Fire Department Tractor Rescue Training

[CompactTractorFan]

Looks like some great training! Thanks for the pics.

We did some training like that last fall, but instead of lifting parts of a tractor, we lifted a school bus off a car:

[texasjohn]

Great training.

I personally heard from a fellow about a friend of his who was crushed and killed by a tractor. Victim KNEW that the FEL WOULD LEAK DOWN yet he used FEL to raise tractor with FEL to work under it. Working alone in his shop, he was under tractor when it leaked down...assumption is that he thought he could escape when it began to leak down...didn't happen.

Am sure a common thread in tractor accidents is faulty equipment yet seeking to continue and "get the job done" anyway.

Be safe out there...it's all harder, heavier, more powerful and faster than you are!

[OTFD122]

Regarding the loader entrapment, is it assumed that the loader has weight in it at the time? Seems like otherwise, the fastest approach would be to just float the loader and then have people lift it off. If you can lift the front end of the tractor, you can float and lift the loader much easier.

Then again, if somebody is trapped under the bucket, maybe you don't want to screw around with the joystick.

Our scenario was that our "farmer" had some fence posts in the loader that he was securing when the loader failed... We just didn't have any real fence posts to put in there!

With the loader joystick, usually we do a lockout/tagout type procedure with any equipment entrapment, that way everything is secured and no one is hitting buttons or moving levers they shouldn't.

[woodlandfarms]

Ahhh.. I was about to ask the same. So... Lets say the loader has failed (it would be like being in float mode) you would have to raise the tractor a long ways to get the weight of the loader off the victim. Did you guys explore other methods to just relieve the loader pressure and not move the tractor?

[Renze]

PTO Safety - YouTube

This one shows pretty clear what can happen.

[joshuabardwell]

Ahhh.. I was about to ask the same. So... Lets say the loader has failed (it would be like being in float mode) you would have to raise the tractor a long ways to get the weight of the loader off the victim. Did you guys explore other methods to just relieve the loader pressure and not move the tractor?

That was my thought too. If the loader has failed, raising the tractor will not raise the loader until the tractor is way up in the air.

[Treemonkey1000]

Might be messy but unscrewing the hydraulic lines at the lift cylinders would that allow you to lift the bucket other than bucket being honkin heavy by itself?

[PoorPlowboy]

Why not crank the engine, and lift the bucket with the joystick? If it were me under that bucket, I would be begging for it to be off of me in the most expedient method possible.

[woodlandfarms]

There is something to be said for the opinion of the trapped.

[PoorPlowboy]

Standby while I call my VFD, I just got burned!