High Roller on Las Vegas Strip hosts firefighter rescue training
The High Roller played host to a training exercise for firefighters on Wednesday, as they simulated a rescue in case of a mechanical failure.
Personnel from the Las Vegas and Clark County fire departments practiced rescue procedures as part of their annual training. Although there has never been a mechanical failure that required these techniques to be used at the 550-foot-tall Ferris wheel at the Linq Promenade, the training is helpful for other types of rescue attempts, Las Vegas Fire Department Capt. Rafael Espinoza said.
“We also use it at Red Rock a lot,” he said. “People get stuck up there, hiking. That’s actually where we’ve been the most busy recently. So, we have to go up there, set up a system, if they can’t walk, they have injured legs or whatever, we get them down with our ropes.”
Firefighters started by traveling through one of the legs to a platform near the top of the wheel. From there, they repelled to a pod on the side of the wheel, where a few people were waiting inside. They then attached the people to a harness and helped them repel from the pod and safely down to the ground.
The process takes a while, because firefighters can only get to one pod at a time. On Wednesday, there were four people working in a pod, while three others controlled the ropes from the top platform.
The training has happened every year since the High Roller opened in 2014 and even started before the wheel was operational, according to Carolyn Gargiulo, director of attraction operations for Caesars Entertainment Corp.
“I’m pretty confident that we will never be in that situation, but knowing that we do have the fire teams to support us, it just helps me to sleep a little better at night,” she said.
Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.
