heavy rescue training llc
 
 
Heavy Rescue Training LLC utilizes a cadre of well-trained and dedicated instructors.  These individuals are selected for their technical/heavy rescue expertise and experience, their high level of motivation and their ability to teach and pass on their knowledge in a clear and friendly manner.  All HRT instructors are currently employed as full-time, professional Heavy Rescue Technicians.  Rescue IS our full time profession.  This means several things to our clients: First, our instructors draw upon their real world, personal experiences and pass those lessons onto the students. Second, they remain immersed in the technical/heavy rescue field, learning new techniques, refining current procedures and putting theories and skills to the test in the field on a regular basis during actual rescue responses. And third, they have a personal dedication to safety and a passion for training.  Each instructor is carefully chosen and brings a unique blend of personal experience, training history and insight to HRT and its curriculum.
 
hrt llc instructor cadre
Owner, operator and head instructor for Heavy Rescue Training LLC, Steve Crandall has been involved in the rescue world for more than two decades. Starting as a member of a wilderness-based search and rescue team in the eighties, he responded to numerous call-outs and attended many training sessions in rope rescue, swift water rescue, dive rescue, backcountry search procedures, helicopter operations, etc. During that time, he also served as a training officer for the team's mountain rescue group. In 1990, he left an adjunct faculty position as an adult educator at Brigham Young University where he taught in the Outdoor Leadership Program to pursue a full-time career in the fire and rescue service. Starting as an industrial firefighter/EMT for Geneva Steel and as a reserve firefighter for Orem City, he continued to receive and give training in technical rescue skills. In 1992, after working for the Salt Lake County Fire Department for one year, Mr. Crandall began working for the Salt Lake City Fire Department (SLCFD) and joined the department’s Technical Rescue Team (TRT). Working together with Captain Dave Dixon, they redesigned the team’s training program. Since that time, Mr. Crandall has served as the team's coordinator and primary trainer. Over the years, the SLCFD TRT program has been redesigned and its operational responsibilities broadened from rope-based rescue and confined space rescue to include trench collapse rescue, machinery disentanglement, heavy vehicle extrication, structural collapse rescue, and the other disciplines of Heavy Rescue. Mr. Crandall currently serves as a Captain on the SLCFD Heavy Rescue Team at Station Five. He is responsible for curriculum development, policy creation, as well as both initial and ongoing training for the team. He has attended numerous technical rescue training programs, is a certified Level II Technician with the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT) and the author of the SLCFD Heavy Rescue Team Manual, Operational Policies and Tactical Guidelines as well as both the HRT Basic and Advanced Rope Rescue Technician texts and the HRT Confined Space Rescue Manual. During his fire service career, he has served as a firefighter, paramedic, tactical/SWAT medic, Recruit School trainer/instructor, and on numerous department advisory committees. He is a Rescue Specialist, Heavy Rigger, Rescue Squad Officer and FEMA certified Safety Officer with the Utah Task Force One FEMA/Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) team and serves on the Rescue Working Group Advisory Committee. He his certified FEMA/USAR Collapse Rescue Instructor and worked as a USAR Captain during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and Rescue Team Manager during the team’s deployment to Hurricane Katrina. While serving as the Department Training Captain for the SLCFD, he was responsible for the creation and development of the Advanced Primary Search, Firefighter Survival and Rapid Intervention Programs. He has published articles in Fire Engineering, Straight Tip and the Utah Peace Officer as well as technical rigging drawings in Response magazine (NASAR's official publication). His heavy rescue team has been featured in both Backdraft and FIRE/RESCUE magazines. Over the years, Mr. Crandall has lectured and taught technical rescue skills and tactics to both private industry rescue teams and public sector teams. He has had the opportunity to teach federal contractors, the United States Marines and US Army Special Forces groups. He currently works with Petzl America as the lead instructor for the EXO Personal Escape System. He has been an active rock and ice climber for more than twenty-five years and has worked as a professional climbing instructor, guide and rope access worker.
As was stated above, each HRT instructor serves as full-time, professional technical/heavy rescue technician as well as FEMA/USAR specialist. Each has a willingness and the ability to teach and train. The instructors listed below have extensive knowledge in their given field of expertise and represent the "Core Cadre" of HRT instructors. Senior Instructor Mike Fox Senior Instructor Jake Werner Associate Instructor Chad Jepperson Associate Instructor Tom McKay Associate Instructor Calvin Christiansen