Dyersburg firefighter Paul Braithwaite secures a rope harness to a victim at a practice session in the gym of First United Methodist Church of Dyersburg on Monday morning. Braithwaite was one of eight DFD employees to participate in a recent rappelling ropes course at Signal Mountain, just north of Chattanooga. The rappelling ropes technicians are now sharing their knowledge with the rest of the DFD team.

This summer, Dyersburg firefighters have literally been learning the ropes needed to provide low and high angle rescues for victims of accidents.

Eight members of the Dyersburg Fire Department recently completed a rappelling ropes course in Signal Mountain, Tenn. and returned home to share the information with their fellow firefighters.

Keith Burns, Paul Braithwaite, Randall Beaver, John Doyle, Allen Dunavant, Richard Fowlkes, Tim Ware and Stephen Weeks were each named rappelling rope technicians after 50- to 70-hours of training in the mountains just north of Chattanooga.

Keith Burns shows his fellow firefighters the correct way to secure the ropes that will lower a rescue worker from the second floor of the gym. Burns was a part of a recent team of firefighters to participate in a 50- to 70-hour course that earned them the title of 'rappelling rope technicians.' [Click to enlarge]

Exercises like this one Monday morning in the gym of First United Methodist Church will help the team teach the techniques to other DFD rescue workers and reach the department's goal of bringing the entire department to operation level in ropes rescue.