Technical Rescue Team

The mission of the Technical Rescue Team (TRT) is to provide high quality technical rescue resources staffed with skilled and dedicated personnel that are available for immediate response. Additionally, team members provide rescue related training to non-team personnel. The team consists of 5 members from South Elgin. When added to the division encompassing 14 departments, the qualified membership is approximately 50.

The emergency response vehicle for the team intended for in district response is Tower 21, housed at Station 21. Our shared multi-jurisdictional MABAS Division 2 Squad and trailer are housed at Elgin Station 2. The tower, squad and trailer together are equipped to handle a variety of incidents including confined space rescue, technically difficult machinery extrication, trench collapse rescue, structural collapse, high and low angle rope rescue.

TRT personnel are certified to the State of Illinois MABAS and OSFM requirements. To achieve this certification, the team has demonstrated to MABAS and OSFM that it has the training and the equipment required to operate safely and effectively at incidents involving the collapse of buildings, elevated injured civilians, trapped victims in narrow passages and rescues involving construction trench’s. The certification and resource typing; enables the State of Illinois to utilize the team in the event of a major disaster outside of the District.

In addition to the specialized response capabilities of the team, every engine and truck in the district meets our operational basic level. These vehicles are stocked with tools used to augment rescue operations including ropes, cribbing, airbags, cutting and prying tools. With such a large variety of incidents and specialized equipment, training is a vital and constant necessity of the team. In addition to the type of incidents discussed above, team members are also trained to the Hazardous Materials Operational level. The team takes great pride in the services it provides and aggressively pursues a high level of training and experience opportunities.