[Scan-DC] 2007 Rescue Challenge Begins Monday!

[Alan Henney]

-----Original Message----- 
From: Jane Malik
Sent: Tue 4/24/2007 11:27 AM
Subject: 2007 Rescue Challenge Begins Monday!

                                Media Advisory
Date:         24 April 2007
Contact:  Phillip Perry


2007 Rescue Challenge

>From April 30 through May 3, Virginia’s Technical Rescue Teams will be
training for the worst. The Alexandria and Arlington Fire Departments
will host the 13th Annual Virginia Rescue Challenge with more than 200
rescue workers from Virginia, Maryland, and the United States Army
converging on the Metro area to participate in ten different, complex
rescue scenarios. No other state in the country has this type of
formalized, non-profit training.

This event can be credited for the efficient operations at the
Pentagon recovery effort beginning on September 11, 2001. The
Technical Rescue Teams that responded from Arlington, Alexandria,
Fairfax, and the Tidewater area had participated together in a Rescue
Challenge just months prior to the terrorist attack.

The rescue scenarios are designed to challenge each of these
experienced teams to better prepare them for a man-made or natural
disaster. New this year, the Fort Belvoir 911th Engineer Company will
be facilitating an event that features an explosion that has collapsed
a structure and trapped several occupants. The rescue teams responding
to the scenario will be picked up in Alexandria by a military Black
Hawk helicopter and transported to the rescue site. Once there, the
team will begin to size up the situation, call for additional
resources, begin stabilization construction, and tunneling for
victims. Other events will include a Metro Rail incident, a 200’ tall
tower crane rescue, a civil disturbance, a trench rescue, a vehicle
accident involving large over-the-road vehicles vs. a school bus, and
two different confined space rescues.

Reporters and/or camera crews are invited to imbed themselves with a
team for a day or all week. This opportunity will be available on a
first-come first-served basis. Due to security and safety issues, we
must ask those planning to cover the event to contact us prior to
arrival. Your point of contact for the event will be Alexandria Fire
Captain Phillip Perry. He can be reached between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00
p.m. each day from now until the end of the event.

Below is a brief history of the Rescue Challenge, a tentative schedule
of the event, and a list of participating  rescue teams.

Rescue Challenge History
The first Rescue Challenge was held in May 1995 in the Richmond,
Virginia area. The 1995 Rescue Challenge was by invitation to six
fire departments in Virginia. The invited teams had trained technical
rescue personnel sufficient to field one team of 12 to 15 members.
Since 1995, additional teams have been added to the extent that in
2007, ten teams representing some 15 to 17 organizations will
participate.
For its first three years (1995, ‘96 &’ 97), the event was held in and
around the Richmond area. The second two years (‘98 & ‘99) were held
in Northern Virginia. Years 2000 & 2001 were held in the Roanoke
Valley, with 2002 & 2003 hosted by Virginia Beach and the other
departments that make up the Tidewater Regional Technical Rescue Team.
In 2004, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of this event when teams
met in Central Virginia. Coverage of the event was featured in the
July ‘04 issue of Fire Chief magazine. Remaining in Central Virginia
for 2005, the event moved to Northern Virginia for 2006 and was once
again featured in an article in the July 2006 issue of Fire Chief
magazine.

Designed to challenge team members’ technical and organizational
skills, Rescue Challenge continues to foster networking between the
state’s highly trained technical rescuers, giving them an annual event
at which to exchange ideas as well as enhance their skills while
working on real life problems. Teams complete two scenarios a day for
each of the event’s four days, for a total of eight scenarios. High
angle rope rescue, confined space rescue, trench rescue, vehicle/heavy
machinery rescue, and light & heavy structural collapse rescue are the
basis for each Rescue Challenge scenario. Some scenarios require the
use of a combination of technical rescue skills to be successfully
completed.

Tentative Schedule
Day One, April 30:
0800 hours: Opening Ceremony at the Ramada Renaissance 4641 Kenmore
Avenue, Alexandria
Posting of the Colors
National Anthem
0845 hours: Remarks
Fire Chief Schwartz (Arlington), Interim Fire Chief Middleton
(Alexandria), General Swann (Army, Ft Belvoir)
0900 hours: Presentations
Presentation of appreciation to donating vendors
0915 hours: Safety Briefing
0930 hours: Adjourn
1030 hours: Teams arrive at sites and begin operations

Day Two, May 1 thru Day Four May 3
0800 hours: Safety Briefing, Ramada Renaissance 4641 Kenmore Avenue,
Alexandria
0830 hours: Adjourn to sites

* Information on exact team location and times are available upon
request.

Participating Teams

Roanoke Valley, Fairfax County, Arlington County, City of Alexandria,
Chesterfield County, Henrico County, City of Virginia Beach, Howard
County Maryland, Montgomery County Maryland and The 911th Engineer
Company from Fort Belvoir, Virginia will be participating in this year
’s event.

Jane Davidson Malik
Alexandria Fire Department
Public Information Officer