Forcible Entry Techniques From the Experts

FORCIBLE ENTRY TECHNIQUES AND TIPS Duckbill Lock Breaker – By A!"re# Bra$$ar"

Nowadays firefighters tend to become over reliant on saws during forcible entry operations and often forget some of the most basic of fireground tools. The Duckbill Lock Breaker is one such a tool that has become a forgotten tool that tends to sit in a compartment on the truck. But what about the times when, the saw does not start? Or you have to change the blade? Or you have to remove locks inside of a building where the saw will be choked out by the smoke? The duckbill is a tremendous secondary tool for these situations. The Duckbill Lock Breaker works by driving the lock shackle off the body of the lock. The lock breaker will remove an American 700 Series Lock with no problem, in fact there are very few locks that can not be defeated by the lock breaker. One lock the can withstand the forces that can be applied with the lock breaker is the disc type lock. If a disc type lock is present a different forcible entry method should be utilized.

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All in all, this axe is fantastic for forcible entry and makes a great tool for vertical ventilation. With the addition of the over strike protection, hopefully the tool will have a long lon g service life opening roofs!

ELECTRIC Roll U1 2a%e$ – By A!"re# Bra$$ar" Comments (0)

Not all forcible entry has to be forcible, in some cases a little knowledge and some finesse will get the job done quicker than some more traditional methods. One such instance is Electric Roll Up Doors and Gates. With a little bit of knowledge and a screwdriver entry into these gates can be very fast with very v ery little force. Electric Roll up Gates are most commonly found in my area on loading docks, garbage rooms, and on the occasional roll up gate. These electric door openers are usually found mounted around 4' off the ground directly beside the door that it opens. There is a key way on the control panel. This key way controls the door going up and down. The key way is often a standard mortise lock cylinder, on



































































































































So dust off the duckbill lock breaker, dig it out from the compartment, or buy one to include to your forcible entry entr y arsenal. It is a great tool that can prove to be extremely valuable on the fireground.

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Forcible E!%ry – T&e Ba' Ba' Tool – By Paul Hoeke'a





































































































































There are numerous ways to manipulate an American Series 2000 type lock to force entry (hockey puck locks with the key way on the rim of the lock not the face). You can cut the lock ¾ opposite of the keyway,

you can cut the rail above and below the lock and bend the rail out of the way, or you can use a pipe wrench and twist the lock off (if it doesn’t have a guard) just to name a few. What happens if you’re on an engine and you don’t have all the tools that the truck carries to force these locks? A simple solution to your problem is the Bam Bam tool. The Bam Bam tool doesn’t take up much space and allows you to start forcible entry on American Series 2000 type locks until the truck arrives. The Bam Bam tool utilizes a hardened screw to screw into the key way of the lock and a handle that slides along the shaft of the tool. It is important to make sure s ure that the screw is hardened. If it isn’t then the screw may not screw into the lock cylinder, or when you go to force the cylinder the threads of the screw may strip causing the screw to come out of the cylinder without forcing the lock.





































































































































To force the lock using the Bam Bam tool you need to place the screw in the center of the key way and begin to screw the tool into place. It may take a few seconds to get the screw to bite into the cylinder, but once it does you want to screw it in about 3/16ths to ¼ of an inch into the cylinder. It is about 4 or 5 threads deep into the cylinder. You want to screw it in this deep so that you don’t strip the threads when you go to force the lock. It is important to keep the Bam Bam tool as strait as possible while you are screwing it into position, so that the screw bites into the cylinder evenly giving it a better bite into the cylinder. Once the screw is set you need to hold the Bam Bam tool with one hand while the other slides the handle back and forth along the shaft of the tool to force the cylinder and the pin of the lock out. After the cylinder and pin is pulled out remove the lock. Don't forget to pull the pins after forcing the locks! Using the Bam Bam tool would not be my first option for forcing American 2000 series type locks, but is something good to have in your bag of tricks when other methods of forcible entry can’t be used or are not available. This method will not work on the American Lock 2500 Series. • • • • • • •

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Tool (o"i)ica%io!$ *+, – T&e - Pou!" Force A.e – By S&a!e /lu0 Comments (4)





































































































































February 2011, I transferred to a ladder company, my first time being assigned to a truck. Detroit ladder trucks typically have 6-pound pick head axes and 8-pound sledge hammers on them. I tried both of them on the roof, and my tool of choice became the 6-pound pick head axe. I managed to get my hands on an 8-pound pick head axe and gave that a try. While the extra weight was great for smashing through roofs, the balance was VERY nose heavy, which made it harder to control and also very uncomfortable to carry. Over the summer I was able to attend the Brotherhood Instructors Forcible Entry Ops class held in Independence Twp Michigan, where I used an 8-pound flathead axe, specifically the fire hooks unlimited 8-pound force axe. I really liked the way the axe was balanced. It was easy to control when swinging (in the forcible entry class) and seemed easy to carry. Sometime after the class I purchased my own to use at work. I decided to make some modifications, but with a twist, compared to what I had seen in the Brotherhood Instructor class.

First, I wanted to try and put the “notch” that allows the halligan forks to marry with the axe in a location that put both tool handles together, so I could get my hand h and around both tools. In Detroit, most front door forcible entry is performed by engine companies, so for me, I won’t be carrying a halligan much. So the more important modification I wanted was some kind of overstrike protection for my axe, as it would be used mainly for venting the peak roof of single family dwellings. I had seen small sections of angle iron welded on the bottom of the axe head on the axes used in Gary Fire Dept (Gary, IN). But they were welded with some space between the angle irons and the handle itself. In my opinion,







































































































































this location for the over strike protection made it very difficult to carry the axe, especially while climbing up ladders etc. So I had a friend TIG weld on some sections of angle iron below the head of the axe, but positioned them right against the handle of the axe, following the axe handle contour. For those of you who have used an axe on a roof to smash a vent hole, you know that often times the axe head will smash through the roof deck and stop on the handle itself, over time break the axe handle right below the axe head itself. Hopefully this modification will add some life to the tool for me.



































































































































The Duckbill Lock Breaker is a single functioning

tool, meaning it's only function is to force entry into padlocks. The duckbill is made of soft metal, usually brass. The reason for making it out of soft metal is so that as it is driven down in between the padlock body and the shackle the lock will "bite" into the soft metal of the wedge and hold it's position until it is struck again. Every time the lock breaker is struck it is driven down a little further into the lock, this places more and more pressure on the lock until it finally fails. If the wedge was made out of a hardened metal it would simply bounce out every time it was struck.

To use the Duckbill Lock Breaker, simply place the wedge into the lock. This is where mistakes get made! The only way the duckbill will work is with the top edge of the wedge on the shackle and the bottom edge of the duckbill on the body of the lock, do not put the duckbill into the lock with the top and bottom rails on both side of the shackle! Once the lock breaker is in place use the 8 lbs forcible entry axe or a 12 lbs Maul to drive the duckbill into the lock, continue driving it in until the lock fails. It is that simple!



































































































































Forcible Entry Techniques From the Experts

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