Government Applications

• primarily, an injury and drowning accident prevention tool during waterborne training exercises,
• during recovery of pilots from downed aircraft,
• to recover soldiers who have strayed from their targets while parachuting,
• and as an extraction device during classified special ops missions due to its low profile, speed and maneuverability in and around a hostile environment. Extractor came up with the concept and introduced its application more than a decade ago, and since then, military special ops forces, pwc tactical training instructors (See http://www.k38maritime.com), and competitive sled manufacturers have adopted this application as part of their own programs and marketing strategies.
• Best of all- the same sleds have been in service for several years and on many missions! Many sleds have outlasted the pwcs that pull them.
• Reviews

Coast Guard Use:

Coast Guardsmen utilize the Extraction tm sled

• for search and rescue in rough surf and in areas deemed too narrow or shallow for larger vessels to access.
• The EXTRACTOR tm Rescue Extraction Sled tm and the pwc are an excellent tool to deploy and use where there is a minimum of personnel available and a high frequency of rescue calls, requiring ultra fast deployment and response times.
• The rescue extraction sled and pwc combination is a great asset to have for enforcing Homeland Security by economically patrolling coastlines near national borders, harbors, and inland waterways.
• Reviews

Fire/Rescue Use:

Fire/Rescue and EMS personnel use the EXTRACTOR Rescue Extraction Sled in all forms of water rescue:

• Ocean
• low-head dams
• rivers, lakes and bays
• ice
• and dive rescues.

boat on tether high lines

ideal for tensioned diagonals in flood situations because of the buoyancy and ability to bring a working rescue platform (ability to kneel and work) to the scene for:
a. rescuers
b. 2 person (PRO SLED-shown in pictures above and below), 3 person (MEGA SLED) unconscious or conscious victim transport
c. equipment

Continuous loop flood extraction

ideal working platform for boat wraps

Ice rescues

Click on images for a larger view
Tethered rescue board being used in ‘Rescues from Vehicles in Water’, as it allows the rescuer and casualty to be transported at the same time – photos photos provided by Paul O'Sullivan, Rescue 3 International, UK.

 


Both, the Carlson and the RAD boards, and the Extractor PRO sleds serve a rescue function, but one cannot be compared to the other. The Extractor PRO is not designed as a human propulsion rescue or hasty search board but as a caveat to the Carlson and RAD boards. For our swift water rescue board compared to the RAD or Carlson, check out our RIVERx model!

Many water rescue training instructors and working professionals prefer the EXTRACTOR Rescue Extraction Sled over other sleds and over the basket for several reasons:

• Extractor sleds have the right amount of flotation (keeps the rescue swimmer and victim relatively dry and above the water-a very important feature for the prevention or reduction of hypothermia, extends the length of time a rescue team can perform a search while being exposed to the elements), baskets offer little or no flotation.
• it is stable and easy to load victims on the sled (even in rapids!) Tapered tail allows the sled tail to submerge under water a few inches when weight is placed on it. Conscious or Unconscious Victims can be loaded onto sled at the water level and do not need to be lifted onto the sled as with sleds with too much flotation!
  Sleds offer a greater platform area and many more secure hand holds for boarding victims and keeping them there securely. With a basket, you are likely to get banged around and bruised up due to the instability at the connection points, a bottom surface not designed to travel over water, and due to lack of padding. With a sled you are not going to get banged and bruised.The sleds can be tied down at a 3 point connection, providing stability, or they can use our military Quick Hitch. Nothing offers the same amount of stability as a solid hitch system.
  Baskets tend to be connected at only one point, (Rarely 3 points.) A single point of attachment is dangerous as this allows the basket to bounce all over the place and possibly flip upside down in dynamic environments, risking both vistim and rescuer safety.
• The basket was the promoted and preferred piece of equipment for river rescue or swift water rescue, by Mike McGann of Indiana River Rescue School, as early as 1991, and by COSAR/Los Angeles Fire since 1993. For more than a decade, during the years where the pwc manufacturers made their strong push to show their products' effectiveness in a positive role and through the Law Loan Program, instructors which teamed up with the manufacturers pushed basket use to everyone they taught across the country, as this was, in their opinion, the equipment of choice at the time.
  Proponents for basket use liked the basket for swift water scenarios primarily for the reasons that they could sink the basket into the water and recover the victim at the water level. The baskets were attached to the pwc at a single point and this allowed them to make tight turning radiuses in narrow channels or rivers. At the time, sleds offered too much flotaton for use in this environment and there were not sled designs that would work well with the pwc in narrow channels. (COSAR is and always has been a proponent for the use of sleds in open water and surf environments due to flotation needs sleds offer that baskets cannot provide.)
  However, many things have changed in sled development since the early 1990s and the opinion of basket use has changed for the agencies who have established pwc rescue units throughout the world. Many have switched from basket use for th efollowing reasons:
  Although the basket may be an inexpensive and easy solution for fire departments to adopt into their pwc rescue program, primarily due to the fact that they have them for use in other applications already, the basket was not designed for the pwc rescue application, the manufacturers of these baskets do not endorse their use for this application, and the likelihood is that you will either break 2-3 baskets or 2-3 bodies before you will wear out a sled under normal operating conditions. This cost is more than the cost of the sled. Customers and former basket proponents have found that the Extractor PRO model sled, with its tapered thickness at the tail, submerges below the water surface enough, even in swift water currents, to easily recover a victim and secure them upon the deck. The Extractor PRO also provides enough turning radius so that the pwc can maneuver in narrow channels and rivers, it is more stable and provides a wider working platform than the basket. To top it off, it is more comfortable than the basket, and it also provides enough flotation for open water and surf rescues. As long as the safety and use guidelines are followed, we usually only hear back from customers for a re-order, or after about 3-5 years and after their sled has been though its use.

