Line rescue came about from a recognised need in the fire & rescue service to be able to tackle any sort of rescue that may arise. Road traffic incidents involve specialised equipment and when a rescue from a building is required ladders are utilised. Progress in high rise building development, wind farms and tele-communication fields gave given rise to new challenges for Kilkenny fire & rescue service. As our ladders on standard appliances are 13.5m or under and our high reach platform has a maximum practical reach of 14.0m
Line rescue is now being co-utilised to help assist the fire & rescue service where the high reach platform appliance cannot go or where ladders are in effective. Most telecommunication masts are away from the road side and/or any hard standing and in the event of a rigger becoming trapped and/or injured on one of these masts, the only feasible solution to effect a rescue is via the line rescue team.