Since our good friends at CHAR stopped manufacturing their awesome products, we were left wanting for a tool that could deliver the same hook-&-climb capability.
We got with BRO-BOB FARRELL at Fire Hooks Unlimited & bounced a few ideas off of him, and this is what we got!
Modeled partially on the old-fashioned POMPIER LADDER (aka Scaling Ladder) we all read about in fire school, our new Pompier Hook is a 6.5 foot hook with a NY Roof Hook head on one end, and a modified Trash Hook head on the other, and two climbing rungs.
The idea is, for house fires where you're not sure if the fire has extended into the attic, you pull some ceiling to expose the joists in the attic, then you hook the joist with the fangs of the modified Trash Hook head, & use the rungs to climb up to see what you can see in the attic space....possibly even throwing some water into the space from your perch on the hook.
The 6.5 foot length is perfect for 8 foot ceilings in older houses built prior to the 1990s, and the 7.5 foot length is better for accessing attic and void spaces in newer construction with taller ceilings.
The Pompier Hook also can be used for VEiS when climbing to first-floor windows. It even has multiple RIT applications.
