MABAS Division 1&2 TRT Training at Sears Centre - March 19, 2009

No....this is not firefighters trying out for Cirque du Soleil. MABAS Divisions 1 & 2 Technical Rescue Teams were training today at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. The drills included repelling from the catwalk inside the stadium to rescuing a 150 pound dummy from an elevator shaft. While it seems these skills would hardly be needed out here in the burbs, the possibilities are very real for something like this to happen. Last summer the The MABAS Division 2 TRT had the gruesome task of recovering 2 charred bodies of contractors who were painting under Rt.20 in Elgin when their lift basket they were working in came in contact with some power lines that ignited the basket and ultimately killed both workers. Team members had to repel off the Rt. 20 bridge down to the burned out basket to cover the bodies and then lower them to the ground to be transported to the Coroner's.