ASHLAND – It’s not often the Ashland Fire Department has to perform a rope rescue, but if the call arrives, the department will be prepared.
Ashland firefighter and rescue technician Tyler Smith led several of his fellow firefighters and EMTs in rope rescue training this week.
The six first responders practiced rappelling from atop the approximately 40-foot “Someplace Special” water tower at the corner of Claremont and Mifflin avenues.
On their way down, firefighters stopped to practice a skill Smith called inversion, which requires the rescuer to retie his or her ropes to hang upside down.
“It looks kind of goofy to invert, but you actually need to when you’re doing a pick-off or a rescue of someone that is injured,” Smith said. “You can reach them, hook them to your harness, and then you can both go down together.”
Smith said because of the Ashland department’s expertise, they would be called as the primary responders for any high-angle or low-angle rope rescue in the area. The most recent rope rescue Smith can remember was a call in 2006 or 2007, when department staff rescued a man from a well.
Rope rescue methods could be used to rescue someone from high places or from confined spaces such as in industrial settings, Smith said.
Along with Capt. Kevin Rosser, Smith recently took a six-month rescue methods course at Bowling Green State University Fire School to learn advanced skills related to structural collapse, trench collapse, extrication, swift water rescue and rope rescue.
“We’re prepared in all of those disciplines to rescue people, and now that Rosser and I have been through that class, we want to spread that knowledge here locally to the guys in our department,” said Smith, who hopes to one day join a state task force that is deployed to assist in national emergency situations.
Firefighter Corey Sprang said he had done some rappelling in the past, but Wednesday was his first time practicing on the Ashland water tower.
Sprang said he felt perfectly safe, even hanging upside down with his arms outstretched, because he knows how the rigging is set up with redundancy.
“It was a lot of fun, a good experience,” Sprang said.
Firefighter Caleb French has done similar training with the department in the past, but he was glad to have another opportunity to practice this week.
“It’s one of those things we don’t use all the time, so if you don’t use it you’re going to lose it,” he said. “It’s one of those skills you want to keep sharp.”
