Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

HALLIGAN RESCUE TOOL / HALLIGAN BAR

Date Range From

1985

Date Range To

2015

Materials

STEEL

No. Pieces

1

Height

14.5

Length

76.0

Width

17.4

Description

STEEL HALLIGAN RESCUE TOOL / HALLIGAN BAR / CROWBAR. SILVER COLOURED METAL. ONE END HAS A CLAW WITH A RECESSED NAIL PULLER, WHILE THE OTHER END HAS A DUCKBILL BLADE (OR ADZE) AND A PICK. THE CLAW IS 17.4CM LONG AND IS EMBOSSED WITH: "PARATECH USA 017120 C I" (THE 'C' IS ACTUALLY A COPYRIGHT SYMBOL). THE HANDLE PORTION OF THE TOOL HAS TWO GRIPS, ONE NEAR THE CLAW AND THE SECOND NEAR THE BLADE AND PICK. THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BLADE IS EMBOSSED WITH: "PARATECH USA 017038 C K" (AGAIN, THE 'C' IS A COPYRIGHT SYMBOL). STAMPED INTO THE HANDLE, TO THE CLAW SIDE OF THE MIDDLE, IS "AMR 7" OVERALL IN FAIR TO GOOD CONDITION. THE BLADE AND PICK ARE VERY RUSTY. THE BLADE HAS A SMALL DENT. THE RUST ON THE BLADE AND PICK IS WORSE, BUT THE CLAW END IS ALSO VERY RUSTED. SURFACE RUST ALL OVER THE HANDLE.

Subjects

MULTIPLE USE ARTIFACTS

Historical Association

SAFETY SERVICES

History

THIS HALLIGAN RESCUE TOOL / HALLIGAN BAR / CROWBAR WAS USED BY THE LETHBRIDGE FIRE DEPARTMENT. IN A WRITTEN STATEMENT PROVIDED AT THE TIME OF DONATION, JESSE KURTZ, DEPUTY CHIEF – SUPPORT SERVICES (RETIRED), EXPLAINED THAT THE HALLIGAN TOOL IS A “FORCIBLE ENTRY OR EXIT TOOL USED TO FORCE ENTRY INTO A BUILDING AND ALSO USED FOR FIREFIGHTERS TO FORCE ENTRY OUT OF A BUILDING WHEN STRAPPED. THIS ONE IS STEEL; [NOW] WE HAVE SOME THAT ARE MADE OF TITANIUM AND ARE MUCH LIGHTER.” IN THE SUMMER OF 2015, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN, CONDUCTED A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS WITH CURRENT AND FORMER MEMBERS OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, INCLUDING: CLIFF “CHARLIE” BROWN (HIRED IN 1966, RETIRED 2004), RAYMOND “RAY” PETIT (HIRED 1965, RETIRED 1998), AND TREVOR LAZENBY (HIRED IN 1994). BROWN CALLED IT “JUST ANOTHER FANCY PRY BAR … [THAT] WAS [ON THE TRUCK] WHEN I LEFT.” PETIT AGREED, CALLING IT “A BREAK IN TOOL. IF YOU WANT TO BREAK INTO A HOUSE … CRASH A DOOR, WINDOWS, PRY A DOOR OPEN, JUST A NICE TOOL … I CALL IT THE HOUSE BREAKING TOOLS.” LAZENBY EXPANDED: “THIS GETS USED ALL THE TIME … WHEN IT COMES TO … FORCIBLE ENTRY AND FINDING A MEANS OF EGRESS AND NEEDING A TOOL OF CHOICE, THIS IS PROBABLY THE GO-TO TOOL. YOU CAN PUNCTURE, YOU CAN PRY, YOU CAN BREAK … THERE’S JUST SO MANY USES FOR THIS.” HE CONTINUED: “THE ONLY DRAWBACK WITH THE … OLDER GENERATION HALLIGAN BARS WAS JUST THE FACT THAT THEY WERE JUST SO HEAVY, BUT THE NEWER GENERATION ARE TITANIUM, AND GROSSLY EXPENSIVE BECAUSE OF THAT, AND SO WE DO HAVE A COUPLE OF TITANIUM MODELS BUT OVERALL WE STILL HAVE STEEL ONES ON THE TRUCK FOR THE MOST PART, SO THIS IS ONE OF THE TOOLS THAT WE STILL USE ALL THE TIME. IT COMES OFF THE TRUCK CONSTANTLY.” LAZENBY CONTINUED FURTHER, RELAYING AN INSTANCE WHEN THE HALLIGAN WAS VERY USEFUL: “WE RESPONDED ON AN EMS CALL FOR SOMEONE WHO WAS UNABLE TO ANSWER THE DOOR BECAUSE OF THEIR CONDITION. SO WHEN WE ROLLED UP TO THE HOUSE, THEY HAD A MASSIVE BLACK WROUGHT IRON GATE. IT WAS A SECURITY GATE THAT WAS BOLTED TO THE FRONT OF THAT STRUCTURE OVER THE FRONT DOOR AND WE HAD NO ACCESS, THE WINDOWS WERE BARRED AND EVERYTHING ELSE, WE HAD NO ACCESS INTO THAT STRUCTURE … WE GRABBED WHAT WE NOW KNOW AS THE ‘SET OF IRONS’ AND I HAD THE FLAT HEAD AXE AND MY PARTNER TOOK THE HALLIGAN TOOL AND WE SLIPPED THE FORK IN OVER TOP OF THE BOLTS THAT WERE BEING USED AROUND BASICALLY THE BRICK MOLDING THE FRAME OF THE DOOR AND I STRUCK THE BLADE END UP HERE AND WE WERE ABLE TO ACTUALLY FORCE THE FORK DOWN UNDERNEATH THE BOLT, BETWEEN THE BOLT AND THE WOOD, AND ONE QUICK PRY AND … WE POPPED FOUR BOLTS OFF IN LESS THAN SIXTY SECONDS AND WE WERE INSIDE THE HOUSE. SO I KIND OF WONDERED UP UNTIL THAT POINT ABOUT THE EFFICIENCY OF IT, BECAUSE IT’S NOT SOMETHING THAT WE WANT TO GO AROUND BREAKING THINGS, AND IT UNDERSCORED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE USES AND HOW EFFICIENT THAT TOOL IS ON THE FIRE GROUND. AND NOT JUST FOR FIRE CALLS, BUT THAT WAS AN EMS RUN … VERY USEFUL.” SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE LETHBRIDGE FIRE DEPARTMENT.

Catalogue Number

P20150010004

Acquisition Date

2015-02

Collection

Museum

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