If you are a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart) specialist, you might sometimes find yourself on top of the world at a moment’s notice.
Take Staff Sergeant (SSG) Ahmad Ridhwan. Together with his team of three other Dart specialists, they scaled the 121m-tall Selegu Tower in Sentosa to save a “casualty” inside a stranded cable car cabin in a training exercise yesterday.
The tower is just 8m shorter than The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore.To get there, SSG Ahmad and his men climbed more than 90m up cat-ladders inside the stifling concrete column tower, then scaled another 30m of ladders to the top, all while carrying with them at least 200m of rope.
Even then, their job had not really begun. SSG Ahmad and his team then set up anchor points and assembled a system of pulleys, rescue harnesses and ropes.
When the pulley system was in place, SSG Ahmad attached himself onto the cable line with a cable traversing device.He sat in his harness and pulled himself with his hands along the cable line.
Dangling at a height of more than 100m, he was in full concentration until he reached the cable car, about 50m away. He secured himself on top of it, and waited for the second rescuer, SSG Firdaus Tay, 30, to join him.
SSG Tay said: “At such heights, nerves definitely creep in. But focusing on the mission and remembering our training helps to keep them at bay.”
Photo GallerySCDF Dart specialists save ‘casualties’ in cable car rescue exercise
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Rappelling
When SSG Tay reached him, SSG Ahmad rappelled down using a lever to open the cabin door. He secured the “casualty” with a harness and rope before lowering “him” onto a Marine Fire Vessel on the waters directly below the cable car.
SSG Ahmad and his team of Dart commanders were part of an SCDF high-altitude rescue exercise that took place yesterday at two locations – Mount Faber station and Selegu Tower. It was the first time the exercise was conducted at Selegu Tower.
Two teams of 10 Dart specialists were involved and they used a human dummy as the casualty in both cases. The exercise was supposed to last from 6am to 1pm, but was put on hold for about two hours in the morning because of rain.
It resumed at around 10.30am at the Mount Faber station while SSG Ahmad and his team waited to carry out their exercise at Selegu Tower. At Mount Faber station, another team of Dart specialists also went through a similar procedure to save a “casualty” who was lowered about 30m onto a grass patch below the station.
Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Chew Keng Tok, 44, said: “The exercise is staged once a year and the Dart specialists rehearse at least four times beforehand.” LTC Chew, who has been in the service for 15 years, said the team is constantly trying out new equipment and methods to make their rescue operations more efficient.
The time taken for rescue operation exercises has been reduced from 2.5 hours to 1.5 hours on average with the use of a cable traversing device. This compares to the eight hours that it took to rescue passengers after an incident in 1983.
LTC Chew said: “In the past, our officers used basic hardware like cable and carabiners, so brute strength was required to hoist themselves to the car. “The cable traversing device increases the speed of rescuers as they travel along the cables. Rescuers also expend less energy, which means they would be able to go through longer rescue operations.”
SSG Tay said mental stamina is critical in rescue operations. He said: “Mental discipline to maintain focus and concentration on the mission and tasks at hand is paramount.
“The nature of rescue work leaves very little room for error, we cannot afford to lose concentration or get distracted during the mission.”
This article was first published on October 7, 2016.
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