BETHEL, Ohio — Bethel-Tate Fire Department’s Division of Fire and EMS Education certified a new class of Rope Rescue Technicians last week, training firefighters and EMS personnel to perform high-angle rescues using ropes, anchors and rigging systems, the department said in a Facebook post.
The department congratulated the newly certified technicians online, saying participants in the hands-on course told instructors they “learned a lot” during the training.
Rope rescue is governed by National Fire Protection Association standards that set Awareness, Operations and Technician proficiency levels for several technical rescue disciplines, including rope, confined-space and water rescue. The technician level, the highest the standard covers for rope rescue, qualifies firefighters to lead and carry out high-angle rescues, including raising and lowering people from cliffs, water towers, bridges, grain bins and multistory buildings using rope systems and rigging.
Rope rescue is one of several specialized capabilities Bethel-Tate Fire Department offers, along with boat and water rescue, a hazardous materials trailer and a mobile air cascade system used to refill firefighters’ breathing-air tanks in the field, according to the department.
Bethel-Tate Fire Department operates out of Station 2 at 149 N. East St. in Bethel and provides fire and EMS coverage for the village of Bethel and surrounding Tate Township, a combined service area of about 12,000 residents across nearly 50 square miles, according to Tate Township. The department is staffed by a mix of full-time, part-time, volunteer and cadet firefighters and EMS providers, and it is among the busier departments in Clermont County, averaging roughly 2,100 calls a year, the township said.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Bethel-Tate Fire Department.