RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) – First responders can mean the difference between life and death, and the training they undergo is designed to make sure new recruits are ready for any scenario they may face. Wednesday, that training involved ropes.

Wednesday’s training falls under the category of Urban Search and Rescue. These operations typically require firefighters to be well-versed in a variety of tactics, especially rope training.

“All of our USAR our urban search and rescue specialties require a certain amount of rope knowledge. If we’re going to be moving heavy things, rescuing people, there’s always some kind of rope aspect or could be,” said Ryan Ricke, the captain of Rapid City Fire Department.

Aside from learning specific tactics, the training presents the opportunity for fire departments to be better acquainted with each other.

“We get our team from across the state together and kinda get on the same page about strategies and tactics, equipment, common language. So we get an opportunity to work on that,” said Ricke

While rappel training looks like it would require a lot of physical strength to accomplish, it can be more mentally challenging than anything.

“It’s more so just a mental battle per se this equipment is pretty strong and it pretty much just takes care of the drop for you so you don’t use too much of your own energy it’s just about kinda taking that step over the edge and actually trusting the equipment itself,” said Clayton Martinez, a firefighter attending the training.

South Dakota Task Force 1 is made up of fire departments from around the state and hosts training every year during the rally.

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