• The Extractor can be used effectively with or without the pwc for rescues in rapids and in ice rescues. The sled, with its bow and tail rocker allows it to ride efficiently on top of the water without digging the nose. It can be secured with ropes and carabineers for belaying across rivers or pulling across the ice. The designers at Extractor are the ones who pioneered this concept and have used it in all the sled models since the beginning. It is so effective that it is no wonder competitors like Turbo Surf and BZ are starting to implement this concept as well.
• The Extractor Sled is used very effectively for dive rescue. Rescue divers, with their gear on, can easily slide up onto the sled and can be transported or taxied to the dive location. Rescue divers also use the sled as a platform for cadaver transport in body recovery missions.
  
• Reviews

Lifeguard Use:

• Primarily used for surf rescue situations, this sled will go anywhere you are willing to take your pwc. From small waves in the Mediterranean to huge Surf in Hawaii this sled can handle it just fine.

Once again, the Extractor sled, using the same design principles that it takes to allow a surfboard ride on a wave face, perform rail to rail turns without digging in, and track a path without sliding out or fishtailing, is the innovator of this concept and has been using it for over a decade. It has only been recently that some of the bodyboard sled manufacturers have tossed away their flat-rockered designs and have begun to use a sled with some rolled vee in the sled bottoms so that the sled turns easier and does not dig a rail. Hmm, I wonder where they got that idea?

• The first sled designed and developed by Dan Elias over a decade ago, originally, was used by local lifeguards for hauling lobster traps out of the surf zone so that surfers would not get their leashes tangled up in them, as well as, for rescuing swimmers in distress.

• The sled has also been used effectively in aiding injured marine life. Marine mammals, such as seals, sea lions, porpoise and dolphin, as well as, marine aves, like pelicans, have been safely transported on the sled to an access point on shore where marine biologists can pick them up and take them for treatment.
  Reviews

 

A sample listing of the agencies who use the Extractor Rescue Sled :

Federal Agencies

• U.S. Navy- EOD, SEALS, MCCS
• US Army- Fire/Rescue Services, Special Tactics Squadron
• U. S. Marine Corps- RAID, RECON, MCCS
• US Air Force- Fire Rescue Services, Special Ops SOCOM, Downed Aircraft Recovery, Water Rescue Unit
• US Coast Guard- Surf Rescue/Recovery, Inlet Waterways Rescue and Patrol
• Kentucky Air National Guard- Para Rescue Division
• INS-River Patrol/Rescues
• Office of Emergency Services- a division of F.E.M.A.

Local or Regional Fire/Rescue, Law Enforcement, or Lifeguard Services

• Hong Kong Lifesaving Society
• Limassol Lifeguards-Cyprus (Kypros)
• Jabatan Bomba Dan Penyelamat Malaysia-(Fire and Rescue Department-Malaysia)
• DLRG-Cuxhaven-Deutschland (Germany)
• Taiwan Lifesaving Society, R.O.C.
• MEDLOG, S.L., Spain
• Cruz Roja Spain
• ELC., Japan
• Moroccan Coast Guard
• South Korea
• Ha3o, Poland
• Maldives
• Tahiti
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Austrailia
• the Netherlands
• Canada
• Italy
• Austria
• France
• Brazil

Other

• Ocean Oil Rig -Brunei
• Kooheji Marine Centre-Bahrain
• Royal Caribbean Cruises