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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on December 27, 2009 at 2:00pm

Joe,

That's like asking "What have your experiences been for successful land drills. I am talking structural fire, vehicle fire, wildland fire, vehicle extrication, machinery extrication, trench rescue, confined space rescue...."

Water rescue is many disciplines, not just one. In particular, swiftwater rescue isn't something you want to address simply with a drill. That's a recipe for disaster, unless everyone involved in the drill has a strong training and experience in swiftwater rescue.

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Permalink Reply by David Dionne on February 16, 2010 at 1:20pm

One drill that came up from an actual call we obtained furniture and put into a pool then covered pool with tarps to darken and keep furniture down in the water. Put a dummy in the basement and send divers in to search. We had a flood and homeowner decided to go back into the basement to retrieve car keys. Dive team called out to search basement for the homeowner. Some furniture found floating near ceiling and some furniture sunken. Search rope becomes entangled in furniture.
Swift water drills were done at nearby amusement park where siwft water ride was. Obviusly done when the park is not open to the public

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Permalink Reply by Doug on February 16, 2010 at 10:37pm

My department will be covering this topic closer to the end of the month, in conjunction with a department well versed in all types of water rescue, so I'll get back to ya. We have dealt with swift water rescue and recovery in the past, usually averaging 1.5 water rescues per year, and we rely on the ole Reach, Throw, Go. Luckily we've never had to Go, but we relied heavily on mutual aid for those incidents. We cover an area of a shallow, strong and swift current river that has many small and hidden whirlpools, that is very popular for fishing; Marked with pinpoints A & B in the attached picture. We have also responded mutual aid, on the rare occasion, beyond pinpoint A(Shenango Dam) to the man-made reservoir. We have also came up with a tool to assist with rescues, covered here; http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/tools-or-equipment-yo...

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