In June 2024, firefighters in Channahon, IL rescued a man from a water tower after he reportedly suffered a medical emergency. An interesting rescue scenario that leveraged tower rescue skills and patience.
One of the rescuers that performed the rescue, SPRAT Level 1 certified FF Mullins from the Plainfield Fire Protection District, was kind enough to provide a recap of the rescue:
“Upon our arrival on scene, we knew we had one victim, semi-conscious, inside of a 140ft tall water tower, with the only access being a small hatch on the top of the tower. Our tower ladders only reach 100ft, at best, which meant the only way for us to get to the access point on top of the tower to make contact with the victim, was the 140ft straight ladder that was attached to one of the legs of the water tower. Once on the top of the tower, a Lowering/Raising system needed to be constructed to both lower the rescuer down into the tank to the victim, and to raise the victim out once properly packaged.
I recently took a Tower Rescue Technician course, and the objectives of the course cover incidents exactly like this one. Because of this course, this was not the first time being exposed to climbing in these conditions, working at this elevation level, and using the rescue techniques and equipment that were needed to have the successful outcome that we had.
It’s one thing to understand the concepts to perform this rescue in a classroom, but it is an entirely different thing to be able to do it when the call comes in. The hands-on experience received from the Elevated Safety Tower Rescue Technician course is second to none in my opinion, and I highly recommend others take this course to take their technical rescue skills to the next level.”
For more information on our Tower Rescue, or other courses, check out our course calendar.