January 23, 2002

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Firefighters Perform Rescue High Above Calumet

Shreveport firefighters were called out to Calumet Refinery, Jewella Avenue and Midway Street, at 1:48 p.m. this afternoon for a high level rescue after a worker became frightened and could not get down off a vacuum tank.

When the first fire companies arrived, they scaled the tank to about the midway point, approximately 75-feet, where they found a 24-year old man clinging to a platform. The worker was a subcontract employee of R&W Steam Cleaners of Shreveport. The company is routinely used to clean the inside of the vacuum tanks and other crude oil processing structures at the Shreveport plant.

A department rescue unit was called for and once on the scene decided that the best course of action on getting the man down was to place a harness around his waist attach it to a firefighter and climb down the outside vertical ladders of the tank. After some careful maneuvering, where one firefighter was in front of and one behind the man, firefighters Captain Rusty Thames and John Davis slowly descended the tank. After about 30 minutes from the beginning of the ordeal, the man was on solid ground once more. When questioned as to what happened, the man responded that he had been that high level numerous times before but just became dizzy and disoriented this time. He was not injured.

Firefighters often deal with this type of rescue in workers that execute their disciplines in high areas. Days like today, with alot of moving cloud cover and a swaying structure can lead to disorientation and feelings of vertigo. Rescue workers are especially careful in performing this type of rescue because the rescuee often feels like those there to help are there to harm. This is one reason that the firefighter tied into the person being rescued is always in contact and tied into the structure. ###