When emergencies happen high above the city鈥檚 streets, it鈥檚 often Vancouver鈥檚 Special Operations Team that comes to the rescue.
The team of firefighters trains for emergency situations involving things such as tower cranes, high-rise buildings and bridges, using high-angle rope rescue techniques.
鈥淎nywhere where someone perhaps could be trapped and/or find themselves in medical distress,鈥� said A/Lt. Christopher Won, who has been with the team since 2007.
The team uses a system of ropes, harnesses and pulleys to access and extract people from precarious situations, often dealing with a medical emergency at the same time, and bring them back down to earth.
The dedicated team was first established in the early 1990s. At that time, it exclusively trained in high-angle rope rescue techniques. Since then, they have added other rescue disciplines and now oversee confined space rescues, trench rescues and water rescues in the city.
鈥淲e also oversee the structural collapse and earthquake or disaster management aspect of rescue within the city,鈥� Won said.
But high-angle rescue was the 鈥渂read and butter鈥� of the program when it began, and while the team might not get calls daily, weekly, or even monthly 鈥� the team was called out just eight times last year 鈥攖hey have to be ready to respond at any time.
Training, training, training
鈥淥ne of the paradoxes of the technical rescue world is because the frequency of rescues is not very high, we have to make up for that experience through a lot of training,鈥� Won said, adding that, for example, the team doesn鈥檛 do as much first aid training because, as firefighters, they use those skills daily.
鈥淭he reverse goes for the technical rescue 鈥� we鈥檙e not getting a technical rescue call every day, so we do spent a lot of time training especially because we have the four disciplines that we have to maintain our skills for.鈥�
He said the team has four to six full training days every six weeks or so.
The department has its dedicated training facility near Strathcona Park, which includes a four-storey burn tower, but the team takes training sessions out into the real world as much as possible.
鈥淲e have a really good relationship with the port right now so we鈥檝e done training off some of their gantry cranes and things like that that load the shipping containers on and off the ships,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e also have a really good relationship with some of the real estate development companies in town that build the high rises so we try to use them when the weather鈥檚 good, get up on the tower cranes鈥� you look around the city and there鈥檚 no shortage of tower cranes.鈥�
Incidents involving tower cranes, often rescuing a crane operator who is in medical distress and unable to climb down, are usually some of the team鈥檚 higher profile rescues. But as Won reflects on his more than 10 years with the team, it鈥檚 other kinds of calls that have stuck with him.
鈥淭he ones that stand out are sometimes people who have chosen to go out into the high-angle environment and then realized halfway through that it wasn鈥檛 such a great idea,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o whether they were trying to get that perfect Instagram photo or they went hiking and they realized they were up on the side of a bluff and they got themselves into trouble鈥� there鈥檚 always this element of embarrassment, there鈥檚 some lengthy explanation as to why they did what they did and you鈥檝e got to navigate your way through this conversation while trying to rescue them from the position they鈥檙e in.鈥�
Won said the explanations he鈥檚 heard over the years usually tend to be 鈥渇airly convoluted.鈥�
鈥淥ne was out at UBC above Wreck Beach where there鈥檚 very steep slopes鈥� [Someone decided to] climb naked from the beach trying to find a shortcut back to where they hid their alcohol or something and it just鈥� The nakedness and the alcohol and the climbing up the bluff, it doesn鈥檛 line up to me to a good decision, but [they] decided it was a good idea.鈥�
Higher ground
The ever-increasing height of buildings in the city has meant new challenges for the team.
When the Shangri-La, currently the tallest high-rise in the city at 659 feet (201 metres), was completed in 2008, the department had to not only purchase longer ropes, but also had to get permission to use them. Won said WorkSafeBC and industry safety standards allow for a maximum 300-foot-long ropes for high-angle rescue.
鈥淏ecause of [the height of] the Shangri-La we鈥檝e had to order and maintain 600-foot ropes,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o we had to get a variance to clear that with WorkSafe that we could use these extra-long ropes simply because the length of the [standard] rope wouldn鈥檛 reach the ground if it was only 300 feet.鈥�
Higher buildings and longer ropes raise new questions.
鈥淪o as we get higher and higher, we鈥檙e going to have to deal with what is the safety factor in a rope of 600 feet or 700 or 800? As we go higher and higher, is it realistic to continually use a single rope? Maybe we鈥檒l come up with techniques to relay that person from one 600 length to the next 600 length,鈥� Won said, adding that discussions around emergency response for the Shangri-La started during the construction phase, something that will continue if, and when, the next tallest building in the city is approved.
鈥淎t the end of the day, once a building gets permitted to go up a certain number of floors, we look at well, do we have the capability? And if we don鈥檛, how do we perform these rescues?鈥�
@JessicaEKerr
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