Massachusetts Firefighters Practice High-Angle Rescues

May 18, 2006
They got a taste of high-angle maneuvering and rescue rope work

LYNN -- Rescuing a window washer dangling 10 stories above the ground, or a mountain biker trapped at the bottom of a steep ravine, takes special skills and equipment.

About 20 Lynn firefighters and several of their comrades from departments as far away as Norton got a taste of high-angle maneuvering and rescue rope work Wednesday during a training by the Massachusetts Fire Fighting Academy.

The men spent hours learning to rappel from the top floor of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) downtown commuter rail parking garage. With sidewalks blocked off on the Union Street side, instructors showed how to descend a rope, pick off a stranded victim, and continue on to safety. The two-day training was expected to continue today with more advanced techniques.

"We've had several incidents in Lynn involving mountain bikers going off ledges and getting injured," said Lynn District Chief Jack Barry, who arranged the training along with District Chief Robert Bourgeois, Capt. Jim Carritte and Lt. Kevin Cronin. Both Carritte and Cronin participated in the hands-on course.

According to Bourgeois, the firefighters attended a classroom session before climbing the stairs to the top of the garage where, one by one, they practiced tying knots, donning a harness, belay and rappelling skills, securing anchors, rigging haul lines, and generally how to conduct a high-angle rescue.

"The most common rescue incident is a slope evacuation," said Firefighter Mark McCabe, the lead fire academy instructor and a member of the Braintree Fire Department. "Usually it involves a car that has gone off an embankment. But it could be a call to retrieve a window washer or a rock climber. We teach everyone how to rappel because it's a way of getting the first two rescuers to the victim to perform first aid or assess the situation. In the advanced class, we teach how to do a pick off.

In addition to McCabe and Cronin, the academy instructors were Firefighter Fran Clark from the Hopkinton Fire Department, Reading Lt. Rick Nelson, and Andover Deputy Chiefs Rich Hartman and Al DelDotto.Framingham Lt. Robert Sebastian handled logistics.

"It takes a lot of people and a lot of cooperation to pull off a training like this," said Barry, noting that the MBTA allowed the firefighters to rappel from the building, while the firefighting academy made several instructors available.

Once the basic rope work is learned, firefighters who pass the entry course can be certified for operational-level rescue. Those who purse the advanced course could emerge with technician-level certification.

According to Bourgeois, the Fire Department will eventually have nearly two-dozen firefighters skilled in rope rescue. "We're not operational yet," he said. "That's why we're here."

The training caused plenty of rubbernecking my motorists and passersby, many of whom stopped to watch the firefighters dangling from the side of the building.

"It builds confidence," said Barry.

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