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IN FIRST OF THE MANY UNANNOUNCED DFEMS DRILLS
‘3 rescued after falling off Ladder Beach cliff’
A two-and-a-half-hour drill saw personnel of the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services “safely rescuing” three persons, including two children, who “fell” from the cliff at Ladder Beach on Friday.
According to DFEMS spokesman Derek Gersonde yesterday, the Ladder Beach scenario was the first of many unannounced response exercises that they will be conducting.
Gersonde said Friday’s exercise was to test their activation and response time as well as how the search and rescue team members would conduct their mission.
Under the exercise scenario, DFEMS received a call that “someone had fallen from the cliff at Ladder Beach.”
Medic 4 unit from Koblerville Fire Station was the first to arrive at the scene, followed by a Hazmat Unit from the Susupe Fire Station. Medic 4 personnel determined that there was a need to activate the Search and Rescue Unit, which required both on- and off-duty personnel to be dispatched to the scene.
Gersonde said the first Search and Rescue Unit personnel arrived within 12 minutes of the initial dispatch. The team then rappelled off the cliff line at Ladder Beach, provided medical treatment, and safely hoisted the three “victims”—one adult male and two children.
“Some of the drills we are looking at conducting are search and rescue, hazardous materials, and wild land fires,” Gersonde said.
