Firefighters conduct training exercise at Cape LaCroix Creek

Cape Girardeau firefighters had to rescue some dummy from Cape LaCroix Creek on Wednesday morning.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department's technical rescue team took advantage of a pretty day to conduct high-line operation training, battalion chief Brad Dillow said.

The team broke into two groups, with one stationed on each side of the creek, and set up a system of ropes and pulleys to hoist a training dummy to shore on a stretcher.

The operation required "very advanced skills," Dillow said, and the mannequin got a bumpy ride the first time around.

The training gave the crew a chance to practice a little-used skill and experiment with different approaches without risking injury to an actual person.

"We're working out issues and training on it without a live patient," Dillow said. " ... Rope rescue is not one of those things we use on a daily basis. If you don't use it, you lose that skill level."

The crew used a bipod system -- a pair of triangular metal frames with ropes stretched between them -- to lift the stretcher and ease it across the creek. Dillow used a radio to give instructions to the group on the other side of the creek as they pulled on ropes and made adjustments.

Dillow said the angle of the frames made the operation more difficult. Had they been closer together or angled differently, the crew could have distributed the tension on the ropes better and moved the stretcher more smoothly.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department's technical rescue team, including Chris Venable, top, Brad Dillow, Matt Mittrucker, left, Randy Sander and Paul Breitenstein, practice a high-line rescue exercise Wednesday, July 16, 2014 across Cape LaCroix Creek behind Hobby Lobby in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

"That's a big, big part of this is the physics -- the forces that are being generated," he said.

The crew also had to be mindful not to clothesline any passing cyclists, who ducked under the rope as they rode past on the trail on the west side of the creek.

In an emergency, rescue workers don't get to pick the victim's location or surroundings, so they have to be prepared for adverse conditions, Dillow said.

"We generally don't do this, but some circumstances, this might be your only option," he said.

The team had to improvise when a rope came up short, tying another rope to it and then working around the knot, Dillow said.

"We had to back up and punt -- adapt and change and make it work," he said. "We worked through the problem, so we know we have the ability if we do encounter that to work through it and get past it."

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Cape LaCroix Creek, Cape Girardeau, MO