High Angle Rope Rescue Training

Members from four companies of the Boston Fire Department’s technical rescue companies participated in this year’s high angle rope rescue program. The classroom instruction and equipment familiarization training was conducted at the Special Operations Command's training facility in Brighton. The practical applications were conducted at the tower behind Engine 2 and Ladder 19's quarters in South Boston.

Trench Collapse Rescue Training

Members of the Boston Fire Department’s seven technical rescue companies, as well as members from the Cambridge and Quincy fire departments, participated in this year’s trench collapse program. The members trained on rescuing victims from a straight wall trench as well as T and L trenches. The classroom instruction and equipment familiarization training was conducted at the BFD’s training academy on Moon Island and the trench collapse scenarios were conducted on Long Island.

Confined Space Rescue

Our Special Operations Command (SOC) Technical Rescue Group conducted a 2-day confined space rescue program for the Technical Rescue Companies. The second day included two scenarios. One scenario required a vertical entry and the other a horizontal entry.

Vertical Scenario
Workers did not shut off a transformer and subsequently were electrocuted. Worker #1, at the bottom of the shaft, received burns, a broken arm and a broken leg. Worker #2 received massive traumatic injuries and was unconscious.

Horizontal Scenario
A worker was overcome by hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in an old sewer line.

Highline Operation

After packaging and then extricating a victim from the bottom of a vertical 3 stories high 26-inch diameter pipe, the Boston Fire Department Technical Rescue Companies move the victim down to the ground. A Sloping Kootenay Highline System was rigged on the fourth floor of a tower in the rear of Engine 2's and Ladder 19's firehouse to facilitate the extrication.

This was the second day of a 2-day Confined Space Rescue course that our Special Operations Command (SOC) Technical Rescue Group conducted for the Technical Rescue Companies. We did this scenario during the last week of September with 4 of our Technical Rescue Companies. We will run this 2-day class again the last two weeks of the month with the 3 other Technical Rescue Companies plus Cambridge, Massachusetts' Rescue 1.