Team jumps into water for drill
April 23, 2008
By Ryan Piersol
If Eastside Fire & Rescue wanted to simulate a difficult situation for its annual Swiftwater Rescue Team drills last week, it couldn’t have picked a better day.
Right before approximately two dozen team members plunged into the Snoqualmie River just east of North Bend, it began snowing. Add to that water temperatures that were already near freezing, and the rescuers certainly got a healthy day of practice.
Not that they failed to have fun.
“It’s a blast,” said Mark Vetter, a part of the team stationed in North Bend. “It’s great to get out here and do these drills, because this is what we do.”
The swiftwater rescue drills were part of a three-day certification process team members are required to take every three years. About one-third of the entire department goes through the process annually.
In the drill, rescuers learn about the dynamics of currents in the river, the rope systems the department employs and how to successfully manage both self-rescues and live-bait rescues. The drill began in the early afternoon and lasted into the evening.
Rick Reynolds, the Eastside’s Community Emergency Response Team coordinator, estimated the department rescues two to five people a year from the water.
“Anytime someone goes into the water, which happens once in a while around here, we have to be ready to go get them. This gives us the know-how to quickly get to them and get them out.
“Right after school gets out, it seems like there are a lot of kids who get out in the water and get caught up in the currents. It may seem like it’s okay, until they get out into the water.”
For their immersion into the cold water, team members donned dry suits equipped with wool on the inside and a wind breaker on the outside. They practiced advancing across the river attached to rope systems, both by themselves and as either a rescuer or a victim in a two-person situation.
Reynolds said, every year, new ideas and methods are added to the certification process.
“No two situations are alike, so we like to give them a lot of options in how to rescue someone, because you never know what you’re going to encounter,” he said. “As soon as they gain confidence in the basic stuff, we teach them new things.”
Editor Ryan Piersol can be reached at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.
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