Swift Water Rescue

In the middle of April, 4 guys from the station took a weekend course in Swift Water Rescue Training. They had classtime all weekend, but spent a good portion of the weekend days in the warer. The first day they were in the river that goes through downtown Tilton. The river was still flooded a little from the recent rains and snow meltings. Since the river had so much extra water coming through, it was going pretty fast. It was quite chilly and rainy that day too, so it made for a great training session.

Here are two of our guys in the water. One is the victim while the other has to fight the current to swim to the banks of the river. I was so cold just watching them!

Throwing out the rope bags to people in the river. The trees made it a little hard to always get it to them.

One of the training tools was putting a thick PVC pipe into the water. It acted like a branch or a log. This was to show them how to try to swim under or over it. A couple of the guys got a face full of the pipe.

Diving into the water to head towards the tree pipe!

A group of the guys treading shallow water with a victim in the middle. They all had to step and act as one.

This is a cool shot of three guys floating down the river. Just letting the water take them.

The second day they had in water training was on a much nicer day with much slower water. This time they were working on being in a small inflalable boat. They also worked on knots and how to tie the boat safely to shore while there are people in the boat.

A couple guys paddling in the boat. They had to work hard keeping the boat centered in the river while it was tied to trees on either side.

All done with the training and heading back to the station to fill out the paperwork. I just really liked how they were all walking away together.