In emergencies involving people trapped in dangerous situations, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department calls upon its Technical Rescue Team (TRT).
TRT members are part of the department's Florida Task Force 5 Urban Search and Rescue team. They respond to 9-1-1 calls involving people trapped in a structure collapse or a trench cave-in or someone caught in a piece of machinery or stuck within a confined space.
JFRD's TRT has responded to numerous, notable life-saving events in Jacksonville, including a February 2018 incident at a high-rise building in Downtown Jacksonville. The late afternoon call involved two window workers who were dangling from a failed scaffold system, 17 stories up. In less than an hour, JFRD's TRT safely retrieved the two workers. JFRD's response to the high-rise coincided with local news broadcasts which covered the rescue live.
In November 2016, the TRT spent about six hours in Jacksonville's Ortega area, working a meticulous neighborhood situation involving a 950-pound manatee stuck in a large, underground drainage pipe. The mammal, about 9 feet long, was too large to turn itself around and swim to the river.
In front of dozens of 
residents and onlookers, and also while being streamed on local news webcasts, the TRT displayed its deft extrication skills. Their solution involved digging several feet down and exposing a section of the 3-foot diameter concrete drainage pipe. With some excavation assistance from the city's Department of Public Works, and while operating a safe distance from the manatee's location, the TRT used its special equipment to cut and then remove a section of the pipe, creating an exit point. TRT then worked with FWC to safely harness and lift the manatee into FWC's transport vehicle for a trip to Sea World in Orlando and ultimately close evaluation from expert veterinarians. In February 2017, FWC released the healthy manatee back into the water near Central Florida.
Several other high-profile technical rescues have been featured on television shows such as Without Warning, Real TV and Rescue 911. In one instance, firefighters rescued three bridge inspectors dangling from safety belts attached to a bucket 150 feet in the air under the Dames Point bridge. A fourth inspector fell into the St. Johns River when his truck's boom collapsed. Despite a dislocated shoulder, he made it to shore with the aid of a life vest. The May 1989 rescue took place only 45 days after the High Angle Rescue Team, as Technical Rescue was called at the time, was formed.
Technical Rescue is part of Special Operations in the Operations Division.