Abseiling fire crews take on mock rescue mission

Firefighters abseiled 100 feet down in the empty tank – being built by United Utilities at Anchorsholme Park – strapped a dummy onto a stretcher, and winched him back to the top.

It was all part of a unique training opportunity, giving fire crews in the area the chance to hone their skills.

Simon Bone, a Lancashire Fire and Rescue service manager covering the Fylde coast, said: “It is a kind of scenario we would face in real life but not in such a circumstance like this.

“We often get people who have fallen off the edge of a quarry, down lift shafts, but to have a unique opportunity such as this is offering us, to actually have a simulation in a controlled environment, whereby we can use a lot of our resources and prove competence, is just fantastic.”

United Utilities stopped work on the site for an afternoon while the exercise took place.

Two firefighters were lowered down the drain by crews to give first aid to the ‘casualty’.

They were followed by a specialist rope team who strapped their patient to an orange board and carried him back up.

The water firm said it was ‘more than willing’ to allow the mock rescue to take place.

The concrete tank will be covered up and inaccessible when work is finished there later this year.