Confined Space Rope Rigging Rescue Equipment

Historical development of ARIZONA VORTEX

The general concept of the ARIZONA VORTEX (or "AZV", as it had come to be known) was developed in the desert-alpine mountains of northern Arizona from expertise gained during the improvised rigging of wood timber frame "artificial" high directionals constructed for vertical rescue work (see right). This initial work was accomplished during Ropes That Rescue seminars since the late 80's under the direction of Reed Thorne. The first metal AZV prototype design was an "easel-sty le A frame" welded together from heavy steel square tubing and plate at the Arizona Phelps Dodge Morenci copper mine fab shop in a 1996 RTR mine rescue program from plans scribbled out on a pizza restaurant table napkin. Needless to say, it was very heavy and cumbersome to deal with, but the concept was there.

Left: AZV prototype #2 being demonstrated during Team Skills Rescue Workshop at Harpers Ferry, WV at maryland Heights in 1998.
Upper right: Improvised timber frame SA Frame at Phelps Dodge Morenci copper mine in southern Arizona. Click on photos to enlarge.
Lower right: Wren Industries AZV v.1.0 being used by LA County Fire during highline at costal beach. Photo courtesy Mike Layhee, LACFD

It was soon thereafter that an aluminum model (prototype #2, see left) was manufactured by Wren Industries from more elaborate plans drawn by Thorne. This lightweight prototypes was tested in four 7 day Ropes That Rescue rigging seminars before the third prototype (AZV v.1.0) was made by Wren. In this design, all legs were fit together by welded couplings without any telescoping capability. In v.1.0, all adjustment in the final height and positioning of the AZV head was done by extending the legs past the head. Problems occurred with this v.1.0 non-telescoping design because many times in confined locations, particularly in industry, these legs were unable to be positioned. A new foot design, dubbed the "Raptor" because of it's shape, was developed for v.1.0 to help direct downward forces in soft soil like that which would be common in a mine or wilderness area. Version 1.0 has been used in several RTR open & contract seminars around the world.It is through the practical use of AZV v.1.0 during these seminars that much needed knowledge regarding improvements to design were ultimately had. This knowledge has lead to the improvements found in AZV v.2.0.

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