Cold Lake fire rescue sharpens water safety skills with surface rescue training
The training involved hands-on learning with new inflatable rescue boats.
Fire Chief Jeff Fallow and his team were determined to upgrade their water rescue skills after a tragic incident took place in 2021 and claimed the life of a local teenager.
"A few years back, there was an incident on the river. It had an unfortunate outcome. It had nothing to do with the tools we had or what we did. But we decided that we would invest in some inflatable boats," Fallow explained. “So, we finally got those in, and we've been trying to line up some training to work the boats on the river."
The training course, provided by Trans-Care Rescue Ltd., was split into two separate two-day sessions. It involved a day of theoretical learning, followed by a day of practical exercises on the river.
Fallow described the structure of the training. “We had two two-day sessions. So you did a day of theory and a day of practicals. The theory was going over all the procedures and how boats work and all that stuff that was with it. And then the theory day we actually got on the river and practiced some of the stuff that we were taught the day before.”
During the practical sessions, the CLFR team got hands-on experience with the new inflatable boats.
"It went really well actually," said Fallow. "We had nine [participants] on the first day, 11 on the second.”
He also cautioned that, although right now the river is fairly low, “that doesn't mean you can't drown in the water."
The practical exercises included a range of activities designed to simulate real-world rescue scenarios.
"There was some boat handling, there was throwing across, there was us getting in different inflatables and walking out, there was us swimming out and capturing them as they flowed down. We basically had somebody floating down the river, and we'd capture them and bring them out."
Although the training was conducted on the Beaver River, the skills apply to other bodies of water, including Cold Lake.
"We have a larger boat that sits in the marina. We do about six or eight calls on the lake a year," Fallow explained, emphasizing the need for diverse rescue skills among emergency responders.
Fallow noted that these newly learned skills would be useful for future operations on the lake.
"All those skills we learned on the weekend would be used on the lake as well. Obviously, it's a larger and deeper body of water, and there's probably not the flow you're going to see on the river, but the techniques you're going to use to recover somebody floating or in the water is very similar."
While CLFR does not operate as a tow boat service, they are ready to assist in emergencies.
"We try not to go as a tow boat because we're not that, but if somebody's in trouble, we're always going. We do about six to eight a year. Sometimes the boat motor dies, especially when there's kids and stuff," Fallow explained.
In addition to surface water rescues, CLFR also conducts ice rescue operations, which require similar techniques. "We do ice rescue as well, which is very similar. There are some techniques for that. A lot of it is around capturing the patient, harnessing them, grabbing them, and then the other crew will pull them into safety," Fallow said.
Chantel Downes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeland This Week
