When a parachutist got hung up in Dunstable during a Columbus Day jump, he wasn't just caught by a single tree -- he was suspended, 80 feet in mid-air, between two trees.

This would be a perfect job for Batman, but, in real life, those who stepped up were Andover fire officers and the other men and women of the Essex County Technical Rescue Team.

For some of the more tricky and dangerous rescues situations – trapped in a small culvert, a trench, or at terrifying heights – the technical rescue team was trained to handle it.

The regional group, which began operating in June, carries little to no cost to communities like Andover and will mobilize at a moments notice to provide a service that would be unattainable by any one town.

Andover Fire Chief Michael Mansfield said that the three-unit team was the result of a push by the area's top emergency response officials roughly two years ago. They sought an affordable and more effective way to address rescue incidents involving heights, confined spaces, trenches and other unique factors.

"The rescue team was formulated as a result of a need identified by the Essex Fire Chiefs Association," said Mansfield. "Teams like this cannot be sustained by an individual fire department. They were looking at more of a collaborative method."

Through existing resources, a $350,000 grant and a whole lot of sweat equity, the fire chief's association was able to spur the collaboration among dozens of communities to make this idea a reality.

In Andover, Deputy Fire Chief Albert DelDotto Jr., Lt. Robert Stabile, and Lt. Bob Sheaff were chosen to become members of the rescue squad and joined with many other area emergency officials to train over the past year.

Now the rescue team is a fully functional group with three different teams: team A out of Hamilton, Team B out of North Reading and Team C out of Peabody.

Eric Pepper, of North Reading Fire Department, is the director of the Technical Rescue Team and said that the collaboration between so many communities in Essex County is necessary to create teams spread out enough to cover the 500 square-mile area.

To keep sharp, the team trains every month in mock rescue situations. In November, the team practiced their skills at the North Reading public works yard, charged with saving a "worker" trapped under a large granite block at the bottom of a six-foot trench filled with six inches of water.

Pepper explained that the team used a series of boards and struts to hold back the walls of the trench. In a real situation, they would first bring medical aid to the trapped individual and then work at rescuing the individual.

DelDotto, who was at the practice session in November, said that training can be just as dangerous as the real thing for rescue team members.

"The consequences are the same is in a real rescue. It's a real trench. It could collapse at anytime," said DelDotto.

North Reading Fire Chief Richard Harris said that the team has tools for every situation. With the parachutist in Dunstable, emergency crews obviously drew from their expertise in rope rescue. Men climbing trees on both sides of the man were to reach his height with ropes and hooks.

"They threw it to him," said Harris. "He was able to hook onto the harness."

Andover Fire Lt. Robert Stabile said that they are simply there to serve the fire departments throughout the county, and the state, in these type of rescue situations.

"We are just a tool, a resource for another community to call on," said Stabile.