The hilly landscape of Morgantown, while beautiful, can create a tricky situation when someone has been injured or stranded on a steep incline and cannot be carried out.
Members of the Morgantown Fire Department are preparing for such a situation and have been fine-tuning their skills with some rope rescue training this week at the WVU Core Arboretum.
“There’s a variety of places around town that we might need to use rope equipment to enhance safety or actually support the load to get someone from wherever they are located, either up or down,” said John Lemley, interim fire chief.
Lemley said the whole department went through 16 hours of classroom and hands-on training regarding rope rescues a few weeks ago and this week will add an additional eight hours of field training working through scenario-based rescues to put their skills into play.
Eventually, the rope rescue skills will transition into structural rescue as well — for example, if a window washer or construction worker became trapped on the side or roof of a building.
Lemley said a few weeks ago MFD responded to a call where a roofing contractor was showing signs of anaphylactic shock after being stung by a bee on a roof. In that case, firefighters were able to pull a ladder truck close enough to the building to lower the man down, but that is not the case everywhere in town. For situations like that, rope training is necessary.
Members of the community may see MFD vehicles and personnel out and about in the community as they continue to conduct training drills to enhance their knowledge, skills and abilities with not only rope rescues, but other specialized training they receive throughout the year.
Lemley said the department will do their best to forewarn the community when trainings will occur, but the mere presence of fire vehicles and personnel should not be a cause for concern.
“We are always committing some time to all these vignettes of specialized rescue training, but there’s so many things we have to do and prepare for. We have to prioritize the potential hazards and occurrences,” Lemley said.
Due to a limited budget for overtime hours and a variety of things that can impede the ability to get everyone through training, many trainings are conducted while on duty which means they are often interrupted with calls for service throughout the day.
Despite the hurdle, Lemley said, “We are trying to juggle the responsibility of protecting the city while simultaneously getting quality, hands-on training.”
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