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Palm Beach County Fire Rescue trains for high danger, high drama incidents

Firefighters saved window washer in North Palm Beach earlier this week
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Posted at 4:52 PM, Jul 16, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-16 18:46:56-04

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — At Palm Beach County Fire and Rescue's training center, the Special Operations Team doesn’t have any time to spare.

Armed with ropes, carabiners, and harnesses, they’re climbing to the top of a building to practice saving a life.

"The blue line is the back up line.So you have a main line which is the main load of the person, the rescuer. Then you have the back up line so if the first line fails it catches them both," Capt. Eric Price said.

There’s a final safety check.

"And he’ll be going over the edge to be lowered down to the stranded victim," said Capt. Price.

It’s the second time this week, except on Monday it wasn’t a drill. Exclusive video from WPTV Chopper5 video showed Capt. Price and his team calmly rescuing a window washer who was stuck, hanging from the 15th floor of a 23-story building in North Palm Beach.

WATCH VIDEO OF RESCUE:

VIDEO: Crews rescue worker from high-rise building in North Palm Beach

"My job was to go over the edge and do what we call a pick off," said firefighter Sam Adler. "So basically we are relying on the team upstairs to do the lowering and do the controlled dissent."

The team was successful in their mission, saving the window washer and lowering him to safety.

On Thursday, WPTV got an up-close look at how these heroes train for those tense moments.

"It’s just one of the things we prepare for, train for and we are always ready to do our job," said Adler.