Ropes Training - Orange County, New York

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Fire departments in one New York county are pulling their resources to create a county wide rescue team. The new arrangement is thanks to a grant that will help firefighters share their knowledge and experience.

These firefighters take part in confined space and high altitude rescue team training in Orange County, New York. The 54 members of the group take part in training exercises at least once a month. However, some members participate in these exercises as many as a couple times a week at the Orange County Fire Training Center.

Conor Miller of the West Point Fire Department explained, "There's a lot of moving parts. It's a very technical rescue. Everyone needs to remain sharp. Whenever this does happen and we need to come in, there's a lot of things that need to happen and things have to go right. It's high risk and we really need to be on top of our game when we come do it. So the more training, the better."

"The training definitely makes us proficient, that's the biggest thing. If we didn't come out here, when the real thing happened there's no way we could assemble everything," expressed Keith Thomas, also with the West Point Fire Department.

The number of times the team is called into action varies greatly, as do the circumstances. Miller claimed that types of calls the department usually receives include people stuck on the side of mountains, hurt hikers and people who need rescuing while participating in water rafting.

Earlier this year, Orange County received a grant to purchase more equipment, expand and merge already existing rescue teams in the county to become one central organization. The team believes the grant will allow them to take the lead on more rescues.

The training exercises these firefighters partake in may be a building rescue one day or a confined space rescue the next. Sloping high line is something used by firefighters when someone is for example, stuck in a canyon, on a river, or on a rock. This piece of equipment is what gets the victim to safety.

"It's very important because we can interact with each others department in the same fashion," said Keith Thomas. "If we are all trained the same way, when we get there, we're all gonna know how to work together as a team, instead of having two separate ways to do things," added Keith Thomas.



Author:Wendy Gillette - FDNNTV.com