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Ice Rescue: Technician Required?
It is the time of year when the weather gets especially cold and ice is forming on the lakes and ponds. It is also when many departments start actually getting out on and in the ice to train for ice related emergencies. One of the departments that I am a part of and others around us do train on this topic. The question has been raised by many, some legitimately concerned and others just trying to stay out of the ice, if a person should be trained to technician level before he/she enters the water. I personally am not a technician trained ice rescuer, although I have had a great deal of training for ice rescues. I do have technician level training in other areas and have to say that I learned a great deal in those courses, stuff that could keep you alive. If I read the standard correct, any incident that requires special or technical training has different levels of certification and training. Most of these categories all abide by the awareness, operations and technician hierarchy. With that in mind, the department and departments that I am familiar with will typically have a short in-service on the equipment and safety guidelines and then when the ice gets thick enough, we throw our own in the water to be victims and rescuers. The practical answer to if we should be tech level certified before we enter the ice is that it is difficult and expensive at best to get our people all trained to that level. The ideal answer is "yes", we should have our people properly trained before putting them in harms way. Where is the line crossed or should it be? Are these tech level certifications going to need to be mandatory for our firefighters, even if they are not interested in that subject matter? But, the subject matter is protecting our citizens and the job is dynamic and ever changing, right? What do all of you do and think? Personally, I think there should be more than just an in-service and then throw people in the lake, tend to getting our personnel certified in the areas that we have risk for. But, we don't make every member become HazMat Techs or Swiftwater Techs, so I don't know that making them Ice Rescue Techs is appropriate either. It is a very interesting dilemma I do see the day where those certifications will be required for all academy graduates or at least at an operational level. Actually, the current graduates at the local academy does require hazmat ops for graduation. I think that this is going to be a hot topic in the years to come. Where do you all see this in our roles as emergency responders?
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Comment by Greg Gilman on January 7, 2010 at 11:12am
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we have 6 members of our dept trained as techs so when the ice get thick enough to train on we take the new members of our dept out they are primarily there to help us get suited up but we teach them how to throw the rope bags so the victim knows there is someone trying to help them. if one of our new members want to try going in the water Weill put him in a suit but there will be one tech in the water playing the victim and at least 2 techs standing off to the side suited up to coach the new member but we don't let anyone who isn't trained near the ice without a life jacket and they are there to work the ropes but any member who wants to get certified we will get them in a class asap
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Comment by Paul Montpetit on January 4, 2010 at 10:05pm
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All of our divers are Ice trained...we are NOT "certified" but are very capable...we train routinely and have developed a "comfort" level...Paul
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Comment by Jason Hoevelmann on January 4, 2010 at 4:24pm
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I have read the articles and the question that is being asked here, is what is appropriate training? What is the minimum required for entry into the ice? I know what I believe, but it may be contrary to what other organizations are doing and what other chiefs are doing. This was a question asked of me by a department that doesn't have a great deal of direction in the training arena. My response is that a person should be tech level certified and the rest a minimum of ops with only the tech level certs entering the ice.
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Comment by Fire Rescue Magazine on January 4, 2010 at 4:16pm
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Jason,
Happy New Year! Watch for the January issue of FireRescue magazine; in it, Rescue Training columnist Andy Speier writes an extensive article about ice rescue. In it, he offers these comments:
"If you’re a first responder and you’re not fully donned in a coldwater rescue suit or dry suit, and you have no ice-rescue training, do not go out on the ice. Once you or one of your team members enters the ice without the above-mentioned equipment and training, you’re no different than a well-meaning bystander.
"If you fall through the ice and are unable to get back up onto the ice, you’ll likely develop acute hypothermia. Your body’s resources will be overwhelmed by the sudden change in the environment because you can’t produce heat as fast as you’ll be losing it.
"You could become unconscious in as little as 7–15 minutes. Prior to becoming unconscious, you’ll lose the ability to grasp a rope or pole, you’ll be unable to follow simple instructions and it’s very possible that you will die.
"So before you set foot on any ice-rescue scene, remember that if you take the risk of walking out onto the ice without the proper PPE and training, a dive-rescue response most likely will not arrive in time to save you. Why? Because an ice-diving operation is a slow and methodical process.
"When the dive-rescue response does arrive, they’ll still need to suit up, locate you, enter the water, bring you to the surface and, if needed, try to resuscitate you. The point: Do not go out on the ice!"
You can reach Andy at andy@peakrescue.org if you want to query him directly. Thanks!
-Shannon
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