VIDEO: Reno Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue Rapid Module team, also known as the REM team, did some training up in the mountains in south Reno Monday.
The winds were blowing strong during the training, serving as a stark reminder of the real conditions the team will face during rescues.
In strong wind events, the fire department can’t run any aircrafts, so they have to deploy the REM team – especially in difficult terrain.
“So we use this trainingโฆ primarily we mobilize for wildland fire incidents throughout the entire United States, and we send a component of this team out to help extract injured firefighters,” said Pete Briant, a Division Chief at Reno Fire Department. The team works both locally and across the west coast.
“The team went out nine times last year to various fires throughout the west; Idaho, California, we had people in Utah. And then in addition to that we had about five or six rescues in the valley; but we’ve already had two this year,” Briant said.
The Division Chief says this training is crucial.
