As stated this is NOT a strut failure this is operator error. This is improperly used struts being being used by an instructor who was beyond his scope of knowledge and a safety officer who had no idea what was going on and was very lucky no serious injuries occurred. You can't anchor the object your lifting to the strut your lifting it with. There are many other very safe ways to anchor the struts. If you need to anchor the lifting strut you anchor the lifting section to the object being lifted, and the base section separately. Essentially in this scenario it would have been no different if just ran a chain from the base plate up and over the end of the strut and back to the base and started pumping. If you are ever in Indy or FDIC there are two groups that teach very good heavy rescue/rigging classes that also incorporate using heavy wreckers in rescues safely, and they cover struts and proper bracing/tie backs for them very well Don't blame the equipment,

The video starts at 3:28 You are welcome.....

Interesting video. Thank you for sharing for the betterment of us ALL! This made for some interesting discussion at the coffee table which led to some training of our own. Hard to tell from a video but there would appear to be a couple of fundamental mistakes present, some of which have already been pointed out. Firstly you can’t anchor the base of the strut to the object being lifted. That would be like holding onto an object with one hand and pushing it away with the other. Your objective should be to construct a triangle design with the straps passing under the vehicle, if possible, base plate to base plate. Secondly, as any NFPA 1006 - chapter 5 compliant spec ops tech (which auto-x falls under) should be able to identify…. If the RATCHET were operated with the strap running from vehicle-to base plate anchor-and back to vehicle you have effectively created a theoretical 2:1 mechanical advantage pulling AGAINST the base plate. The consequence of which is for every 1000lb of lifting force applied to the straps 2000lb of force will be applied to the base plate anchor! This is probably why the struts failed before the strap did. Check with your departments rope techs for a more detailed explanation/demonstration. Other errors have already been discussed so thanks once again. “lifes good, firefighting’s better”

That is why the strut support (strap or chain) should go from strut one base under the vehicle to strut two base. It can be done because we do it all the time. It takes no extra time and is much safer...

The cables which were designed to hold the plate from slipping out should have been attached to a lower point, like the car, not to the truck, which was being lifted. The strut was lifting the truck which the cables were attached to, thus stretching the cables, flexing the foot plate until the strut failed. Glad no-one was hurt. A learned experience.

Also, for those of you who are immediately going to the "call a crane" argument, I think you're missing the point of the training. Yes, if this were a real accident and it actually happened in a flat, accessible parking lot, in an area where a crane, or heavy wrecker is available, then yes, call the wrecker, but what if it isn't? What if this is down an embankment? Or somehow occurred inside a warehouse, or parking deck with limited overhead room? Or there's simply no crane or wrecker available within 2 hours? After all, this was in California. If a major earthquake happens, wreckers and cranes may not be the answer. The "what if's" can go on forever, but the point is, they had to lift an object (never mind where, or even what the object actually is) and those were the only tools available at the time. It was training, and they (as well as WE) have learned from their mistakes. Quit trying to pass the buck, and figure it out for yourself. It might be what you're called to do one day.

I have read through some comments and it WAS HUMAN Error 100%!!!! The bottoms of the struts are NOT to be tied to what you are lifting. If you do that then the strut is like a bow and at some point it will break. You attach the base to the other strut base, or the car on the bottom. Think about it people. If you attach the base of the strut to what you are lifting you are pushing against yourself. that is like trying to lift your self while standing on your hands.

One of the best technical rescue training videos ever!!! Very good discussion except for the know it all, arrogant people that try to make themselves feel better about themselves by throwing shade on others, even after the fact (even though some are right). I agree it was operator error and safety oversight that led to this failure and this is and excellent example of the bow concept. Technical rescue is that, technical and can get very complex. We like to try to dumb it down in the fire service by using extreme safety factors to compensate for errors we should have accounted for. I learned a lot from this video and hope to share with others so that we can all strive for better. 'Perfection is not attainable but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence' -Vince Lombardi . True professionalism is not knowing more that your peers it is sharing what you know with your peers to make them and you better. Is this you? Are you a TRUE professional? I hope so and if not it's NEVER to late to start doing this. This was an easy oversight to make even without it happening in the middle of the night with victims screaming and a battalion chief yelling to hurry up. We all make human error (some of us are better than others). The goal isn't to prevent them, it is to limit it. Train a little (like an hour) every day. You will over time catch excellence and that should be our goal. I try to work on it every day and hope to be done at the end of my career.

