NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Could you imagine starting your day off with high-angle rescue training at 8 a.m.? High-angle rescue training is any time they have to lower a first responder on a rope to save people.
Now imagine using that same training 12 hours later to save a life. Hard to imagine right? Well not for the Nashville Fire Department (NFD).
Nashville firefighters shared with NewsChannel 5 on Tuesday, what it takes to pull off high-risk rescues.
This comes one day after rescuing a base jumper who some say is lucky to be alive.
Nashville Fire Department was told they had a jumper stuck 150 feet below near a quarry off White Creek Pike. Turns out, it was more like 300 feet.
Witnesses said a group of people were base jumping when one person’s parachute did not open, sending them careening toward a ledge near the top of the quarry.
Firefighters later created what’s called a “stokes basket” to stabilize the patient and raise them back to safety. It’s something they say is a part of training.
The process took longer than anticipated, but Nashville Fire representatives say they chose to take all the necessary precautions.
The patient was transported to Vanderbilt Hospital with a few broken bones, but no life-threatening injuries.
September 11, 2001 is a day most associate with terror and tragedy. Austin Pollack shares a story from that day about hope and persistence: the effort to save a little girl’s life – with an organ donation. The problem? The young patient was in Houston, and her life-saving liver here in Nashville. With the grounding of all civilian aircraft, how could it be done? “Nobody ever said this isn’t possible.”
- Rhori Johnston
