Rescue me!

Photos by Marny Malin
Rescuers check air quality readings from a confined space to protect the engineers from hazardous conditions. Walls behind the rescuers have shoring systems in place to protect the rescue team from structural collapse during rescues.

Soldiers in the 911th Technical Rescue Engineer Company were tried and tested within the confines of the old Lorton Correctional facility walls last week in the Capital Shield Extractor Series.

The event called for the Soldiers to use emergency shoring, and excavators while working in confined spaces with breathing apparatus.

The full spectrum training event had the engineers dealing with possible rescue

scenarios in partially collapsed structures that had been demolished and built to simulate what it would be like to rescue victims from a confined space in hazardous conditions.

The 911th uses technical rescue skills that exceed the skills and capabilities of traditional rescue units in this region and assists in the defense of the National Capital Region.

A collaboration of rescue trainers in the Army, the Marines, Fairfax County and Washington, D.C., civilian rescue authorities combined efforts to make this event challenging. The Soldiers had to overcome impenetrable and vertical barriers, low light levels, hazardous gas and other issues to reach the victims.

"We did very well, we were always moving progressively to our principal target with very little lulls in time," stated Capt. David Dietz, Commander of the 911th.

Every scenario was attacked with full spectrum ops and my team reacted and accomplished all tasks with the utmost speed, while
still ensuring safety was always paramount."