ANDOVER – Twenty-four firefighters from eight western Maine fire departments converged on Andover’s tennis courts Saturday.
But instead of rackets and tennis balls, they were armed with technical climbing gear, ropes, helmets and safety harnesses.
Saturday was the second day of a three-day exercise in high- and low-angle technical rope rescue training for the group, which is to become the regional rescue team, said Andover Fire Chief Ken Dixon.
“We’re getting an awful lot of good hands-on stuff,” Dixon said of Saturday’s training with different rappelling and descent devices, belaying, ascending devices, anchoring and rope rescue systems assemblage.
They also learned how to “package” patients on different types of stretchers and backcountry rescue baskets.
On Sunday, Dixon said that training and specialized equipment was put to use in the twin gorges of Devils Den on South Arm Road in Andover North Surplus.
“Devils Den is like Coos Canyon (in Byron), but deeper,” he said.
Sunday’s session involved rappelling into a section of the gorge to “pick off” people simulating trapped or injured rock climbers or hikers, and carry them safely to the canyon bottom, Dixon said.
The exercise also required the team to treat and prepare “injured” people on the bottom for transport, and raise them to the top of the gorge, he added.
In the past, helicopters from Brunswick Naval Air Station and the Maine Army National Guard assisted ground teams, airlifting injured or stranded rock climbers, and hikers or backpackers from the nearby Appalachian Trail.
Last year, however, both helicopter services were moved out of state, Dixon said.
“There are no airlift helicopters available anymore, so we have to gear ourselves up,” he said.
“In the past, we would get called out all the time for injured hikers on the A.T., and we went up and did the best we could with little or nothing for gear, but now we’ve got the equipment,” Dixon said.
“So, now, if somebody falls into Coos Canyon, we’ve got somebody trained to go down and get them out.”
The group consists of firefighters from Andover, Gilead, Jay, Livermore, Paris, Peru, Rumford and Weld. Of the 24-member team, 18 have emergency medical technician or medic backgrounds, he said.
Last weekend’s exercises were the first of a four-part training program providing technical training in high- and low-angle rope rescue, confined-space rescue, and trench rescue.
The three other training sessions are May 13-15, June 3-5 and June 17-19.
The training, which is provided by BPC Rescue Equipment Inc. of Rochdale, Mass., was funded by a $106,290 Assistance to Firefighters grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It required a 10 percent match from Andover.
Dixon said the grant allowed the Andover Fire Department to purchase necessary equipment to perform technical rescues with ropes, and rescues in confined spaces and trenches, and the training necessary to develop the skills to safely perform those tasks.
Future training is to cover tower rescue, swift water rescue and ice water rescue.
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