VIDEO: Despite high temperatures Sunday afternoon, firefighters from across Connecticut descended the side of a training building on ropes as part of a rope technician training course at the Connecticut Fire Academy. Jim Kenney, head ropes coordinator at the academy, said the weeklong course is designed to prepare firefighters with technical rescue skills beyond standard training. โWhat theyโre looking to do here is to be able to facilitate rescues using rope systems,โ Kenney said. The training gave participants a chance to simulate real-life scenarios, including rappelling from buildings and rescuing one another from several stories up. Firefighters went to the top of the building using the stairs, then practiced lowering themselves down using rope systems.
They also took turns simulating rescues through elevated windows while avoiding obstacles on their descent. Dominick Davis, a firefighter from Shelton and a student in the course, said the experience will help his career. โWhen you take this class, youโre able to actually go up over the edges and become more of a rescuer,โ Davis said. โItโll help me in a more professional standpoint, help more people and be that higher force on a team.โ Kenney emphasized that the skills taught in the course are crucial for specialized situations that general firefighting training does not cover. โTechnical rescue is a low-frequency, high-risk event. We donโt have a lot of them, but when we do theyโre very technical and thereโs a lot of risk,โ Kenney said.
For Davis, the training was as valuable as it was thrilling. โIt was fun, itโs a little nerving at first letting somebody else hold on to you as you work your way down to the ground. Overall it went well, felt really good,โ he said. Kenney, who has more than four decades of experience training firefighters, said his focus remains on safety and improvement. โOur goal is that everybody is safe and they come out of here and theyโve learned something, theyโre better than when they first came in. Thatโs our goal, all of the time,โ Kenney said. The course runs for roughly a week. At its conclusion, the firefighters will be tested and, if successful, they’ll receive a certification and will be able to take on more prominent roles in their departments.
