In the Somme, a firefighter invents a safety strap to save lives

It bears the initials of its inventor. The RO strap has the advantage of extracting a person from a fire or flood within seconds. Saving precious time to save an individual. This invention leaves the hands free to the rescuer. Which is not usually the case.

At present, the injured are “under the arms, are pulled or carried as possible”, testifies Ludovic Jean, trainer at Departmental fire and rescue service (SDIS) 80. What puts “more the victim and the interveners in danger”, adds this rescuer.

With this system, “we can hook someone up in less than three seconds”, proudly tells Olivier Rognon, its inventor. For the moment, he makes his own straps, at home with his sewing machine. But soon everything could change. Since he filed for a patent, a Hauts-de-France design office has approached him.

On the internet, crowdfunding has been launched in order to see this project come to fruition. “It costs 33,000 euros for the development, the marketing, the setting in situation of various parts in order to see the resistance. The objective is to improve the strap to sell it on a large scale”, explains Olivier Rognon. If the amount raised is sufficient to develop a final prototype, production could start in the coming months.