Aberdeen, South Dakota Fire and Rescue Learning the Ropes

Students just a few weeks ago, a few Aberdeen Fire and Rescue firefighters are now teaching their counterparts the latest rope rescue techniques. The training sessions have been common at the fire department in recent weeks.

In late June, Jayson Knutson, Joel McMaster and Rob Senger attended a rope rescue training session in Wisconsin. They all earned certification so they can now share what they learned with others in the department.

"It's one way to maximize the city's tax dollars," said Roger Bortnem, an Aberdeen Fire and Rescue shift commander. The city can't afford to send all of its firefighters to training courses.

Knutson said it had been a few years since he'd been to rope rescue training. Techniques actually do change and improve quite a bit, he said. That often has to do with new equipment changing how things are done.

Specific areas of rope rescue training include:

Hoisting people to areas that would, without the use of ropes and pulleys, be largely unreachable;

Rappelling down the sides of buildings; and

What's called "packaging." Packaging involves transporting fire victims who are, for example, on a gurney and need to be lowered to the ground from the upper story of a building.

It can be difficult to get victims out of or firefighters into tight spots, Bortnem said. Ropes and pulleys are especially helpful for places that can only be accessed via high angles or low angles, he said.

Much of Aberdeen Fire and Rescue's newer rope rescue equipment was paid for using Homeland Security grants in recent years. And, Bortnem said, it's considerably better than old-style equipment that included thick, bulky, heavy ropes.

Rope rescues aren't needed at most Aberdeen Fire and Rescue calls, Bortnem said. But firefighters need to have the skills just in case.

Knutson said the training session in Wisconsin lasted five days. Those who attended went to 40 hours worth of sessions, he said.

Last Friday, Knutson was showing about a half-dozen of Aberdeen Fire and Rescue's 42 employees some rope rescue techniques. While the bulk of the firefighters worked with a pulley system, one of their peers in a harness was raised and lowered. In the afternoon, the group worked on rappelling down the side of the downtown fire station.

The cost of the rope rescue training was roughly $800 per participant. The city also had to cover travel costs that included meal money, gasoline for a city vehicle and motel rooms.