Cathedral roof rescue exercise for firefighters

Firefighters with specialist equipment have run a dramatic rooftop rescue exercise atop a cathedral tower.

Crew hauled a dummy "casualty" up the narrow stone steps of Winchester Cathedral, before starting the operation.

The dummy was then lowered over the side of the cathedral with ropes, and brought to an aerial platform where it was then lowered to the ground.

Winchester crew manager Jon Marshall said the drill was "vital" to test whether the rescue was practical.

Jon Ryan works at Winchester Cathedral as their director of works.

But he's also an on-call firefighter for for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire Service (HIFRS), and took part in the exercise.

"The cathedral runs tower tours where visitors can go up onto the roof, and it's a really tight and confined space," he said.

"There have been instances at other venues where there have been medical emergencies, so we've had the fire service come and undertake a rescue of a [fake] casualty who has had a medical episode on top of the tower."

"At the cathedral, we don't have the specialist skills and resources to deal with that," he said.

"The fire and rescue service happened to ask for a venue to use as an exercise so they can hone their skills - so this was a mutually beneficial arrangement."

In attendance were specialist rope rescue teams, along with an aerial ladder platform crew, to lower the "casualty" to safety.

Jon Marshall, Winchester Crew Manager for HIFRS, said the crew performed really well.

"Initially it was quite slow, it was quite difficult," he said.

"The cathedral wasn't built for this sort of thing, so the staircases are very, very narrow, very difficult for us to get up."

He said the biggest learning curve was getting to grips with how long it would take to get equipment up to the highest point of the cathedral.

"For us, obviously it's vital, we get to test those procedures and our skills," he said.

HIFRS had taken part in a similar rescue exercise alongside Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service at Salisbury Cathedral last month.