ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt.-- Firefighters from around the state have been swinging all over town this week.
Literally.
As part of a four-day training exercise, firefighters, rescue personnel and police from St. Johnsbury, Lyndonville and elsewhere engaged in a series of technical rescue training drills involving rope operations.
"It's been great," St. Johnsbury Fire Chief Troy Ruggles said. "The guys are getting a lot out of it."
On Thursday, about 25 personnel gathered on the hill behind Federal Express in St. Johnsbury to practice what Ruggles called "low-angle slope rescue." Rescue personnel were belayed down the slope to a 165-pound mannequin to simulate the rescue of a fallen patient with spinal injury.
The training was put on by the Vermont Fire Academy through a funding pool for training programs from the Department of Homeland Security, according to Howard Rice, the academy's Homeland Security training coordinator.
Rice said the rope operations training was just the start of a series of training programs designed to teach rescue personnel about specialty rescues - the kind that employ the use of tools and skills that exceed those of most firefighting, medical and law enforcement personnel. These include rescues involving ropes, swift water, diving, confined space, snow and ice, cave, trench/excavation, building collapse and others.
Future training programs the academy hopes to bring to the area this summer include swift-water, confined-space and trench rescues.
The reason they start with ropes, Rice said, is because it is the basis for all the training they're going to cover. And it's something all departments can use, even if they are not a part of a special rescue squad.
The goal is to prepare all the departments for any kind of situation so that no matter who arrives on scene first, they can begin implementing the rescue operation immediately.
Thursday's training was a culmination of more than 30 hours of training with 50 percent class time and 50 percent hands-on practice.
The hill along Route 5 where the training was held, Troy said, was perfect for what they needed. He said he really appreciated the generosity of individuals throughout the town of St. Johnsbury who let the crews practice around town at places like the Public Works Area off Concord Avenue and the parking lot of the municipal building.
Republished with permission of The Caledonian-Record.
