Firefighters Train For Crane Emergency In Palm Bay
By Space Coast Daily // March 6, 2013
200-Foot Rescues Possible
BREVARD COUNTY • PALM BAY, FLORIDA – City of Palm Bay firefighters will spend the next week training and developing a safety and emergency rescue plan for use at a construction site where a tower crane is being used to build the Harris Corporation’s new $100-million technology center.
The firefighters, including specially trained members of the Technical Rescue Team were on site Tuesday morning working with Balfour Beatty Construction, the project contractors to develop a safety plan in the event an employee working on the crane is injured or in need of medical attention.
Any rescue on the 200-foot high tower would require a special technical response.
The contractor also is required to have a safety plan in place for the duration of the construction operations which is expected to continue for about 10 months.
“I went up there, talked with them, observed what would be some good anchor points to tie off to; just basically trying to find the best, safe, quickest way for us to get him down,” said Palm Bay Fire Department Lt. Jon Anthony.
“It’s good for our teams to get familiar with the operations here in the event we need to respond to an emergency.”
Firefighters from Brevard County Fire-Rescue also participated in the on-site training.
The Harris Corporation is building a new technology center that will be a six-story, 464,000 square-foot facility upon completion.
The facility will house 1,200 to 1,400 employees and the project is creating 300 construction jobs. The project is scheduled to be completed in late 2014.
