Rescue Mission

I need to pick up 3 or 4 new lights for our rescue team. They need to be a box-light that is light weight, (yeah right), long lasting, lights a large area, and is rechargeable. All members have personal head lamps, but there are times we may need to light up a landing zone or just light up a scene with lamps we can set down in a perimeter.

Streamlight lightbox?

Volcaneer,

Can you be more specific with your requirements? It sounds like you want a flood beam but how bright? How much run time? Are you willing to make the light from readily avilable parts or do you want a turn key out of a box?

- Don

Don,
I'd say 10 - 12 hour burn would be optimal. Something we could use from dusk till dawn so to speak. Probably be better out of box with warranty. Needs to be pretty rugged, sealed, maybe armored would be an option. Be nice if there were a brightness choice. Maybe a switch from high to low for battery save? I don't know the specific Candle Power we would need.

No hand held light will light up an LZ. A SL lightbox with a 20 watt flood will help, the more the better off you will be. Some thing with a strong narrow beam to sweep the entire area is also a plus. You have to use extreme caution when the helo is on approach, if you blind the pilot your'e in deep poop. If the ship doesn't crash the pilot will likely have a few choice words for your team leader. Krill lights and chem lights are good to have for perimeter marking. Chem lights can be left on scene, Krills cost $. Smoke grenades in several colors are neccesary also.
If the ship dosen't have a Night Sun ask the pilot what he needs for light.
As always the fewer the people near the LZ the better. Work with your rescue ships as often as you can, they generally want to train with you. Good luck.

2dogs
Thanks for your reply. We do train with helos a lot and I know what you're saying. We communicate with the pilot and always put the lights at the back of the LZ pointing in the direction they'll be land in, (pointing forward). When we deal with the military we usually throw some Chem lights around the perimeter instead.
Mike

Given your user name, Is this related to Volcanology?? If so, there is one thing that will help, though not a light. This is the Long Period Event recorded on the seismograph, which is associated with magma rising and pressurizing the volcano. The sudden increase in both number and frequency of these events, precedes eruptions by 24 hours or so. This has proven true in all cases tested so far.

Better to get people out before the eruption.

Charles,
Only related to volcanology by proximity. Our team is of the Mountain Rescue capacity and our area of response is Mount Saint Helens. One of my hobbies is mountain climbing sometimes called mountaineering. However I also climb volcanoes hence Volcaneer. Interesting fact though.
Thanks.
Mike

V,I always thought it would be cool to have the chem light fluid as a 2 component mix. When you need light you empty out a back pack pump, dump in the 2 parts and spray light where you need it. USAR could use it for rooms or doors, wildernas SAR could spray a 200" circle with an X for the skids. Have a drip torch like device for smaller jobs. Of course the "probie" uses are unlimited.
What do you think?

Volcaneer:

Try these:

www.galls.com/shop/viewProductDetail.jsp?item=SL056

I don't own one, but am a happy owner of other LSI spotlights.

Good luck!

arioch and all,
Thanks for all the replies. I found out last night the boxes we currently are using are early 90's Streamlights. I like the features found on the newer models, especially the Vulcan.
I'll leave a light on for you!

I was going to recommend looking at some HID lights like the McCulloch X990. I went searching for the reviews in the HID section, but the best one has dead links.

FWIW, it seems unlikely that you are going to get a bright light that runs all night. Probably one, the other, or some compromise between.

-john