14 DAY TRIAL // The traditional methods and tools of breaching through walls and other similar tough surfaces, including drills, jackhammers, sledgehammers, saws or explosives can be put aside now, as there's a new speed and safety champion around. The novel device which can be successfully used for enhanced search-and-rescue operations has just won a technology Best-of-the-Year prize awarded by the Popular Science magazine.
The official, scientific name for is the Controlled Impact Rescue Tool, but "friends" call it CIRT. The tool is still in its development and enhancement phase, but tests have demonstrated its ability of besting regular instruments at tasks such as breaking through concrete or reinforced surfaces in less than half the time required by the latter, which makes it the perfect addition for rescuers who must operate as fast as possible.
The CIRT is 36 inches (0.9 meters) long and 16 inches (40 cm) in diameter, and weighs some 105 pounds (47.6 kg), which makes it light enough to hold up against a wall, and sufficiently heavy in order to reduce injury-causing recoil action at the same time. The drawback of its weight, though, is that it must be transported and operated by two people. It relies on a standard rifle-like, piston-driven blank ammunition cartridge which releases a high energy jolt upon being fired.
Latest tests placed it into competition with the traditional rescue tools, which required busting through a vertical, five and a half-inch (14 cm) slab of concrete reinforced with steel, and make a 18-inch (46-cm) wide hole in it. CIRT did it in 13 minutes, while the other tools only succeeded in about 29 minutes or even more.
"Our initial goal was to reduce the CIRT's breach time to less than 20 minutes," shared Jalal Mapar, project manager at DHS Science and Technology's Infrastructure and Geophysical Division, cited by Eurekalert. "Over the next 12 months, we'll refine the design to make it even more affordable for production. We really believe this is going to be a faster, better, cheaper, and safer technology for the urban search-and-rescue community across the nation."