Los Angeles Firefighter Nearly Drowns During Swiftwater Training

LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles city firefighter has been hospitalized after getting trapped under the water in a concrete aqueduct during a swift water rescue training session.

Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said Tuesday that the 40-year-old man was rescued by his colleagues near the Jensen Filtration plant in Mission Hills.

The firefighter was conscious and breathing when as he was airlifted to a hospital and is expected to survive.

Humphrey says all department firefighters go through the training at the plant to prepare for swift water rescues in the city's hundreds of miles of flood control channels.

He says the firefighters take turns rescuing each other and the man who was caught under water was one of the trainers running the exercise.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by FETC on March 24, 2010 at 11:44am

Still amazes me that when there are manikins out there for this type of "training" that we still see firefighters or instructors playing the live victim role. Having solid training policies and following national guidelines... would have adverted this near miss.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on March 24, 2010 at 12:38pm

FETC, in the case of swiftwater rescue training, there is no manikin that can replicate all of the victim behaviors that are mission-essential for swiftwater rescue training. When you're talking basic things like catching a thrown rope, a human can perform that task but a manikin cannot.

I"m firmly in favor of using manikins for fire, extrication, trench rescue, confined space rescue, rope rescue, and etc. training where the victim is not required to participate in his/her own rescue.

In swiftwater, thrown ropes are one of the safest skills for the rescuer, but the training is among the most dangerous. Unless you have a really big, really fast artificial whitewater river nearby, swiftwater rescue trainng is going to require getting in real moving water for the forseeable future, with all of the associated risks.

I teach swiftwater rescue for two different programs. One of the things we do is to always have additional instructors set up RIC to assist anyone that gets n trouble in the water. I don't know if that was the case here or not. LA has some unusually challenging swiftwater features. Those features are also fairly unique. If they don't train in the actual conditions they face, there's really no other way for them to be ready for the real thing.

At my primary employer, we have a water rescue manikin that we use in the higher-risk water environments, but we still have to use real people to catch thrown ropes while in the water.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by FETC on March 24, 2010 at 1:15pm

Ben,

I have no insight on the LA training story, but I can only offer in sight on what I know from my area.

I agree the Reach / Throw / Row / Go theory is safer and I fully understand manikins can't reach and grab a rope. But if you are training the "throw" portion of swift water rescue training, there is no need for a real victim to be in the actual dangerous moving "swift" water environment. That training is more of target practice to determine, accurancy and distance of the device you are deploying or "throwing" The firefighter or instructor victim in a true training scenario would never replicate the real deal either as they are protected from exposure with a swift dry or wet rescue suit, therefore the concept holds no weight as we all know a real victim would have serious exposure concerns with possible altered mental status and decreased motor functions.

I am not a NFPA 1670 swiftwater rescue instructor, but have been trained in swiftwater rescue by some great instructors, and putting rescuers into the water is the absolute last resort while perfoming a rescue. With the introduction to some wonderful boat technology as well as rope rescue techniques for deploying high lines, etc, the use of real live victims need to be considered. The percentages of rescuers LODD's are great enough to have a serious concern with placing a rescuer into the water, not to mention an instructor in certain high risk, low frequency training environments.

Even with our low head dam rescues we provide in swift water, the target or victim for training safety is not a manikin. A simple buoy or PFD can provide the target for the reach or throw segment of training.

Nobody would expect an real person willingly jump into the boil, I would think the same would be true for the more dangerous currents for some swift water - target specific hazards.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on March 24, 2010 at 6:23pm

FETC,

I understand that putting a rescuer in the water is an absolute last resort - when engaged in a real rescue - but several highly-regarded swiftwater rescue programs routinely put trainees into water up to Class III for swim training and testing once they get the basics down in easier moving water.

Once trainees are evaluated on basic swimming ability in their SWR gear, then they move up to more difficult water. Both the Level II (advanced) state class in Tennessee and the SRSG 40-hour class have a required "Big Water" swim in Class III prior to certification.

Putting an experienced instructor in water where the agency routinely trains in order to practice "Throw" rescues isn't generally a problem. I've worked swiftwater rescue teams up to the Olympic level, and I can tell you that it is impossible to accurately reproduce the forces on the belayer's body and to become proficient in the techniques without simulated victims in the water. You can do the basics - very, very basic level stuff - on dry land, but that's just enough technique to be dangerous in real rescues. A buoy can be a good target for throw accuracy, but it is useless for teaching belays, vectors, and actual victim retrieval, because it can't catch the rope or weight it with a human's body weight.

The programs for which I instruct don't put rescuers into low-head dam water under any circumstance either swimming or in a boat. That includes the situation pictured with the Oceanid RDC above.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on March 27, 2010 at 9:00am

One other thing on using manikins for swiftwater training - it can nbe difficult to impossible to recover a manikin without putting a rescuer in the water unless you attach a rope to the manikin prior to putting the manikin in the water. Rope drag will make the manikin behave in unnatural ways, which makes the training even more unrealistic.

If you don't put a rope on the manikin, then the manikin may become trapped in debris or an undercut, which adds hazards to the river and wastes a $700 manikin every time you train.