Fire Line » Rescues

Structural collapse rescue training prepares firefighters for earthquakes and more

vanders — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:21:38 +0000

When an earthquake or terrorist attack causes a freeway or building to collapse, rescuing trapped victims will be a top priority. This month, as part of ongoing Department training, Seattle Firefighters are practicing structural collapse rescue. More than 1,000 Seattle Firefighters will go through the hands on rescue training.

Utilizing a specially built collapse prop, the training simulates the kinds of real life conditions firefighters will encounter in an actual disaster. During each session, 16 firefighters work together in teams to search for and rescue patients using rope rescue equipment, airbags, hydraulic tools, saws, bars, cribbing, rescue baskets and aerial ladders. The training takes place at the City of Seattle’s Joint Training Facility.

Firefighters rescue man trapped in 15-foot deep trench

vanders — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:40:58 +0000

Seattle Firefighters worked for forty-five minutes to rescue a construction worker trapped in a trench after the wall he was working on in the front yard of a Magnolia home collapsed and buried him waist deep. Firefighters from the Department’s Technical Rescue team used shoring materials, ladders, and wood to stabilize the 15- foot deep trench. Seattle Public Utilities supplied a vactor truck and worked closely with firefighters to vacuum the dirt and sand out from around the patient until he was free. The man communicated with firefighters throughout the rescue and was transported to Harborview Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Firefighters communicated with the patient throughout the rescue.

Seattle Public Utilities used a vactor truck to vacuum dirt out from around the patient.

A look at the trench after the patient was rescued. The wall on the left side of the photo collapsed and buried the patient waist deep.

Firefighters Practice High Angle Rescues at South Lake Union Construction Site

vanders — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:36:46 +0000

On Saturday, July 11 Seattle firefighters worked with construction crews from GLY Construction to practice high angle rescues at a South Lake Union construction site located at 301 Boren Avenue.

First, firefighters simulated rescuing injured patients from the bottom of the construction pit, which is approximately 100 feet below the street level. They placed the patient on a backboard and then into a Stokes rescue basket. Using ropes and an aerial ladder on a Seattle Fire Department Ladder Truck, they raised the patient out of the pit. Firefighters also collaborated with construction workers to utilize an on-site construction crane to lift a second patient out of the pit.

Following the pit rescues, firefighters from the Seattle Fire Department Technical Rescue Team practiced a high angle rope rescue scenario. A mock crane operator suffered a medical emergency in the cab of a 300 foot-tall tower crane, and firefighters brought the patient to safety using ropes and other specialized equipment.

Firefighters secure ropes to a Stokes rescue basket.

The mock patient was lifted out of construction pit using ropes and an on-site construction crane.

Firefighters practice rescuing a Crane Operator from cab of a 300-foot-tall construction crane.

Students from Columbia Basin Job Corps Stop by to Say Thanks

vanders — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:07:21 +0000

Students and faculty from the Columbia Basin Job Corps stopped by Fire Station 25 today to say thank you to Seattle Firefighters and Police Officers who responded when their bus crashed last December. Eighty students from the Job Corps were aboard two buses that slid down an icy street and crashed through a guardrail above I-5 on December 19, 2008. The accident happened at the intersection of Thomas and Melrose Streets on Capitol Hill. Firefighters from Engine 25 were among the first to arrive on the scene. Seattle Fire Department crews evaluated the medical condition of all of the students and took eleven of them to Harborview Medical Center with minor injuries.

The group made a trip across the state from Moses Lake to visit with rescuers today. The students presented plaques with a photo of the students and signatures of those who were on board, along with a photo of the crash.

Firefighters Rescue Man Trapped in Hole

vanders — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:40:09 +0000

Firefighters used multiple tools to stabilize the cement around the patient.

At 7:45 a.m. on Thursday, May 21, firefighters responded to a report that a man had fallen and may have been injured next to the Washington Street Public Boat Landing at the intersection of South Washington Street and Alaskan Way South. When firefighters arrived they found a 60-year old male who fell approximately 10 feet into a hole after a section of cement collapsed underneath him. Firefighters reported that the fill dirt around the patient and large sections of remaining overhead concrete were both unstable. A Heavy Rescue response was requested, which includes Seattle Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Team.

The patient told firefighters that he was not hurt. Firefighters worked in a coordinated effort to stabilize the soil and the concrete using ladders, wood, separators, air bags and rope. They drilled a bolt into one piece of unstable concrete and tied it to a nearby pole so that if the slab of cement were to break it would not fall down on the patient. When the hole was stabilized, two firefighters entered the hole and cut off the patient’s backpack and shirt sleeve which were pinned down by a large slab of cement.

Once the patient was free, he was put in a rescue harness. The aerial ladder on a ladder truck was extended over the sidewalk and used to raise the patient out of the hole. The man was complaining of minor back pain and was transported to Harborview Medical Center for further evaluation.

The patient was extricated using an aerial ladder attached to a rescue harness.