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QUINCY, ILL. -- When the fire tone goes off for a firefighter, he or she never knows what to expect.

It could be a call for a structure fire, or a call for a car accident or even a rescue call for someone trapped in a precarious position.

So it's not an everyday occurrence when a fire rescue crew has to pull out their high angle rope rescue from their bag of tricks. But when the time comes to rescue a person who's either trapped or injured that type of training comes in very handy and the person rescued can appreciate the training the firefighters have gone through.

Tom Bentley is an instructor for the fire science at John Wood Community College and he said, "one of the scenarios they're doing for that is going down over the edge, being lowered down, getting a patient packaged and then bring them and the patient back up to the top."

The idea for this training really came to the forefront of the fire department training manual after the 9/11 attacks.

During a training session today at the Quincy Fire Department training center, Bentley said said if this was a real life rescue it would take close to a dozen people to perform this maneuver.

He also said everything is checked, double checked and even triple checked to make sure every rope and knot is set to do it's job. Bentley said this high angle - rope rescue training is being taught all across the United States.

"Every state took a look at their criteria and their capabilities and started putting together teams for that. Either state teams or even local fire department teams to protect their communities better and this is part of that type of training," Bentley said.

There are about 45 of these types of rescue teams in the State of Illinois.

There are teams in Quincy, Macomb and Springfield if there's ever a need for a high angle rope rescue emergency team.

Bentley said all Illinois firefighters who have reached the advanced level of training have been through this type of rope rescue training.

It's a program certified by the Illinois State Fire Marshall's Office.