Coast Guard Training Exercise, San Pedro, California (KTLA-TV / July 14, 2010) |
SAN PEDRO -- The Coast Guard teamed up Wednesday with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department for a daring exercise -- all in the name of homeland security.
The Coast Guard and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department want to make sure they're ready for any possible threat to the L.A. ports.
"Maybe they find a nuclear device or a bomb and they need to get on and render it safe" says L.A County Sheriff's spokesperson Nicole Nishida. It's called fast-roping or vertical insertion from a helicopter onto a moving vessel in the ocean. And it's dangerous because unlike rappelling there is no harness, no attachments, just raw strength. You have to hold on with your hands and stop with your feet.
The helicopter: L.A. County Sheriff's. The crew: U.S. Coast Guard. Commander Charlene Downey of the U.S. Coast Guard says "what we are doing is leveraging resources... having airlifting capability right in our own backyard."
The two entities have been training together for months. And even though it's a drill it's still not easy. There have been lots of bruises, broken bones, even broken noses during drills. But they say the mission is to get it right so they'll be ready just in case.
The Coast Guard and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department want to make sure they're ready for any possible threat to the L.A. ports.
"Maybe they find a nuclear device or a bomb and they need to get on and render it safe" says L.A County Sheriff's spokesperson Nicole Nishida. It's called fast-roping or vertical insertion from a helicopter onto a moving vessel in the ocean. And it's dangerous because unlike rappelling there is no harness, no attachments, just raw strength. You have to hold on with your hands and stop with your feet.
The helicopter: L.A. County Sheriff's. The crew: U.S. Coast Guard. Commander Charlene Downey of the U.S. Coast Guard says "what we are doing is leveraging resources... having airlifting capability right in our own backyard."
The two entities have been training together for months. And even though it's a drill it's still not easy. There have been lots of bruises, broken bones, even broken noses during drills. But they say the mission is to get it right so they'll be ready just in case.
