Oct 22, 2009 - 03:27 PM

By Jennifer Stone

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CLARINGTON -- At least four men jumped off the edge of a highrise building in downtown Bowmanville Wednesday.

But, they weren't injured. They were Clarington firefighters, doing what's described as high-angle rescue training --- learning what to do if a window-washer, for example, gets stuck high up a tall building or someone falls down the bluffs at Lake Ontario.

The training helps firefighters prepare for "low-frequency, high-risk" rescues, said training officer Tim Calhoun.

"We don't use this operation very often but we do need to practise," he said.

Attached by secure harnesses and a rope system, feet flat against the building, two firefighters at a time slowly rappelled down the multi-storey Veltri complex, carrying what's called a Stokes basket, used to rescue unconscious or injured people. Even training is a complex operation, requiring a trainer, two firefighters to go over the building and two others on standby just in case something happens to the two actively rappelling, someone to act as a victim and someone to act as incident commander.

"Everything we do, we have a back-up team on," said firefighter Duane Tyte.

The highrise provides good training grounds, as does the St. Marys cement plant, where firefighters recently completed rappelling training from a silo about 200 feet high. Though some firefighters admitted to that training being a little unnerving, the height really doesn't matter that much, said one firefighter.

"It doesn't matter if you're 12 feet or 200 feet up, it's still going to hurt" if you fall, said Captain Pete Lomax. "You've just got to trust your ropes."