Slope rescue training lifts learning for firefighters

By Lethbridge Herald on October 20, 2022.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Members of various southern Alberta fire departments take part on a slope rescue training exercise Thursday above the coulees of the city's river valley.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – apulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The Southern Alberta Firefighter Conference took place in Lethbridge Thursday with various fire departments in attendance divided into two training sessions.

“There’s two different training sessions going on today, there is the slope rescue training and then there’s LPG Firefighting for Fire-Petroleum-Gas firefighting, and it’s happening at the Fire Station No. 4 here in the city of Lethbridge,” said Jason Linton, emergency services coordinator with Cypress County Emergency Services.

Linton was taking part in the training session focused on slope rescue, where members of Cypress County, Town of Lacombe, MD of Taber and the Blood Tribe Emergency Services departments were training behind the Sandman Signature Lodge taking advantage of the slopes provided by the coulees.

Linton said Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services had recommended the location for the purpose of slope rescue training.

“This is a great area for training, especially for a basic awareness course. It’s not too steep, so the hazards are less for first timers,” said Linton.

He said the training was about educating and understanding if that was something their department needs.

“We want to make sure there’s equipment and the things that it takes to actually run a good quality tech rescue team,” said Linton.

For Cypress County firefighter Dylan Faickney the training was intense physically but very rewarding.

“I was holding up the two rescuers and the patient, using the three to one (pulley system) was incredibly difficult, so I definitely learned that we could use a five to one for that and make it a lot easier on us,” said Faickney.

He explained that they had rope going down through the anchor on a truck, going down to the rescuers and the patient, and they had that rope going to an anchor point on a tree, and then they pulled from the tree line on a three to one pulley.

“You’re pulling that up, say there’s 600 pounds at the bottom, you’re pulling up 200 pounds, dividing that number in three, so you’re pulling that whatever distance we have. We had to go a 20-foot distance that we were pulling out. It is a lot of weight, very extraneous,” said Faickney.

He said the terrain was difficult to navigate, which made the training that much better.

“The rescuers when they were going down, they were watching their footing, something we learned was we can watch for any obstacles that are coming up as well. We had a couple of broken pipes on the ground, rocks, hills in the terrain. That sort of makes it a lot more difficult to pull up on the rope,” said Faickney.

He said it was a phenomenal experience.

“If you’re not learning in the fire halls, then it’s time to retire,” said Faickney.