Contact: NOVEC Public Relations, 1-703-335-0500, [email protected]
MANASSAS, Va. – A dozen first responders converged on Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative's Gainesville facility earlier this year to practice potentially life-saving skills on the Co-op’s satellite tower. Firefighters from Prince William County Fire and Rescue, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, Arlington County Fire and Rescue, Mangohick Volunteer Fire Department, Fredericksburg Fire Department, Albemarle County Fire Department, Loudoun County Fire and Rescue, and Chesterfield Fire and Rescue spent five hours climbing the satellite tower in June.
As part of an advanced course in rope rescue, they learned the skills necessary to help people who are injured or have medical emergencies while working on towers and cranes.
“The focus is to teach them how to climb these structures safely, and how to effectively bring a victim down from a potentially very high, dangerous location,” said Battalion Chief Matthew Burns of Fairfax County Fire and Rescue. Local cell towers and cranes can be anywhere from 100 to 800 feet tall, he said. “We are grateful that NOVEC lends the use of its tower for this training.”
Burns recalled a recent event where the lessons of this training course were put into action. A man in his late 30s suffered a stroke while working in the cab of a crane about 150 feet above the ground. “An assessment of the patient revealed he was in critical condition, and time was essential to get him to a stroke center. This was accomplished by a rope rescue; the patient was lowered from the crane in a secured basket,” Burns said.
Students are required to complete 32 hours of ropes rescue training, with only 2.5 of those hours in the classroom. “All of the rest is in the field, learning skills and managing scenarios,” said Burns.
NOVEC has shared its tower with local fire departments two or three times a year since 2017. The course is offered through the Virginia Department of Fire Programs and requires advance prerequisite training.
NOVEC will continue to make the satellite tower available for training in the future. Skip Hollcroft, NOVEC's system construction manager, said, “we are always happy to help those who help others.”
October is National First Responders Month. Since 2019, the day has recognized the heroic men and women who run toward danger every day to help their fellow citizens.
Joel Falinski, Arlington County Fire and Rescue (center), adjusts his gear while talking to fellow firefighters during a break in training.
Instructor Scott Richardson, from D.C. Fire and Emergency (right), speaks with ropes course student Thomas Durbin (left).
