Swiftwater Rescue Training

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Moving water is a dangerous place to be in, and to try to rescue somebody from that water is even more difficult. CAL FIRE San Diego has a total of 35 firefighters that are trained to assist in a swiftwater rescue. Periodically, more firefighters are trained so that they can then respond as true first responders to those types of incidents. Join FDNNTV.com's Barbara Brooks at the beach in Carlsbad, California as certified firefighters teach the students three different rescue techniques.

These firefighters are practicing both land and water-based skills that can be used in flood or high-rain environments. These skills are also used if a vehicle lands in a flood control channel or swollen creek.

The water the firefighters practice in is moving about 8 to 10 miles per hour, but the skills they are learning can be applied to water that is moving faster or slower.

"The training is invaluable when we talk about awareness level for firefighters and the ability to keep firefighters out of harms way. Moving water environments are incredibly dangerous," said Battalion Chief Marc Hafner of CAL FIRE San Diego. 

One exercise is a two-point rescue on tether where they lower a rescuer into a hazardous environment, retrieve the victim, put a PFD and a helmet on them and bring them back to shore where they can get medical care.

That technique would be used in this example given by Hafner, "You've got a victim who's trapped on a rock or on the a hood of a car and the water's not really safe to swim."

Another exercise is called the strainer drill. "The most hazardous environment on the river is strainers and what a strainer really is is something that allows water to pass through it but won't allow a human body to pass through it," Hafner said. "One of the things we teach students is in the event of a strainer, you can't avoid a strainer, to roll over on your belly, swim head downstream, make an aggressive try and vault yourself up over the obstacle because if you get pinned up against it, the force of the water will cause you to drown."

The third exercise is the live bait swim. "We'll put people in the water with a rope tied to a specialized life vest that will allow them to swim out and make positive contact or physical contact with a victim and bring them back in," Hafner explained.

This technique is used on a person that is injured, unconscious or incapacitated; however, hooking a rope onto anybody in the moving water is very hazardous. This is why the rescuer can release the connection point at any time and swim.

Swiftwater rescue training is an invaluable tool for firefighters and as Battalion Chief Nick Schuler of CAL FIRE San Diego explained, "These crews often work together quite a bit and now with this training they'll be able to understand what it takes to rescue somebody from a swiftwater incident and recognize the hazards that these bring."



Author:Barbara Brooks - FDNNTV.com