Firefighters from across the country come to Ashland to learn best practices
By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news
Saws whirred and hammers echoed as firefighters worked around a 10-foot deep trench on the outskirts of the Ashland Municipal Airport. Wooden panels were visible around the outside while inside struts and long beams called “walers” were carefully adjusted to the exact tension required to keep the trench from collapsing on first responders attempting to rescue victims trapped inside.
For the annual trench rescue class on Aug. 29, one of the firefighters would soon descend inside and allow himself to be “rescued” by the others.
A taped-up bundle of hose near the trench had already been helped to safety, but a live “victim” is vital to prepare for a real rescue, said Alan Baker, an instructor with the CMC Rescue School who helped create this rescue procedure.
“A hose doesn’t say ‘ow,’ if you’ve hurt it,” Baker said.
As the final pieces of the protective structure were put into place, the group nominated Jack McGuire — the Ashland Fire & Rescue firefighter taking the course — to play the victim and descend into the hole.
Baker instructed him to lay with his head facing the corner of the L-shaped trench — the least structurally sound spot where removing him would require more complex problem solving from firefighters.
“Am I awake?” McGuire asked as he positioned himself on the ground.
“You’re unconscious. But you can groan real loud if they hurt you,” Baker said, standing on the edge of the trench outside.
A ladder was positioned on one end with a rope dangling down, terminating in a carabiner. A few firefighters remained clustered around the ladder while three others descended into the trench, one of them carrying an orange backboard the “victim” would be strapped onto.
Compared to the engineering project of stabilizing the trench, the conversation audible from ground above made removing the victim resemble moving a couch upstairs.
“No matter how we do it, it’s going to suck.”
“Maybe if we do kind of a dance here, stand, turn — counterclockwise.”
Levity was irrepressible.
“You’re too nice, Jack.”
“It’s almost romantic really.”
In the trench below, McGuire was being held upright by one of his fellow paramedics while the others reached out and attached a “spacer” (a flat metal piece about a shoulder’s width apart) with ropes and more carabiners to the backboard. The victim was laid on the ladder on his back, as firefighters above used the rope attached to the backboard to keep him stable as they pulled the ladder upward, removing him from the trench in a fluid motion.
Once the “victim” was unstrapped and again standing top side as another firefighter, Baker led the group in a critique of their work.
They “busted tail” and worked as fast as a crew twice their size, he complimented them. The “victim” could have done a better job playing unconscious instead of unconsciously moving to assist his rescuers but, equally important, it was also clear his rescuers never accidentally caused him pain. Firefighters also could have better prioritized where to place the struts and boards to get to the victim faster.
Ashland Fire & Rescue has never responded to this kind of incident in his decades with the department, said AF&R Battalion Chief Todd Stubbs. Its rescue team has answered a couple of confined space calls and last year, through a mutual aid response to Fire District 5, it assisted in a rope rescue for a paraglider stuck in a tree.
The elaborate exercise of this trench rescue class is done every year because if the call came in, firefighters would be working against time to achieve a rescue rather than a recovery.
“A trench rescue can take between eight and nine hours,” Stubbs said.
Once the trench collapses, the earth around it is unstable and firefighters going in to rescue risk being buried themselves, Baker said.
A former firefighter, Baker said years ago he realized there was no data on how to best protect first responders during rescue. Working with a soil engineer, he and others developed a matrix for how to analyze the soil and what corresponding relatively quick structure should be built inside to stabilize the trench.
A trench rescue is rare because when construction, wastewater or street workers create them there are rules in place for how to prevent a collapse. Because a collapse usually means a failure to follow the rules, Stubbs said firefighters sometimes get the call too late as workers try to dig out their friend rather than call for help.
“Because if we come out, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Association) is also coming out. And if OSHA is coming out, you’re writing checks — they fine,” he said.
AF&R still keeps lumber stashed away to build the structure firefighters in the class spend three days learning for this complicated rescue. After the CMC class is finished — so as not to waste a perfectly good trench and the hard work of the city’s Public Works department —Stubbs said he and McGuire will lead the AF&R rescue team through the entire rescue procedure.
Those who complete the course obtain a certification that allows them to perform this type of rescue, Baker said.
Ashland Fire & Rescue is the only department in the area with certified responders, Stubbs said.
“If it happens in Medford or something, they’re calling us. And if we don’t do this, all we can say is ‘I’m sorry’” he said.
AF&R also hosts a rope rescue course with CMC School in the spring. Stubbs helped instigate the city of Ashland hosting courses every year for the multiple benefits it brings to the department. CMC school instructors are experts in the rescue industry, he said. As the host, AF&R both keeps knowledge of this rescue procedure fresh while also learning the latest in rescue tools, best practices and real life incidents nationally from the CMC staff. The host department also gets a slot in the $1,400 per person class.
The CMC course is open enrollment. Firefighters from around the country come to Ashland to learn every year, giving AF&R staff the chance to learn about successes and challenges in other departments, Stubbs said. Around the trench Thursday, working logos across the chest and shoulders of the firefighters included “Los Angeles” and “Chester, Vermont,” showing the eclectic mixture of responders.
Jesse Smith, the only woman in the course and one of two firefighters from Chester, said, like Ashland, her department wanted to be able to respond quickly to this form of technical and time-sensitive rescue. The nearest department to hers with this certification is an hour and a half away. Her small town department is staffed by all paid on-call volunteers with additional jobs, her own as a structural engineer. She said the class offered a valuable learning experience, part of a broader effort to be widely proficient in rescue.
“Everyone’s doing construction, there’s work at the ski resorts,” she said of situations that could lead to the necessity for a rescue. “It could happen.”
Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.
