Firefighters with the Chattanooga Fire Department will conduct rescue team training exercises on Wednesday at a building on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus.
Scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the exercises will involve firefighters moving up and down the exterior walls of the State Office Building on McCallie Avenue at Houston Street. The training is intended to simulate various rescue challenges that teams will work to overcome.
Making campus facilities available and collaborating with area emergency response teams in important training is part of an ongoing partnership between the university and first responders, UTC emergency management officials said.
“UTC’s community partnerships take many forms, including our efforts to work with local emergency responders to enhance readiness in their teams and ours,” said Robie Robinson, Executive director of Emergency Services. “We want to make the campus and surrounding community aware of the upcoming on-campus training session so that there may be no confusion or concern about the possibility of an actual emergency.”
Some firefighters with the Chattanooga Fire Department are members of Tennessee Task Force Two—a group of emergency response experts from across the area—which is part of the Urban Search and Rescue Network, an emergency responder organization that can be deployed anywhere in the world for disaster response. Wednesday’s training session is the first step for new firefighters in becoming part of that preparedness effort.
“This training session is part of our continual effort to make sure that both the campus and the community are prepared for any emergency,” Robinson said.
If a question or a concern arises about the Wednesday training, call 423-425-5741.
