Firefighters Train With Ropes

EXERCISE TEACHES HOW TO MAKE EXTENSION WHILE SUSPENDED IN MID-AIR

Rick Portilloz of Sand Springs, Okla., talks Wednesday with Rogers firefighters while training for a rope rescue inside a Rogers water tower. Portilloz said rope rescues are rare but when needed are high risk and need to be performed by well-trained personnel.
Rick Portilloz of Sand Springs, Okla., talks Wednesday with Rogers firefighters while training for a rope rescue inside a Rogers water tower. Portilloz said rope rescues are rare but when needed are high risk and need to be performed by well-trained personnel.

— Wade Hulsey was suspended from a rope about 35 feet in the air, trying to untie and retie a rope.

It’s not a hobby.

Area fire departments, including Rogers, Avoca and Bella Vista were training on ropes Wednesday afternoon inside the twin water towers on 24th Street.

Firefighters must train in controlled situations to prepare for real-world needs, officials said.

Firefighters were working Wednesday on extending rope lines while suspended in mid-air.

“We’ve had to use this technique a couple of times,” said Rick Portilloz, a member of the Sand Springs, Okla., Fire Department who was conducting the training. “It’s a low-occurrence, high-risk type of rescue. That’s why we have to practice it a lot.”

Hulsey, a Rogers firefighter, said Wednesday’s exercise taught the group how to switch from one rope to another.

“It simulates if we run out of rope and have to switch our weight and harness to another rope,” Hulsey said. “It’s used for a bluff rescue or high rise — anything we might need to repel down to a victim for.”

“They’re extending the rope from that point with another length of rope,” Portilloz said. “This training gets them up to meet the technical level in rope rescue. It’s the final stage.”

Wednesday’s exercise was the first for Hulsey.

“It’s not that bad,” Hulsey said, wiping sweat from his brow after completing his turn on the ropes. “A lot of the other guys get more practice than I’ve had.”

Dan Call, also of Sand Springs, said crews will train today at Lake Atalanta on horizontal ropes.

“It’s like a zip line,” Call said.

A zip line consists of a pulley suspended on a cable mounted on an incline. It is designed to enable a user propelled by gravity to traverse from the top to the bottom of the inclined cable.

“It allows us to cross areas that it’s not safe to walk across, drop down get the patient, and pass them back up to a paramedic,” Call said. “It’s used in incidents like wilderness rescues, industrial accidents or water rescues.”

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