Red, White & Blue Fire District Uses Technical Rescue Skills to Save Man

Monday, January 31, 2011 - Breckenridge, CO

The Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District was called yesterday afternoon to a report of a male who fell approximately 20 feet down an elevator shaft.

Upon arrival to the home, located at 109 Sunrise Point, firefighters found an adult male, conscious and breathing, sitting at the bottom of the elevator shaft. Because the home was under a major renovation, there were no stairs in place and the only access to the male was by climbing down approximately 20 feet via two ladders to reach the patient.

Firefighters secured the patient to an extrication sled, carried him through an open window to the basement of the house and proceeded to lift him via a rope pulley system. They carried him approximately 150 feet through deep snow and then hoisted him with a mechanical advantage system over a retaining wall to an ambulance.

“Our skilled personnel, training and technical rescue equipment, including the use of the District’s latest addition to our fleet, a 100 foot aerial tower, all played a key role in this successful rescue,” said Fire Chief Gary Green. “Although these types of technical rescue emergencies are few and far between, the response is indicative of the all-hazard services that we provide to our community,” he said.

Coincidentally, Red, White & Blue firefighters trained for this specific type of incident just the day before.

“We trained on different scenarios based on a low-angle rescue situation,” said Battalion Chief Paul Kuhn. “That was exactly the circumstance we encountered when we arrived at the house,” he said.

---

Press Contact:
Battalion Chief Kim Scott, PIO
cell: 970.485.4374
email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

---

« Back