A Halligan bar (also known as a Halligan tool or Hooligan tool [1] ) is a forcible entry tool used by firefighters. [2]
A Halligan bar (also known as a Halligan tool or Hooligan tool [1] ) is a forcible entry tool used by firefighters. [2]
The Halligan bar was designed by New York City Fire Department (FDNY) First Deputy Chief Hugh Halligan in 1948 and was named after him. That same year, blacksmith Peter Clarke made the first prototype of the tool. [3] Despite its popularity among FDNY ladder companies, the department initially refrained from purchasing the tool to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. [4] However, the Boston Fire Department was the first major customer of the Halligan bar, purchasing one for every fire company in the city. This led to widespread adoption of the tool, first in North America and eventually worldwide. The Halligan bar has become the most versatile hand tool for fireground tasks over the past seven decades. [5] [4]
Based on the earlier Kelly tool, the Halligan is a multipurpose tool for prying, twisting, punching, or striking. [6] It consists of a claw (or fork), a blade (wedge or adze), and a tapered pick, which is especially useful in quickly breaching many types of locked doors.
One variant of the Halligan has a heavy sliding collar on the shaft. Once the prying end of the tool is wedged into position, the sliding "hammer" is used to force the wedge, allowing for proper seating before prying. The adze end is also assisted by using the sliding hammer to generate forced traction on a hooked cylinder. Another variant has an end that resembles a lever-type can opener, used for making large holes for access or ventilation in sheet metal.
The Halligan is available in a number of lengths — typically 18–54 inches (46–137 cm) — and of various materials, including titanium, beryllium copper or stainless steel. Carrying straps or rings can be found. The 18-inch Halligan is often referred to as an officer's tool.
A Halligan bar and a flathead axe can be joined (and partially interlocked, head-to-toe) to form what is known as a married set, set of irons or simply the irons. This combination of tools is most common within the fire service. However, the Halligan may also be combined with a Halligan hook or sledgehammer as an alternative.
An adze is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in hand woodworking, and as a hoe for agriculture and horticulture. Two basic forms of an adze are the hand adze —a short-handled tool swung with one hand—and the foot adze (hoe)—a long-handled tool capable of powerful swings using both hands, the cutting edge usually striking at foot or shin level. A similar tool is called a mattock, which differs by having two blades, one perpendicular to the handle and one parallel.
Hydraulic rescue tools, also known as jaws of life, are used by emergency rescue personnel to assist in the extrication of victims involved in vehicle accidents, as well as other rescues in small spaces. These tools include cutters, spreaders, and rams. Such devices were first used in 1963 as a tool to free race car drivers from their vehicles after crashes.
The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive/hazardous materials response services and emergency medical response services within the five boroughs of New York City.
A mattock is a hand tool used for digging, prying, and chopping. Similar to the pickaxe, it has a long handle and a stout head which combines either a vertical axe blade with a horizontal adze, or a pick and an adze. A cutter mattock is similar to a Pulaski used in fighting fires. It is also commonly known in North America as a "grub axe".
The K-tool is a tool used by many fire departments for forcible entry. It is used in conjunction with a Halligan bar and a flat-headed axe or maul to remove a cylinder lock. It consists of a steel block roughly 3 inches by 3 inches by 1 inch thick with a K-shaped notch on one side, having sharp edges that grip the cylinder, and a U-shaped flange on the other side. The notch is slipped over the lock cylinder, then forced down by striking with the flat side of the axe or maul. The halligan is then inserted into the flange and used to pry the K-tool off the door, thereby pulling the entire key cylinder out. The bolt is then retracted from the inside of the cylinder hole using a turning tool, such as a screwdriver.
A pickaxe, pick-axe, or pick is a generally T-shaped hand tool used for prying. Its head is typically metal, attached perpendicularly to a longer handle, traditionally made of wood, occasionally metal, and increasingly fiberglass.
The Pulaski is a special hand tool used in fighting fires, particularly wildfires, which combines an axe and an adze in one head. Similar to a cutter mattock, it has a rigid handle of wood, plastic, or fiberglass. The Pulaski is used for constructing firebreaks, able to both dig soil and chop wood. It is also well adapted for trail construction, and can be used for gardening and other outdoor work for general excavation and digging holes in root-bound or hard soil. The axe blade of the Pulaski is the primary cutting edge, while the adze blade is secondary; this is the opposite of the cutter mattock, in which the adze blade is the larger of the two.
Firefighting jargon includes a diverse lexicon of both common and idiosyncratic terms. One problem that exists in trying to create a list such as this is that much of the terminology used by a particular department is specifically defined in their particular standing operating procedures, such that two departments may have completely different terms for the same thing. For example, depending on whom one asks, a safety team may be referred to as a standby, a RIT or RIG or RIC, or a FAST. Furthermore, a department may change a definition within its SOP, such that one year it may be RIT, and the next RIG or RIC.
This is a glossary of firefighting equipment.
The TNT Tool is a multi-purpose tool used by firefighters, emergency personnel, and law enforcement officers to gain forcible entry to buildings, automobiles, etc. during emergency situations. It is a combination axe, sledgehammer, pry tool, ram, and D-handle pull tool. It is also carried by off-roaders and those traveling in remote areas.
A crowbar, also called a wrecking bar, pry bar or prybar, pinch-bar, or occasionally a prise bar or prisebar, colloquially, in Britain and Australia sometimes called a jemmy or jimmy, gooseneck, or pig foot, is a tool consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, often with a small fissure on one or both ends for removing nails or to force apart two objects. Crowbars are commonly used to open nailed wooden crates or pry apart boards.
A fire iron is any metal instrument for tending a fire.
The pig is a specialty firefighting tool used mainly for roof ventilation, forcible entry and wall breaching. Invented by a member of the Austin Fire Department, the tool combines the butt-end of a flat head axe on one side and a pick on the other. The pig can be married with a Halligan to create a forcible entry system as an alternative to the classic axe and Halligan combination.
Door breaching is a process used by military, police, or emergency services to force open closed or locked doors. A wide range of methods are available depending on the door's opening direction, construction materials, etc., and one or more of these methods may be used in any given situation. In the United States, residential doors typically open inward while commercial building doors usually open outward. Some breaching methods require specialized equipment and can be categorized as one of the following: mechanical breaching, ballistic breaching, hydraulic breaching, explosive breaching, or thermal breaching.
The Kelly tool is a tool used in fire and rescue service for forcible entry and other prying and striking tasks. The predecessor of the Halligan bar, it has largely been superseded by the latter, but still sees some use.
A shove knife is a forcible entry tool used mainly by firefighters. Generally, they consist of a small, semi-rigid piece of 10 gauge steel with an indented end. The device is inserted between a door and the door frame, above the spring latch on outwardly-swinging doors equipped with key-in-the-knob locks. The tool is pulled down and outward, releasing the locking mechanism.
The claw tool is a forcible entry tool used by firefighters, made of steel, that has a hook on one end and a forked end on the other. The tool was a major component in the Fire Department of New York during the early 20th century. Over the last fifty years, the claw tool has lost prominence due to the advent of newer and more efficient forcible entry tools.
An officer’s tool is a forcible entry device used by firefighters and other first responders. Officer’s tools are designed to completely remove cylindrical locks from doors without causing major structural damage, allowing for direct access to the internal locking mechanism.
In German-speaking countries, the miner's toolset is known as a Gezähe formerly also abbreviated to Gezäh. It is a set of personally-owned mining tools and equipment needed by the miner in his daily work.
The New York roof hook is a firefighting tool used mostly for rooftop operations including vertical and horizontal ventilation, pulling and prying.
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