It was a strut failure on the passenger side. This older "first gen." (no longer sold) Enerpac Hydraulic Ram that Paratech incorporated into their strut systems had a weak link. This was an older model being used here. With those, the cup on top of the yellow cylinder was bolted with two bolts and that was the weak point when "going heavy" with 45+ degree angles. it "flexed" at the bolts and more than once these have sheared as shown here. The fix.... They updated them with a cup that slid down and over the cylinder a few inches and was bolted thru the top of the cup onto the cylinder. This prevented any flexing at the bolts and there are no reported failures at this cup/cylinder junction.

I am not a firefighter, and I even questioned the way they attached those chains to the strut

The anchors strap should have gone under the car and to the D handle of the other lifting strut, NOT to the truck they are trying to lift The propose of the strap is to keep the struts from kicking out. None of the strap should be anchored to the car, I'm assuming they will be winching or grip hoisting the car out from under the truck. The straps are the weak point in this system, they are only rated to 3300lbs. In this lift you should be using chain with a binder. Glad nobody was hurt !

I'm not sure that was a strut "failure" as much as it simply slipped off the LUG NUT that it appears to be up against. Why have $20K worth of lifting tools, but not a $20 lug wrench to take the wheel off to gain better access to the frame? BTW, Kudos for posting this and letting us all learn from it.

Lets look at the lift point the front wheel a anchor point that has two degrees of movement yes it is cinched up to "prevent " movement. Removal of the front tire would have allowed access to the frame for stabilization and lift. A box crib under the outriggers on the truck and using airbags along with the struts would have have given a greater safety factor. I have been to these types of trainings and I come away with the feeling of I would rather have a heavy knuckle boom crane on my Rescue/ Squad truck like the rest of the world has on theirs

Just an observation, was the strut rated for the lift? and the system for securing the strut appear to be at a very steep angle on the vehicle they are trying to lift. In other words:. Is the is the strut working against the anchor straps thus pulling against itself? Should the anchor point been lower onto the vehicle below? as it appears it is on the support strut in the window? Like I said not second guessing just observations and questions...

Hopefully this video is used to teach how NOT to fasten the jacks. It´s a big thing to admit you oversaw a critical error but noble if you can learn from your mistakes and prevent others from doing the same mistake. It´s quite obvious in hindsight that you don´t secure the bottom of the jacks to the thing you are lifting with them... Ps. Keep up the good work guys :)

I wish that I had some video from a different angle. What is the red strap on the rear doing? Is the front strut lifting at the wheel and tied off at the axle?

and I wouldn't be using air in the "progress capture " strut either , they each need to be maned and hand tightened as the truck is lifted.

when was the last time this crazy elaborate time consuming assembly of struts was placed on vehicles for real extrications?

ok, I don't understand. it looks like the base of the ram was strapped and chained to the chassy ... once the initial slack had been taken up, I can't see how extending the jack would do anything more than push the wheel into the wheel-arch. What am I missing?

First thank God no one was injured. With that being said, I agree with the comment below. The lower strap has to be perpendicular to the ground, or at least as close as possible. Going to a high anchor point, you are "bending" the strut. The same as a bow and arrow bending when the string is pulled back from two points. Struts are designed to have the load inline. If you notice the second second set of struts captured the load without incident. Anchor to each other to the black car better opt.

bless you camera man.

EARTHQUAKE!!!...its ok just allergies On a serious note glade to see your guy is ok. Do you have any info on what caused the strut to fail?

This was 100% strut failure, not human error. JT Wenner Sr is exactly correct. This strut failed a bolt that is not being used by this manufacturer anymore. It simply failed at that point. They literally went to the hardware store and purchased another grade 8 bolt and reused the same strut. The Instructor nor students did anything wrong. Yes the strut was placed correctly and was not upside down as previously mentioned, yes they watched all of the movement in the vehicle and no the strut did not bend. This evolution was done correctly, the Strut simply failed, and yes thank god nobody got hurt. Nice observations, but bad to assume if you were not there.

