A Steep Learning Curve

Early on Wednesday, Oct. 29, a dozen firefighters from Pasadena and Palena, Chile, gathered at a steep turnout high above the city along the Angeles Crest Highway, with a sparkling view nearly to the Pacific Ocean. Within minutes, the quiet morning swiftly turned into a flurry of motion: ropes were uncoiled, metal tripods snapped into place, and pulleys clicked as both teams prepared for a simulated mountain rescue.

The training capped a three-day international exchange between the Pasadena Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team and a visiting crew from the Palena Fire Department, based in the mountainous Patagonia region of southern Chile. The Chilean firefighters had reached out months earlier—via Pasadena’s Instagram account, @usartaskforce32—asking for specialized instruction in Rapid Extraction Module Support, or REMS, a rope-based rescue system designed for steep, rugged terrain.

“They run the same type of calls that we run,” said Captain Robert Sepulveda, leader of Pasadena’s USAR team. “They’re a mountain town, and they do a lot of over-the-side rescues. They wanted to learn some of the techniques we use on wildland fires and earthquake responses, where we extract injured people from some really nasty terrain.”

The visit began Monday with a welcome from Mayor Victor Gordo and Fire Chief Chad Augustin at Fire Station 32. Over the next two days, the teams trained side by side—first learning knots and pulley systems at the station, then rappelling down the concrete face of Devil’s Gate Dam behind NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

By Wednesday’s field session, the collaboration had taken full form. As one Pasadena firefighter and one Chilean counterpart descended about 50 feet down into dense chaparral, another Chilean rescuer climbed into a rescue basket. On cue, a winch whirred to life, pulling the trio steadily up the hillside—completing a textbook recovery under the watchful eyes of both teams.

Captain Andrea Calbur, one of the Palena firefighters, said through a translator that she was “very happy and thankful for the work they had done with us.” The biggest lesson, she added, was learning how to “do the same work with less equipment.”

For Sepulveda, the exchange was as much about solidarity as skill. “That’s the beautiful part about rope rescue,” he said. “There are so many ways to learn. It’s an honor to share that with our friends from Chile.”