At my department we have drills periodically assigned to us to complete as a company. Some of them are engine drills. Others are truck drills. The purpose of these drills is to ensure that we are staying on top of our game. That way (in theory), when the time comes, we will be able to perform. And each of these events are timed.
On this particular day we were tasked with setting up the aerial ladder for a high pick point rescue. That is to say that we are practicing using the tip of the aerial ladder as a point from which we can raise someone. It doesn't really matter from where (for all you rescue gods out there I know that's not entirely true but I'm simplifying things).
So with my BC and DC (division chief, aka my BC's boss) watching we set everything up. Everything went off without a hitch. While we set things up we talked about how, with more resources, things would be different like having a dedicated safety officer.
Once we had the rope system in place to lower a rescuer to the victim my BC asked us to set up to raise the victim and the rescuer. This involved setting up another anchor point and building a 3:1 mechanical advantage. During the time that we were setting things up my BC donned a harness. Once we were ready he gave us the order to lift him.
We got him about 10 feet in the air and it suddenly became really tempting to lock him in place and go to Starbucks. Fortunately for him none of us wanted him hung.
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