DAVENPORT, Iowa — If you saw men dangling over the edge of the old I-74 bridge this week, they weren’t in danger, but rather preparing for it. Firefighters from five local departments participated in MABAS 43 training.
It stands for Mutual Aid Box Alarm System 43 Technical Rescue Team training. Men were maneuvered over the river, down a pulley system to a barge waiting for them 80 feet below.
It’s the first time in over ten years the departments have been able to do a training like this here in the Quad Cities. For the past 6 or 7 years the training has happened in the Tax Slayer Center, with men rappelling down from the rafters.
They’re a team of highly trained rescue team that is also ready to go. MABAS 43 Team Leader Darren LeBeau says they’ve been called all over the place. “We are a state resource. We are housed here in the Quad Cities consisting of five departments. We are what we call deployable ready. We can go to Florida, we can go to South Carolina. We have deployed to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and we are on the ready for any team that requests our assets.”
They also do rescues right here in their own backyard. LeBeau saying, “We had people trapped in grain bins and we've also deployed to Maquoketa caves.”
The training is made up of about 60 men participating in three groups over three days. They’re split into two roles, the technicians and the mules. “The technicians are the people that are going over the edge and they’re also the people that are building the systems. The mules, they are our muscle basically puling on that rope up and down to get the victim and the rescuer up and down the rope system.”
The men work off adrenaline and teamwork, as well as faith in their equipment. “It is quite the adrenaline rush. If you go over the edge right there, I mean you look down, it makes you think a couple of times about it. It makes you have to have a lot of faith in your equipment.”
They work together to rescue people from situations that a fire truck might not have access to. They rappel down into buildings, debris, caves, cliffs, anything that needs their assistance.
It’s a slow and steady process that got its form from 9-11. Firefighters all over the country now using the technique, even right here in the Quad Cities.