Wright-Patt firefighters assist in difficult rescue

  • Published
  • By Amy Rollins
  • Skywrighter staff
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Once again demonstrating its vital support to surrounding communities, the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Fire Department helped rescue a military service member - an Air Force reservist whose truck had gone over a guardrail and overturned in a Riverside ravine.

Upon request for mutual aid, the fire department sent Engine 31 plus a heavy rescue truck, Rescue 15, and a safety officer, Fire Chief Jacob King, to assist Riverside and Huber Heights departments the morning of Aug. 25 at Harshman Road and Springfield Street.

On arrival, the crew found a sport-utility vehicle about 50 feet below the roadway.

"It was very difficult because the terrain beyond the guardrail was a pretty significant drop in degree," King said. "This one was almost straight down. We had to traverse down. Crews had to set up a system to rappel down to the vehicle and bring tools and equipment because the driver of the vehicle was trapped."

Riverside's department had neither the amount of equipment nor the trained staff to perform a rope rescue. That's where Wright-Patterson AFB's crew came in.

Additional command staff aided in the response. After a Huber Heights ladder truck's ladder was extended, the crew performed the rope rescue.

"Through our mutual aid agreement, we've agreed to respond with that capability to the departments around the base," King said. "As with any technical rescue scenario, there was very high risk to the responders and the victim."

The department has a mutual aid agreement with 100 fire departments in the greater Dayton area to both give and receive aid in the event there is a major emergency on the installation.

"No. 1, a majority of our personnel live in those areas," King noted. "No. 2, by us providing mutual aid to other departments, we are able to utilize them as well to supplement our forces to deal with any type of major emergency on base."

The base receives mutual aid several times annually, King said. Examples could involve handling major hazardous materials or when multiple medical emergency runs happen simultaneously and responders are called to transport patients.

"It is a give and take," he said.

"This is a great example of how responding mutual aid to our community partners also takes care of our own, as the individual in this vehicle was a military member just outside the base," King said.