From FAST Board creator, Eric Allen:
Fast Rescue Solutions (FRS) started from a need that had been present since I started with the Fire Department in 1996. That need became even more clear in 2004 when I joined my department's first Special Operations team.
That need was the movement and removal of downed personnel and civilians from a hazardous environment.
In the past, the mindset was to adapt rope rescue to emergency evacuation. FRS is taking the opposite approach -- we are taking emergency evacuation and integrating it into rope rescue.
We originally developed the FAST (Firefighter Assistance Search Team) Board with the specific intent to be able to remove a firefighter from a basement.
Since that time, we have continued to refine the FAST Board to include uses in situations such as:
- Ice rescue
- Water rescue
- Confined space rescue
- Mass casualty
- Active shooter scenarios