New London — Though they’re no strangers to training, city firefighters are flying high this month with an oddly specific purpose: to rescue construction workers should they get stuck under the Gold Star Memorial Bridge.

Chief Tom Curcio said this particular high-angle rope rescue training, put on by the Connecticut Fire Academy and made possible by a federal grant, “is training we haven’t done before.”

“Especially with work on the northbound side starting in 2020, we wanted to make sure our guys would be able to go over the side of the bridge if they had to,” he said.

Contractors with the state Department of Transportation have been working on the southbound side of the bridge since April 2017, when they launched a $26 million project that included steel repairs, concrete deck patching, joint replacement, illumination and paving.

During that time and even before, firefighters have had to rescue workers stuck in inspection or other trucks under the bridge. But they’ve always been able to park a ladder truck on a New London or Groton street and reach the workers that way.

With work on the southbound side almost complete, DOT soon will start on the northbound span.

Because the northbound project is slated to be more extensive and will include reinforcing steel under the bridge, Curcio said workers will be more likely to get stuck somewhere that isn’t accessible by land.

“This is going to be a very useful training for us,” he said.

Firefighters began the seven-day, 56-hour rope rescue course in Roland Hall at the Coast Guard Academy, which houses a gym, pool and other athletic facilities. They started small, dropping from the gym’s catwalk to learn how to lift and lower themselves.

They have since moved to the vacant Crystal Avenue high-rises, where on Thursday — day five of the training — they had strung a 600-foot rope system, complete with pulleys and trolleys, through a metal tripod anchored to a wall on the fourth floor.

In each case, a group at the top secured the tripod so it wouldn't tip forward while a group on the ground set the correct tension on the rope, which was attached to the back of an ambulance.

Then, as one firefighter hoisted himself out the window, both groups worked to send him horizontally across the rope, lower him down to "rescue" another firefighter, lift the pair back up and send them the rest of the way to the ground. 

Curcio said while it's unfortunate that people who lived in the high-rises had to vacate because of mold, rodents and poor maintenance, it's good that firefighters can use the buildings for training. While he has done rope rescue training before, he said many younger members of the department had not.

In the coming days, the firefighters will start on the seventh floor of one building, perform a "rescue," then be sent across the rope to the same floor of an adjacent building, which is comparable to having to move from one section of the bridge to another.

“I think I’m going to go myself and watch that,” Curcio said.

The $251,799 grant came from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, to which city firefighters regularly apply.

Curcio said the funding, which was boosted by a 10 percent, $25,179 contribution from the city, covers the training, overtime pay for participating firefighters and almost $50,000 in rope rescue equipment the department gets to keep.

Curcio said all of the city’s firefighters are participating, although some won’t make it to all seven days of training for various reasons. Those who do attend all 56 hours can become certified upon completion.

Battalion Chief Jeff Rheaume, who also has been trained in rope rescue, said the training highlights how firefighters do more than fight flames.

"This is not what you think about when you sign up" to be a firefighter, he said. "But it's great for them to be able to practice in this controlled atmosphere."

l.boyle@theday.com