't get much practice or direction on forcible entry techniques under favorable conditions let alone under zero or diminished visibility conditions. In this blog we are going to look at several different techniques for forcing entry under zero visibility conditions.
Size Up
Since we are unable to see size up is going to be tougher and normal and is going to be accomplished primarily by feel, both with your hands and the way the tool reacts on the door.
The first step is to feel the door with a gloved hand for any primary and secondary locks, bolt patterns, heat, etc. This will help establish a game plan of attack on the door. Remember you want to start with the highest lock first and work your way down so any heat or smoke behind the door will vent up and away from you.
After a rapid and thorough size up is complete you can begin forcing the door. You are going to GAP, SET, FORCE just like any other forcible entry operation, the only real difference comes from the setting the tool and more specifically the hitting techniques. We are going to look at 3 different hitting techniques that you can utilize to help you drive the halligan into the SET position.
Double Tap Method
The double tap is more than just Rule 2 in Zombieland, it is a great method for forcing doors in smoky conditions. The double tap method works well in limited visibility situations but it allows a little to much margin of error for zero visibility operations to be an effective option. To perform this technique the axe firefighter lines up the axe with the halligan, he then taps the halligan lightly followed up right after by a more powerful hit. This small tap does a couple of things for both the firefighter holding the halligan and the firefighter hitting. First, it provides a small "practice" swing for the axe firefighter allowing him to build some muscle memory. Second, it gives warning to the firefighter on the halligan not to move because a more powerful hit is coming. Some firefighters like to use the double tap method all the time while forcing doors regardless of the conditions, it really comes down to preference.
Squared Off Shoulder
Most firefighters I talk to about the topic of zero visibility forcible entry say that they square the shoulders on their halligan forks off so that it will provide a striking surface without having the possibility of missing and striking the firefighter who is holding the halligan. This modification is not new to the fire service and I see firefighters modifying their tools like this all over North America, the problem is that if you are going to modify you halligan like this and then not practice the technique often and in realistic conditions then you might as well not even bother performing the modification in the first place. It can be challenging to perform this method
and can take a tremendous amount of practice and patience. After the shoulders have been squared off the firefighter with the halligan can place the forks in between the door and the frame, with both hands on the back of the halligan the axe can be placed on the halligan shaft and slide it down to make contact with the squared off shoulder. Ensure that you keep a open palm grip on the back of halligan, if you have a firm grip on the adz or pike and the axe is brought back to far the blade of the axe could severely injury a finger… So keep a open palm grip. I like to keep the squared off shoulders for tight spaces or narrow hallways where you cannot stand behind the halligan to hit it.
One Handed Method
This technique in my opinion is the best method for forcing entry in zero visibility. The halligan firefighter takes their normal stance and hand position on the halligan with the exception of their hand closest to the adz, slide the hand closet to the adz more towards the middle of the halligan. The axe firefighter is going to take a kneeling position behind the halligan firefighter, the bottom hand on the axe is taken off and placed onto the halligan directly behind the adz. This hand is placed on the halligan to provide a point of reference for each swing of the axe. Remember to keep a loose grip on the halligan, your mission is not to impede or steer the halligan but to simple provide that point of reference. 
The next thing the axe firefighter can do to make life easier for them is to place the butt-end of the axe between their knees, this with help there swings tremendously by making the axe into a large pendulum. This pendulum action will help you deliver even and steady hits on target each time. Sometime with higher locks the firefighter will have to stand to swing the axe, the same steps are repeated with the exception of placing the axe between their knees.
Depth
How do you know when the halligan is in the set position? When you can see, we know that you want to drive it in until the crotch of the forks is level with the door stop but when we can't see we have to perform this by feel. An easy way to tell is by placing your thumb on the shoulder of the halligan then place three fingers along the side of the forks, the finger furthest away from your thumb should be level with the door stop. Slide your top finger forward and feel for the halligans orientation to the door stop. Not having the halligan set deep enough before prying is one of the biggest problems I see with zero visibility forcible entry, if the halligan is not driven in far enough it may pop out when it is pushed to the door.
The key to being able to force doors effectively in zero visibility and challenging conditions is to prepare for them through aggressive and realistic training. I recently talked to a close friend from a extremely busy urban department that just experienced a close call at a fire, one of the major problems that they experienced on the fireground was a delay of getting water on the fire due to a drawn out forcible entry operation. Crews were faced with a very difficult door in fairly horrendous smoke and heat conditions. After the fire crews talked about how they had never really been shown how to perform forcible entry operations under such strenuous and difficult conditions, the problem is that lots of firefighters tend to feel they don't need this type of training because they have never needed to force a real tough door under these conditions before. I use the analogy of RIT training, you only ever have to use it once on the fireground to make the training worth while.
I often get asked about injury while performing this type of training. I taught a recruit class for my department recently and I had the 10 recruits force hundreds of doors in zero visibility and in live fire conditions and never once did we even hurt anyones feelings. You need to ask yourself "what is the potential for a fireground injury if we DON'T do this training!"
Till next time stay safe!
During my initial training as a firefighter in Michigan I was shown the benefits of using a come along. This training included a “steering column pull” for auto extrication that would pull the steering column and the dash away from the patient freeing them from their entrapments. I was even shown an example where we literally folded a car in half to show how powerful the come along was.
A few years later I was hired by a large city in Canada that taught us this same technique, the only problem was that steering columns were now adjustable and this created a hazard as the rack and pinion system is broken up into two, three, or even four parts. When applying force on these parts the rack and pinion system is the weak area that could snap off and injure the patient or rescuers. As soon as it was realized that the rack and pinion system was on most cars the come along tool took a back seat in the auto extrication toolbox.
