State investigators probe rescue at Las Vegas high-rise hotel
NOTE: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that federal investigators were probing the incident at Vdara. It is actually state investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration who are investigating.
Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- State Investigators with OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, are looking into what happened at the Vdara Hotel on Wednesday.
City of Las Vegas firefighters with the heavy rescue unit rescued four men trapped on the hotel in Clark County, because the county can't afford a heavy rescue unit of its own. But, both entities insist, a move to save money didn't get in the way of saving lives.
Las Vegas Fire and Rescue PIO Tim Szymanski says the special unit is highly trained. He says, "You could compare them to the Navy Seals. They're the special team that, when all the other firefighting teams can't do something, we send them in. They're like the Mission Impossible team."
One day after that successful rescue mission, all thirty members of the heavy rescue unit were at the City of Las Vegas Fire Department training center on Mojave near Bonanza, crawling the obstacle course and sitting in class testing new equipment. Szymanski says the elite team members answer calls like every other firefighter, but they are an invaluable resource for Clark County.
The county ran into budget trouble a couple of years ago. County spokesman Erik Pappa says Las Vegas and Clark County decided to regionalize heavy rescue. The city provides the service. The county saves $4 and a half million dollars a year for an expensive service that is rarely needed. Szymanski says a heavy load of equipment was needed to perform Wednesday's rescue. He says, "We took four bags of ropes. I think two 600 foot lines and 200 foot were added just to play safe. They used laundry carts to throw the equipment in. You gotta come up the elevator. So, someone says, why does it take a long time? It takes a long time to set up and get that operation right." Time was a major concern for people who were watching the rescue. Szymanski acknowledges, it seemed to people on the ground that the four guys hung on the side of the hotel for hours. But, he says, the firefighters who were first on the scene, and called for the heavy rescue unit, got there in minutes. It took longer for the crew on the massive heavy rescue vehicle to get through traffic.
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