Photos: Technical rescue training for Monroe Fire Protection District firefighters at construction site

The outer shell of an 8-story student-oriented apartment building on North Walnut Street, where the Great Wall restaurant once stood, is basically done.

Late Sunday morning and into the afternoon, the construction site’s 137-foot tall tower crane served as a training venue for Monroe Fire Protection District (MFPD) firefighters.

MFPD chief Dustin Dillard credited battalion chief Danny Gillespie with arranging the logistics, coordinating with the crane operator to take advantage of the chance to train for specific situations.

On Sunday, the firefighters were training a scenario where the crane operator became incapacitated, and had to be extracted from the cab more than a hundred feet off the ground. But similar techniques could be applied to scenarios involving painting crews for water towers, or maintenance teams for cell towers, Dillard said.

Matt Fischer, a lieutenant with MFPD, told The B Square that Sunday’s exercise was a part of required ongoing training. Sunday’s exercise falls in the category of technical rescue.

For Sunday’s training, firefighters started with some procedures on the lower level of the crane. Their plan was to move up to the higher parts of the crane later in the afternoon.

The building under construction is HUB I, a student-oriented apartment building that received site plan approval from Bloomington’s plan commission over a year ago in April 2023.

The 172 apartments will include a total of 463 bedrooms, with the following breakdown: 19 studios, 5 one-bedroom units, 87 two-bedroom units, 14 three-bedroom units, 12 four-bedroom units, and 35 five-bedroom units.

Other details of the project include 264 parking spaces incorporated inside the building.