The creek at Mission Plaza in downtown San Luis Obispo was just one of the locations rescue training was held this week for California firefighters to get hands-on experience.
“What we're doing here today is probably one of the most technical rope skill sets that we do,” explained Matt Wallen, a retired CAL FIRE battalion chief and rescue training instructor.
Wallen has been teaching these techniques for the past 25 years.
“This training is one of the five areas that we really need to master and do well at,” Wallen said.
Some of the firefighters came from as far as Big Bear for the training, but others were able to practice the rescue techniques on their own turf.
"It’s really cool to be able to do it in our city where we work so we can learn to use them in our open space area. It's very applicable to a rescue that we could have,” said San Luis Obispo City Fire Engineer Patrick Larsen.
Larsen says many people like to explore the open space and outdoor areas the city has to offer, and as a result, the fire department receives many rescue calls.
“Our department gets ample amounts of open space rescues over the course of the year so our ability to learn higher techniques and more advanced techniques will only make our rescues more efficient and quicker,” Larsen said.
For Friday's training, firefighters set up two high-lines across the creek downtown — one tied to a tree and the other end to a rescue truck. Using ropes, they lowered down the rescuer who grabbed the "victim" from the creek below and pulled them up to safety.
Firefighters around California and the Central Coast are training to be ready for any situation.
“It’s cool to take all the knowledge we've learned throughout our career and then get to the pinnacle of it and then be able to apply it to serve the citizens of San Luis Obispo,” Larsen said.
