Video: Columbus Firefighters Take Fire And Rescue To New Heights

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-Firefighters routinely risk their lives. Proper training is essential, before you run into a burning building.

The thought of rappelling from a tall building would leave most of us shaking in our boots. But for 19 Columbus firefighters, it’s part of their week long training for rope rescuing certification.

“Today we are doing mechanical advantages, pick offs; which is getting somebody off a floor…off a lower floor. And getting them out of a building,” says Todd Graham.

One technique these firemen are learning is how to use a rope when rescuing victims from high elevations.

“Rope rescue is ever evolving. New techniques come up. New pieces of equipment, but the core values are always the same tieing the knots, using rope things like that,” says Craig Nash.

You can’t find skyscrapers in Columbus, but fire instructor, Craig Nash says rope and rescue skills are useful.

“As you can see on this campus you have multi-story structures. You have window washers, people working at height and they could get injured and of course these guys will have to come out and figure out how to get those individuals down or actually raise somebody up,” says Nash.

“We’ve had a couple of incidents where we have had to get some people down from a building sometimes. It’s not like from a cell tower sometimes it is something as easy as getting them off a scaffold off the side of the building so we need to be ready at all times,” says Graham.

Columbus fireman, Jeremy Harpole has only been with the department a little more than a month. He knows that training is crucial.

“Keeping up with our technique learning new stuff everyday keeps our mind keep it going. If you don’t know it then you won’t know how to do it when the time comes,” says Jeremy Harpole.

So if you ever find yourself stuck someplace, and it’s too high to jump, remember, Columbus Firefighters have the skills and training to bring you safely back to earth.

The last phase of the training is on Friday. They will be doing a complete rescue using all the skills the learned this week.