The RPI Hook was the first escape anchor hook on the market to include a “hitching slot” or handle opening and the second on the market behind the Crosby Hook in 2006. Since the development of the RPI Hook, almost every other escape system manufacture has developed a similar hook with the handle opening yet none of the other hooks are as versatile as the RPI Hook, nor can accommodate our common fire service hand tools like the RPI Hook.

The RPI Hook was originally designed to function like a carabiner on the end of a rope plus a hook than can anchor directly at the window sill through a hook configuration. The handle of the RPI Hook is designed to accommodate our common truck tools such as a halligan or 6’ hook. The tool can be slipped through the handle opening and the tool can span the corner of the window to create a substantial tie-off point for the hook. Additionally, the firefighter has the ability to anchor directly at the window using the tip of the hook or by wrapping the attached rope around a substantial object, taking a bight of rope up through the handle of the hook, and by placing the rope over the tip of the hook creating a positive tie off of the hook and rope.

The RPI Hook was so ahead of it’s time that when it was designed, there was no Escape Anchor Classification in the NFPA 1983 document for it to meet for performance requirements. So, the RPI Hook had to be Classified to the “Light-Use Auxiliary Equipment Standard, requiring the minimum breaking strength (MBS) at the weakest configuration, the point, had to handle 22 kN. or 4946 lbf. Today the RPI Hook still meets this strength requirement and is classified by UL as both “T” and “E”.