Firefighter Tools: Latch Strap

Video Transcript

"One of the additional tools that firefighters can carry is known as the latch strap. The latch strap is something that's constructed out of old truck inner tubes by making a template on a piece of cardboard and then tracing that outline onto a truck inner tube and cutting them out so they have two holes in them. The purpose of the latch trap is to keep self closing doors that will lock behind firefighters as they advance through a building, such as a multi family dwelling like an apartment building, nursing home, hospital or any type of high rise. The latch, latch strap is simply placed over the door knob on each side of the door and covers the strike, throw and keeper of that door to keep that self closing door from locking behind firefighters and trapping them inside a structure. A handy and convenient way to carry the latch strap is to clip it to something like a D ring or carabiner that all firefighter should carry as a minimum tool and clip right to the outside of the bunker gear somewhere like the tightening straps of the bunker pants or the turnout coat. That latch strap can be easily accessed that way without having to dig through a pocket or another part of the firefighters gear where it could be buried at the very bottom when you need it quickly. The latch strap a very handy tool to have."