Elevated Safety teamed up with Rabun County EMA/SAR, Georgia Power, and Georgia Department of Natural Resources State Parks & Historic Sites to install a Rescuer Access Cable.
A Unique Project
Our friends at Rabun County EMA/SAR reached out for a unique project to install a dedicated rescue access cable from the rim to the basin of the Tallulah Gorge. This project took shape nearly two years ago with the idea being presented by Brian Panell, Director of Rabun County Office of Emergency Management. Brian kept a humble approach to exploring the best possible solution to effectively responding to a difficult access area of the Tallulah Gorge, while seeking a solution to keep the volunteers that comprise the SAR team, as safe as possible.
As a technical rescue training provider, Elevated Safety has worked closely with the Rabun EMA/SAR team for years. Collectively we detailed a plan, worked through the legal channels, and delivered a repeatable, effective solution to the community in Rabun County, GA. Much of the Elevated Safety team for this was comprised of Linville Central Rescue Squad NC- MRT1 members who have firsthand knowledge of the challenges in this terrain, having much of their volunteer rescue call volume based in North Carolina’s Linville Gorge.
At no point in time was Elevated Safety unsupported by the EMA volunteer resources from manpower, UTVs, ATVs, and hard-earned sweat of volunteers.
Elevated Safety was proud to work along side this team once again and change the thought process of how to affect a rescue at the base of a popular, high call volume area in the gorge. Collectively, we installed a 600’ cable from rim to base that allows rescuers to access the area in a method applying technical rescue skills and reducing time and energy to respond to GA State Park goers. The alternative patient carry out presents a difficult ascent of a steep, broken terrain trail and a river crossing that introduces risk to the operation.
Rescuer Access Cable Solution
Elevated Safety and Peak Rescue staff collaborated to arrive at a solution that was a ground up fabrication of a permanent high directional frame, utilizing a 5/8” cable to achieve a sloping guideline that would facilitate a rope based rescue system of lowering a rescuer to the patient and give the ability to retrieve the patient at a highly reduced fatigue, and risk rate to the rescue, while expediting the time on scene to achieve patient access.
Thank you as always to our trusted friends at Rabun EMA/SAR for trusting our guidance to see a project of this scale through with laughter, comradery, sweat, and collective solutions.