High-Angle Rescue

Muscatine Fire Department provides high angle rope rescue services to their response area. This type of rescue is unique and requires special training and equipment. A rescuer will typically have to climb or be lowered to a victim and will then assess and treat them, while the rest of the team builds a rope system to get them to an awaiting ambulance. These types of incidents can occur at any of our industrial sites and other areas such as the water tower or bridge.

Each member of the Fire Department has been through initial training and has to maintain their skills. Training on these types of skills is conducted every other month and consists of basic knot tying to rigging in an industrial area. The Fire Department is very grateful that some industries allow us to conduct training on their sites.

The primary response vehicle for this type of emergency is HAZMAT 321, which carries a majority of our rope rescue equipment. HAZMAT 321 and it's equipment is maintained at station 2.