Special Team Handles Cave, Treatment Center Rescues

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Jaime Garza, who was safely retrieved from atop a tall pole

Man rescued after trying to climb into a cave Monday night

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Rescue technicians from the Nashville Fire Department helped a cave climber Monday night and a man at a Nashville treatment center Tuesday.

The High Angle Rescue team is a division of the fire department. Members are trained to rappel or descend from high structures.

The team was surprised to get two urgent calls within a day.

On Monday, a man was hospital after falling in a cave near Bellevue. The man and two other people were exploring a cave off Highway 70 Monday night. The fire department's specialized team pulled the injured climber to safety.

Crews used a back-brace and basket to lift him and transport him down the hill. He was last listed in critical condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

On Tuesday, the High Angle Rescue Team and the Nashville Fire Department were called to a rescue at Cumberland Heights Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center on River Road. The center offers in-patient and out-patient services for individuals and programs for their families.

Jaime Garza was stranded in the air in a harness for nearly two hours.

"I wasn't worried, but I was just wondering when I was going to get down," said Garza, who works at the treatment center.

While setting up a rope course for patients, he got stuck 25 feet off the ground. He was upside down on a pole.

"There was a lot of struggle. I just lost all my upper body strength and I just had to hang there," he said. "And my harness slipped underneath me and I was just hanging with the back of my legs."

"It was pretty stressful. I was up there with him. He stayed very calm. He did amazingly well the entire time," said a witness.

The High Angle Rescue team used ladders and ropes to rescue Garza hours after helping the caver.

"We have a whole special operations unit that trains every day or weekly for these once-in-a-year events, but it looks like we had two back to back," said Assistant Fire Chief Lee Bergeron.

"The only thing that saved me was constant prayer," Garza said, adding that he also thought about his wife and daughter and family.

Firefighters said one of the difficult things about technical rescues is balancing speed with precision. That can be more difficult when the temperatures are in the mid-90s.

But officials said rescue crews were cautious in both cases.

Officials said the three climbers did not appear to have the necessary safety equipment to climb into the cave.