I thought it meant the cars struts were failing with a truck on top and I was like "ya think??"

1:43 bless you.

Like trying to lift a bucket while standing in it pulling on the handle

This appears to be human error. The hydraulic strut was upside down. There for the ends were not properly locked together. The second set of struts did their job and held the load. Glade no one was injured. This is why you should know how your equipment works and continue to train.

In my opinion they should have been doing this... Lift an inch.. Crib an inch, but equipment mal functions happens all the time!

yikes, at least the firefighter was in good spirit, you ok : Yup!

Watching again, I would have called in a crane or a heavy wrecker

up....up...up... 03:25 thank me later.

Who even has such a silly crash

“ Let me show ya somtin “ .... Fire Marshall Bill

never herd about cranes ?

Failure at 3:28 when the 3rd guy walks into the picture. Change the speed setting to 0.25!

Literally watched it bend and no one said anything....

It's a cherry picker, boys. Chock the rear wheels and use the truck's outriggers and articulating boom to your advantage thus putting all the extra weight in the truck's ass end, then deploy your struts to stabilize only and remove the vehicle. This is a poor scenario because in the real world that truck would have sent the entire front-end of the passenger car into the front seat of the cabin while the hood likely decapitated every passenger taller than 3ft tall.

lo mejor, el estornudo del cámara a mitad de grabación... Bueno, lo mejor es que no le pasó nada al bombero.

Желаю ни кому не попадать в такие ситуации, где придется использовать такое оборудование, оно прекрасно но и очень сложное, так что ждём подъемный кран.

I was going to say something, but everyone else already took the good comments, so I'll just reiterate. Train, know your equipment, use your head, and wear your PPE.

This video is definitely titled incorrectly. This was not a strut failure, this was human error, plain and simple. The suspension has play in it, no one in their right mind would attack a strut to a wheel.. it appears to be braced at the top of the wheel.

This us why you wear full ppe even during training.

The strut didn't fail, that safety officer did. You secure the strut to another strut when lifting, not to the load.

This video should be renamed. Also, if you continually add force, and nothing is happening, the hair on the back of your neck should be standing on end. Eventually potential energy will become kinetic energy.

Just going to say Holy Sh!t. and leave it at that !!! Someone was lucky this day. Or unlucky depending on how you want to look at it. Lucky they didnt die, unlucky this happened.

bless you at1:50

No disrespect to the hard working guys who are putting their lives on the line to help other but a tow truck is better equipped to do this kind of work. That being said, tow trucks aren't always available. Guess it's better to have this than wait what may be too long for a truck. Hope everyone is OK.

The Angle is alllllll wrongggggggg

Holy shit

Well, that's gotta be the most boring video I've seen in weeks.

don't you guys hear about a crane? crain that truck and there is no "up" "up" anymore......

NOT STRUT FAILURE, HUMAN FAILURE. THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE HERE. PUMPING THAT MANY TIMES AND NOT GETTING RESULTS....LETS STOP AND THINK...THINK ABOUT THE FORCES AT PLAY. WITH THAT MANY GUYS ONLY FOCUSING ON MAKING VIDEOS....NOBODY NOTICED.... LOOK WHERE THE CLOSEST STRUT IS ANCHORED BACK TO. THANK GOD NOBODY GOT WIPED OUT.

HEY look its SDFD

Terrible

This had bad new written on it from the beginning. Just look where they had everything anchored 🤦🏽‍♂️

I will put my .02 cents in. NEVER use your equipment beyond what it is designed to do, EVER! If you do not understand the working limits, contact your manufacturer so they can inform you of proper lifting angles, weights and techniques. You will see an NFPA standard soon on Struts and Strut Systems. Remember, if your gut tells you this isn't quite right, 99% of the time you should listen!

The cables which were designed to hold the plate from slipping out should have been attached to a lower point, like the car, not to the truck, which was being lifted. The strut was lifting the truck which the cables were attached to, thus stretching the cables, flexing the foot plate until the strut failed. Glad no-one was hurt. A learned experience.