We are in the second half of 2022 and there is a lot happening in the technical rescue world. Just one of the interesting things so far in 2022 for DRR was the Petzl symposium in Salt Lake City this past May. I got to visit with Richard Delaney (Rope Test Lab), Michael Rush (Peak Rescue), Tom Wood (Elevated Safety), Steve Petty (Petzl), Kevin Koprek (Rigging for Rescue), Russell McCullar (Mississippi Fire Training) and a bunch of others.
Petzl’s state of the art facility in Salt Lake was the symposium central point for presentations, food and networking and then conference attendees were bussed to off-site locations like the Salt Lake City Fire Training Center and Big Cottonwood Canyon for hands on activities.
Petzl had been wanting to do this symposium for a number of years Steve Petty told me. The idea was to have cutting edge presentations like at ITRS but also have hands on clinics to try new gear and techniques. It was really a smashing success, I think.
I worked with my good friend Bobby Dubnow (Phoenix Fire Special Ops. Captain) on a vertical confined space entry at the fire training center and embankment rescue at Big Cottonwood Canyon. We were facilitating these training stations and quickly ran into some challenges having groups of 16 rescue instructors suddenly work together. It smoothed out easy enough once we realized how many pro tips, we could share with each other and then it was super fun.
I also got to present some new testing data on single operator dual device and human factors in rescue. More testing on that is in the works.
My hat is off to Petzl for putting on a first-class event. The energy that was there is hard to describe but I heard more than one person remarking that something really amazing happened in Salt Lake. I’m looking forward to the next one and hope I get invited again.