The come-along is a hand operated ratchet lever winch. The lever is used to pull the cable into the wench and the ratchet is the brake that keeps the wire from unwinding (similar to those seen on boat winches). It is light and compact that can be deployed in many situations. The only problem with this tool is the ignorance that surrounds it.
I myself used to say to my coworkers, that if you wanted to look like you had no idea what you were doing then take out the Come Along tool and that would prove it. Funny, the more education and training I get with such tools, the more apt I am to use hand tools over the gas powered hydraulic option. This is a great example of why I always say, “you don’t know what you don’t know”.
This brings up the point of training on the equipment that is carried on our trucks. I’m guilty of thinking that some of our tools that we carry are useless, again I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
Recently myself and a couple other instructors from Brotherhood Instructors, LLC. attended a course put on by Michigan State University about industrial machinery entrapments. We used the come along in a few scenarios and it worked great. The come along was used to lift devices, shore equipment, and binding heavy objects in place. Keep in mind when using this that it is either a whole “click” on the ratchet or none. It does not have the capabilities of moving smaller distances.
With the most standard come along assemblies it has the pulling power of 3000 lbs if used with the pulley, or it has 1500 lbs of pulling force without using the pulley. There are of course, larger and smaller models.
Pull the come along off your truck with your crew and go over the pros and cons of using this device. If you realize the potential of this piece of equipment it may go from your “plan D” to part of your “plan A” during your initial actions.
Check out the newest Beyond the Academy Video Training Series. This one is entitled "Engine Company Operations: Hydraulic Ventilation with a Smooth-bore/Solid Stream Nozzle.
Many fire service members believe that a fog nozzle is the only nozzle that can be used for ventilation, and "prefer" a fog nozzle for that reason. These techniques show that a solid stream nozzle can be used as a hydraulic ventilation tool as well. We do not entertain the "Smooth-bore vs. Fog" nozzle debate, but we do have our preference.
As Tom Brennan stated when asked about his preference: "A smooth-bore nozzle doesn't make a terrible engine company a good engine company, and a fog nozzle doesn't make a good engine company a terrible engine company!"
Regardless of which one you use, know your tools, the capabilities and the drawbacks.
Feel free to discuss on this blog.
February 2011, I transferred to a ladder company, my first time being assigned to a truck. Detroit ladder trucks typically have 6-pound pick head axes and 8-pound sledge hammers on them. I tried both of them on the roof, and my tool of choice became the 6-pound pick head axe. I managed to get my hands on an 8-pound pick head axe and gave that a try. While the extra weight was great for smashing through roofs, the balance was VERY nose heavy, which made it harder to control and also very uncomfortable to carry. Over the summer I was able to attend the Brotherhood Instructors Forcible Entry Ops class held in Independence Twp Michigan, where I used an 8-pound flathead axe, specifically the fire hooks unlimited 8-pound force axe. I really liked the way the axe was balanced. It was easy to control when swinging (in the forcible entry class) and seemed easy to carry. Sometime after the class I purchased my own to use at work. I decided to make some modifications, but with a twist, compared to what I had seen in the Brotherhood Instructor class.
First, I wanted to try and put the “notch” that allows the halligan forks to marry with the axe in a location that put both tool handles together, so I could get my hand around both tools. In Detroit, most front door forcible entry is performed by engine companies, so for me, I won’t be carrying a halligan much. So the more important modification I wanted was some kind of overstrike protection for my axe, as it would be used mainly for venting the peak roof of single family dwellings. I had seen small sections of angle iron welded on the bottom of the axe head on the axes used in Gary Fire Dept (Gary, IN). But they were welded with some space between the angle irons and the handle itself. In my opinion,
this location for the over strike protection made it very difficult to carry the axe, especially while climbing up ladders etc. So I had a friend TIG weld on some sections of angle iron below the head of the axe, but positioned them right against the handle of the axe, following the axe handle contour. For those of you who have used an axe on a roof to smash a vent hole, you know that often times the axe head will smash through the roof deck and stop on the handle itself, over time break the axe handle right below the axe head itself. Hopefully this modification will add some life to the tool for me.
I know this axe is called an 8-pound force axe, but I think the name sells this tool short. As I mentioned above, I don’t do the majority of forcible entry, as the engine companies often do the front door and Detroit truck companies only carry one halligan, which is mainly carried by the boss of the truck. My main objective as a deckie on the back end is to make the roof and ventilate. The vast majority of the time, I’m using this axe to open single family dwelling roofs. When used in tandem with a saw (chain or rotary), I can use the flat side of the axe to “turn” the boards over on the rafters after they have been cut. Of if there is no saw available (or the roof doesn’t lend itself to using a saw), I can use the blade side of the axe to start a hole (especially on roof decks that have multiple layers of shingles), then can flip over to continue smashing the roof boards.
All in all, this axe is fantastic for forcible entry and makes a great tool for vertical ventilation. With the addition of the over strike protection, hopefully the tool will have a long service life opening roofs!
The staff of Brotherhood Instructors, LLC would like to take a moment to thank the men and women of our Armed Forces for their dedication and selfless service to their country. We hope everyone has a safe long weekend while keeping the true meaning of Veterans Day in mind – honoring the men and women who have paid for our freedom and safety with their lives.
The owners of Brotherhood Instructors, LLC. would like to thank the following members of our staff for their service to their respective countries:
Tom Dalton, United States Marine Corps – FDNY
Mark Becica, United States Army – Baltimore City FD
Matt Black, United States Coast Guard – Kansas City MO FD
Chris Overpeck, United States Navy – Elkhart IN FD
Ken Pagurek, United States Air Force – Philladelphia FD
Bruno Lamare, Canadian Forces & British Army – Mississauga FD
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