VIDEO: The Manchester Fire Department has added another element to their rescue work. They have joined a growing number of Connecticut departments who gear up and train with a Utility Terrain Vehicle – or UTV – to help them get to the hardest to reach places and make a rescue.
On a recent training day on Case Mountain in Manchester, a team of Manchester firefighters was busy loading up their UTV and heading up the trails – and beyond – to simulate saving a lost hiker and a wrecked mountain biker, among the other scenarios they expect to face in the summer months ahead.
“We, years ago, would have to backpack our equipment in, carry our equipment up the mountain, find the patient, and then get them loaded up, start our treatment, and haul them back out,” said Battalion Chief Gordon MacMillan.