If you hang out under the bridge, are you a troll? (29 photos)

Rescue Randy took one for the team today, at Pier 48 under the International Bridge.

Randy is a rescue mannequin belonging to Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services.

They put him through his paces this morning.

In a joint operation involving Sault Ontario Fire Services and the International Bridge Authority, several methods for rescuing a stranded worker under the bridge were tested.

They were located in the St. Marys Paper wood lot between Piers 48 and 49 of the International Bridge.

First, the team sent Rescue Randy up on the working platform of the ladder truck, said Fire Captain Rob Hewitt.

They suspended him from the catwalk under the bridge and tried rescue number one of four from that scenario.

"Any number of things could happen," said Bridge Steeplejack Kevin Neveau. "We have people working underneath the bridge or on top of the piers and they're all tied off, but they could slip and fall on their lines."

Neveau said the group originally planned to try out three methods of rescue and added a fourth on the fly.

In the first scenario, rescuers positioned the working platform under Rescue Randy to raise him up a bit and take the slack off his harness.

They then fastened Randy to a rescue basket and brought him down in the working platform on the ladder truck.

They quickly raised him up and dangled him from his harness for another two practise rescues.

On the last attempt, they tried raising him from the catwalk above.

"It was all we could do for the three of us to lift him up but it worked," said Neveau. "We wanted to see if it could be done and we did it."

On the last rescue, they also decided to test a rope grab lanyard that is designed to slow the falling person's fall so there isn't such a sudden jarring stop at the end of the harness.

As the SooToday.com picture shows, it was still a pretty jarring experience.

Rescue Randy would probably have been a little worse for wear but alive if he had actually fallen from the catwalk with the rope grip lanyard tying off his safety harness.

Bridge workers typically use a double lanyard system to tie off and sometimes combine it with a retractable life line.

Neveau said he would like to see plans made for a rescue over water some time in the future.

Workers work on all parts of the bridge and he'd like to know that there's a plan for rescue if one fell over the water where a ladder truck wouldn't reach.