October 2, 2006

Firefighters perform advanced training

       White River Township firefighters spent nearly all of last week performing hundreds of man-hours of advanced rope training.  The ten to twelve hour days were packed full of new techniques as well as served as a refresher of standard practices for many of the participants.

         Reed Thorne and Dave VanHolstein from Ropes That Rescue out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, served as the lead instructors for the week-long class.  Members engaged in many different scenarios involving everything from classroom examples to on-site bridge and water tower rescues.  Although firefighters routinely perform rope rescue training, they occasionally get advanced instruction on some of the lesser-practiced techniques and least-used equipment in order to maintain proficiency in those areas.
 

          

           
(Click on a thumbnail to enlarge photo)
 
  

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