Lakeside Fire District: Hangin' Around the Channel Road Bridge

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Hangin' Around the Channel Road Bridge

Lakeside: The crews from the Lake Jennings and Riverview stations took advantage of the opportunity to conduct high angle drills off the Channel Road Bridge (San Diego River).To perform this drill we took advantage of the lane closure already in place by the contractor building the new fire station nearby.
Without this traffic control equipment in place we wouldn't have had the opportunity to close a lane of Channel Road to complete this drill as performed. Firefighters are always looking for these kinds of opportunities to hone their skills without undue impact to the daily activities of the community.

Intertwined within the community of Lakeside are flood control channels, cliffs, commercial and industrial structures that pose the potential for extremely difficult rescue situations.The techniques used to conduct these operations is commonly referred to as "technical rescue." The techniques and disciplines required to conduct these operations requires constant review.

Firefighter-Paramedic Chris Williams rappels to the riverbottom

The operations conducted on Wednesday (September 22nd, 2010) on the bridge simulated lowering a paramedic to a victim located in the river bottom. Initial operations are directed towards getting definitive medical attention to the victim in the least amount of time. The Lakeside paramedics are trained to work in a wide variety of environments, and are trained in the technical rescue skills necessary to access these patients.

Firefighters Jon Jordan and Chris Williams don harnesses needed to conduct high angle operations.

Rescue 3 is a specialized apparatus that carries sufficient equipment to conduct specialized operations in the urban and wilderness setting. Outfitted with1800' of rope, and a complete array of hardware, there are few situations that we cannot access.

Firefighter Paramedic Jon Jordan on a two rope lowering system.

For those that passed us on the bridge, and thought a horrible accident had occurred......not to worry, it was just a training exercise to help us prepare for such an incident.