It all started with an idea for a tool to make the “Jaws of Life™” work better. Tim and Celia lived in the Marina District during the big Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Many of the buildings had jammed doors as a result of the earthquake, so rescuers were often unable to evacuate people through their front doors. Tim began tinkering with a heavy rescue plate to grip the curb so the Jaws of Life™ could rip the doors open and support extrication of patients from crashed cars. After making one for his local station to use during training and rescues, many other stations and departments started asking him to make one for them too. They started calling them “O’Connell Plates™” (later shortened to O-Plate™). As the requests poured in, Tim decided to start a business so he could start selling them. On April 1, 1995, Rescue 42, Inc. was born.

A tinkerer at heart, the JackMate™ Hi-Lift Accessory Tool came next to act as a manual ‘Jaws of Life’ extrication tool. Seeing the growing need for some type of a stabilization strut during vehicle extrication, he developed the first TeleCrib® Struts made out of steel signpost type material, which were released in 1999.