LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – No matter how much they train, Las Vegas Fire and Rescue’s Technical Rescue team members say their biggest asset is their ability to persevere through unexpected circumstances.
“You can train all day but usually when you show up it’s something that you’ve never seen before,” Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Captain Anthony Clinker said.
About 40 people make up the team. These are people brought up from different ranks in the fire department who undergo an extensive eight-week training academy.
“When people call 911 and we get on scene, there’s usually nobody else coming,” Clinker explained.
Clinker shared that the Technical Rescue team will save people in elevators, over at Red Rock, or even up in a tree.
“A lot of palm tree rescues, it’s weird to think that palm tree rescue is a thing, but people shimmy up palm trees that are unkempt and they get a huge skirt of palm fronds stuck on them,” said Clinker.
They can also be called in for heavy vehicle extractions, water rescues, and structural collapses.
Back in September, the team had to put their flexibility to the test during a rescue near Kyle Canyon Road.
Engineer Rachel Pierce says they got a call for a trench rescue and devised a plan on the way.
Once they got on the scene, Pierce says they learned the victim had fallen in a hole made with a circular drill, and they had to pivot on the fly.
“We arrived on scene, we saw what we had, we saw the resources and equipment we had on scene, the condition the patient was in, we knew that speed was a factor,” Pierce explained.
She says they adjusted quickly, setting up a pulley system with a crane as their high point. They rescued the patient from start to finish in less than 30 minutes. The patient was transported to UMC’s Trauma Center and is expected to survive, a Spokesperson for the department says.
“Everybody did the job as safely and quickly as possible. We were able to rescue the victim with no issues,” Pierce shared.
Most of the time, LVFR’s Battalion Chief Ryan Eldridge says the Technical Rescue Team will be dispatched because the call indicates it will need a specialized team.
Eldridge says they’ll see multiple calls a day some days, while on the other hand, they may go three or four days without a call.
“The day you don’t think anything is going to happen is the day it generally does,” said Eldridge.
Copyright 2024 KVVU. All rights reserved.
