TIFTON — Members of Tift County Fire Rescue and Tift County EMS underwent rope training throughout the day Tuesday.

Battalion Chief Billy Young explained that all of the TCFR personnel and some of the EMS personnel were undergoing training that would certify them as technician level with rope training.

“Technician is the highest level we’ll achieve with rope training,” Young said.

Tuesday’s training was only one of approximately 15 different types of rope training they would have to go through to receive their certification.

“We’ll be able to handle any type of rope rescue in Tift County or the surrounding area,” Young said, citing water towers, silos and steep embankments as examples of where a rope rescue could be utilized.

“It’s also good to have the EMS people do this training because they can use this to get to the victim more quickly and begin to treat injuries faster,” Young said.

According to Young, the next round of training for TCFR will be confined space training.

Deputy Chief Ken Gallagher, who is one of three members of TCFR who are on the Georgia Search and Rescue Taskforce 2, which has conducted rope rescue operations in the field, was the instructor for the course.

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Sergeant Cruz Chambliss getting ready to descend from the ledge where the rescue scenario begins.

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Chambliss hooking the “patient,” Lieutenant Phillip Womack, onto his harness so they could both be lowered safely to the ground.

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Firefighter Jarod Weaver in the middle of his rescue training exercise.

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Weaver working to secure the “patient” harness to his.

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Paramedic Justin Garmon getting ready to begin his training exercise while Womack plays the patient.

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The training used different pulley and rope configurations, each of which would be used in a different scenario.

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Womack showing Lieutenant Courtney Coppage, one of the paramedics undergoing the training, how to set up her harness.

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Coppage about to rappel down.

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Once both people were safely on the ground, the exercise was successfully complete.

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The point of the exercise was to safely attach the victim to the rescuer so they could be lowered safely to the ground.