Students Learn More Than the Ropes in Technical Rescue Course

Not many people locally know that one of Southern Illinois' most recognizable geological landmarks is the "classroom" of a world-renowned technical rescue school.

Draper's Bluff can be seen for miles in Johnson and Union counties. The bluff is partly owned by private landowners and the state as a satellite of Ferne Clyffe State Park. About a quarter-mile section is owned by Eric and Kathy Ulner of rural Buncombe in Johnson County. The Ulners are owners of Vertical Heartland, a rock-climbing school. Eric Ulner is also an instructor with Ropes That Rescue, Ltd., an innovative technical rescue school that is known worldwide for its unique approach to teaching rope rescue and for its top-notch instructors.

Ropes That Rescue, founded by Reed Thorne in 1993 and based in Sedona, Ariz., develops the "art of clean rigging" by teaching physical principles as well as technical skills to its students - why the rigging works as well as how to do it. Thorne's school has several venues in the United States. He and his instructors also go on site to train personnel. Ulner spent two months in Saudi Arabia teaching fire/rescue workers in that country earlier this spring.

Vertical Heartland was the site of a weeklong RTR personal skills rescue workshop that began on the Memorial Day weekend. A team-skills workshop is held in the fall. Although the "classroom" is set back amid the forested hills and farmland, the techniques being taught at Draper's Bluff also have industrial applications and have attracted students from across the United States and from overseas.

Rescue personnel from fire departments in Michigan and South Carolina as well as members of the Jackson County, Ill., technical rescue squad attended this spring's personal-skills course. Ulner, an emergency medical technician, also serves as the Jackson County tech squad's team leader.

Students spend a day in the classroom learning the physics and the reasons behind the practical application of the ropes. The other six are spent on the bluff.

"A lot of schools, a lot of teams stop at the question, 'Does it work?', without going into further analysis," Ulner said. Ulner said that many of those schools and squads are "stuck in the 1980s" even though the industry is moving forward with new modes and methodologies because those ways can work even though there are now better ways of doing things. It's an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.

The personnel who seek out Ropes That Rescue are looking for better ways to do things. Ropes That Rescue works closely with rope and equipment manufacturers and participates in testing new gear. Therefore, their training methods continue to move forward with the industry - with safety at the forefront of everything they teach.

David Babcock, a firefighter with the Lansing, Mich., Fire Department, said that's what brought him to a Ropes That Rescue class. Babcock said his department uses are a "very basic rope rescue system." Babcock said that he noticed working with people from other departments that they use different techniques that they learned from Ropes That Rescue. He wanted to learn more.

"[RTR has] a variety of different techniques, doing different things. Seeing that, I wanted to put more 'tools in my toolbox' when it comes to rope rescue.

"The more I know, the more I can share with the guys on my team to keep them safe, to keep myself safe, to keep the victim safe," Babcock said. "I'm just adding more tools to my toolbox. That way I can share with the guys that I work with when I get back home. I've come here and I've seen seven different techniques of doing - I mean there are seven different scenarios here. Well, I can say, hey, remember what I told you guys? I've got this down. I'm dialed in. You can do this and do it safely. So that's what I'm here for."

Babcock is paying for the training himself. He has traveled to southern Illinois with two other colleagues who work with him part-time with an independent company that offers standby industrial rescue services.

"I have a passion. I like rope rescue. I like knots, descending, the rappelling. Now that I've gotten interested, it's kind of opened my eyes, I guess," he said.

Eric Campbell and Troy Landis are firefighters with the Wyoming (Mich.) Fire Department and work part-time with Babcock.

"I feel like I have, in the Michigan area where we are, I've about gone as far as I can training-wise, and this is an opportunity that is increasing my training far beyond what I can get where I'm at, where I'm from. Eric [Ulner] is a really, literally, he's a world-class instructor," Campbell said. "To have this training venue here with such a great instructor and it be close enough that we can drive to it is phenomenal. At a certain point, there's no one that you can learn from in a local area and have to kind of go outside that area to get further skills and stuff. So, that's why we're here, to develop ourselves personally."

That desire to seek out the best training that they can get is strong with all the students who attend Ropes That Rescue courses.

Troy Landis aptly put it: "It's never ending. The day we stop learning is the day we should hang it up. There's always something new to learn - a new technique or new way that someone has learned to do it more efficient or safer or whatever. Yeah, we're always trying to stay on top and make sure we're doing things right."

Landis said that they have not only learned new techniques, such as new knots and using equipment that they already have in new ways, they have learned more efficient ways to perform rescues. That translates to getting to the victim more quickly and to saving more lives.

Helping people is what drives these men to do what they do. But there is another component with rescue.

"Maybe that's part of the draw, that first and foremost maybe perhaps the same reason I'm a firefighter, EMT is that I want to be able to help others. This is just another way that I can do that in more of a unique way than the general population doesn't get a chance to do or maybe I'm capable of and physically fit enough and agile enough to where I can do some of this stuff," Landis said. "I enjoy [it] - it's just as much of a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge to think, to problem solve and trouble shoot and put all the tools in play. So it's not just a physical, brawn thing, and I think that one thing that draws me to [rope rescue], that there is a mental, intelligent element to it."

While many of the students at the personal skills course have many years of experience in technical rescue, Stephen Roberts, a member of the Jackson County squad who is originally from Paducah, Ky., is relatively new to the team. However, like the others, he has spent many years in service to his country and community as a soldier and as a paramedic.

He talked about learning the ropes from Ulner.

"Eric is the man when it comes to this stuff. The good thing about him, he'll let you do something your way, and then he'll say, 'Well, what about this?' and make you think outside the box. It's a real eye-opener." Roberts said. "As far as the technical and safety aspect of it is. Most people think of a rope rescue team is that you tie a few knots and then you go down. There's multiple ways of doing things. There's risk in anything you do. You have to be safe at what you do. With Eric, he makes sure every one of us is safe in how we do our operations. He has the final say in how we do our operations. He's our team captain. I want to be safe. As long as I feel secure, I'll jump off anything, skydive. It doesn't matter, as long as I feel safe. With him, I feel safe."

Safety. That's what it's all about in the risky world of rescue - and it's taught in the rocky, wooded hills of southern Illinois.