SCDF personnel save 'casualties' from more than 100m up in cable car rescue exercise
If you are a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart) specialist, you might sometimes find yourself on top of the world at a moment's notice.
Take Staff Sergeant (SSG) Ahmad Ridhwan. Together with his team of three other Dart specialists, they scaled the 121m-tall Selegu Tower in Sentosa to save a "casualty" inside a stranded cable car cabin in a training exercise yesterday.
The tower is just 8m shorter than The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore.
TNP PHOTO: CHOO CHWEE HUA
To get there, SSG Ahmad and his men climbed more than 90m up cat-ladders inside the stifling concrete column tower, then scaled another 30m of ladders to the top, all while carrying with them at least 200m of rope.
Even then, their job had not really begun.
TALL ORDER: Singapore Civil Defence Force Dart specialists dangling more than 100m above the water as they move towards the cable car to save the 'casualty'. TNP PHOTO: CHOO CHWEE HUA
SSG Ahmad and his team then set up anchor points and assembled a system of pulleys, rescue harnesses and ropes.
When the pulley system was in place, SSG Ahmad attached himself onto the cable line with a cable traversing device.
He sat in his harness and pulled himself with his hands along the cable line.
SAFE: An SCDF rescuer making his way to the top of the cable car. Another rescuer rappels down to the cable car and hooks the 'casualty' onto a harness. Then they lower 'him' down. TNP PHOTO: CHOO CHWEE HUA
Dangling at a height of more than 100m, he was in full concentration until he reached the cable car, about 50m away.
He secured himself on top of it, and waited for the second rescuer, SSG Firdaus Tay, 30, to join him.
SSG Tay said: "At such heights, nerves definitely creep in. But focusing on the mission and remembering our training helps to keep them at bay."
RAPPELLING
When SSG Tay reached him, SSG Ahmadrappelled down using a lever to open the cabin door.
TNP PHOTO: CHOO CHWEE HUA
He secured the "casualty" with a harness and rope before lowering "him" onto a Marine Fire Vessel on the waters directly below the cable car.
SSG Ahmad and his team of Dart commanders were part of an SCDF high-altitude rescue exercise that took place yesterday at two locations - Mount Faber station and Selegu Tower.
It was the first time the exercise was conducted at Selegu Tower.
TNP PHOTO: CHOO CHWEE HUA
Two teams of 10 Dart specialists were involved and they used a human dummy as the casualty in both cases.
The exercise was supposed to last from 6am to 1pm, but was put on hold for about two hours in the morning because of rain.
It resumed at around 10.30am at the Mount Faber station while SSG Ahmad and his team waited to carry out their exercise at Selegu Tower.
TNP PHOTO: CHOO CHWEE HUA
At Mount Faber station, another team of Dart specialists also went through a similar procedure to save a "casualty" who was lowered about 30m onto a grass patch below the station.
Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Chew Keng Tok, 44, said: "The exercise is staged once a year and the Dart specialists rehearse at least four times beforehand."
LTC Chew, who has been in the service for 15 years, said the team is constantly trying out new equipment and methods to make their rescue operations more efficient.
NEW: LTC Chew Keng Tok said the team is constantly trying out new equipment and methods. TNP PHOTO: CHOO CHWEE HUA
The time taken for rescue operation exercises has been reduced from 2.5 hours to 1.5 hours on average with the use of a cable traversing device.
This compares to the eight hours that it took to rescue passengers after an incident in 1983.
LTC Chew said: "In the past, our officers used basic hardware like cable and carabiners, so brute strength was required to hoist themselves to the car.
TNP PHOTO: CHOO CHWEE HUA
"The cable traversing device increases the speed of rescuers as they travel along the cables. Rescuers also expend less energy, which means they would be able to go through longer rescue operations."
SSG Tay said mental stamina is critical in rescue operations.
He said: "Mental discipline to maintain focus and concentration on the mission and tasks at hand is paramount.
"The nature of rescue work leaves very little room for error, we cannot afford to lose concentration or get distracted during the mission."
S'pore's worst cable car accident
Thirty-three years ago, seven passengers were killed in Singapore's worst cable car accident.
On Jan 29, 1983, at about 6pm, an oil drilling ship, Eniwetok, was being towed to the sea through the channel between Sentosa and the mainland when its gantry tower snagged one of the two cable car lines.
Seven people plunged to their deaths as two cabins fell 18 storeys into the water. A 22-month-old baby survived the fall and was plucked out of the water.
Another 13 passengers were stranded in four other cabins, their lives hanging in the balance for hours.
They were rescued by helicopters from the Republic of Singapore Air Force eight hours later.
The cable car system reopened seven months later, but the incident would change cable car safety and rescue operations here.
The Port of Singapore Authority prohibited all vessels taller than 52m from being berthed at the Oil Wharf, while those between 48m and 52m in height had to seek the written permission of the port master to enter, shift or leave the area.
Singapore Cable Cars also installed a new one-way radio communication system to enable passengers to receive messages from the operator should the need arise.
The Republic of Singapore Air Force also set up a new rescue system specifically for stranded cable car passengers.
Since 2011, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was conferred the power to regulate the fire and rescue management system of amusement rides here under the Amusement Rides Safety Act.
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