Cribbing (rescue)

In vehicle extrication and urban search and rescue, cribbing is the misc. size wood used to stabilize an object, for example so that trapped victims can be safely removed. It is commonly used to stabilize overturned cars, and debris within collapsed buildings. It was also used in the construction of the Cariboo Wagon Road to help stabilize it in the steep Fraser Canyon

A box crib is a common method of cribbing, and is constructed by arranging pairs of wood in a staggered manner to form a stable crib underneath the object to be stabilized.

Cribbing can be done in conjunction with leveraging the object to lift it. The rule is leverage an inch, crib an inch.

The same technique is used in sub-surface mining as a roof support, and is also called cribbing. Although these days in longwall mining a system of hydraulic jacks is more commonly used as roof supports.