Safety First: Water Rescue Techniques

We are out of the studio on on the river as we explore the critical safety techniques and training methods used by Medicine Hat firefighters. Join us as they train in water rescue operations, focusing on jet boat handling, safety protocols, and real-world scenarios.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Firefighter Jet Boat Training
01:11 Safety Risks and Environment for Water Rescue
02:03 Jet Boat Operation Principles and Skills
03:30 Safety Gear and Preparedness in Water Rescue
04:06 Advantages of Using Jet Boats in Rescue Operations
05:01 Ferrying and Managing Exhausted Victims
06:14 Impact of High Water Levels on Training
07:28 Realistic Training and Muscle Memory
09:38 Handling Bridge Abutments and River Hazards
11:01 Communication and Teamwork in Rescue Missions
12:34 Classroom and Practical Training Balance
13:27 Favorite Maneuvers and Skills Practice
14:11 Rescue Drills and Safety Protocols
15:00 Handling Different Water Speeds and Maneuvering
16:00 Team Coordination and Rescue Techniques
17:12 River Safety Tips for the Public
18:17 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Firefighting is a job that often requires quick thinking and decisive action, especially in emergency situations involving water rescues. During a recent training session at the Medicine Hat Fire Department, firefighters focused on enhancing their skills with jet boats, an essential tool for effective and safe water rescues. We explore the key insights from the training, the challenges faced by firefighters in aquatic environments, and the skills necessary to ensure both rescuer and victim safety.

In water rescue scenarios, firefighters must navigate unpredictable and often perilous conditions. One of the primary risks is the relentless nature of moving water.  Instructor Josh Krynski noted, "the water while it is relentless, it is predictable." This means that firefighters must learn to read the conditions of the river and adapt their strategies accordingly. Key safety measures include wearing the appropriate personal flotation devices (PFDs) and being mindful of the unpredictable changes in water levels and flow rates.

Jet boats offer a significant advantage in water rescues compared to traditional methods. Firefighters can operate from a stable, warm platform above the water, which is crucial during cold weather. As the instructor explained, "You’re only effective for a very short time in the water just due to the cold." The ability to conduct rescues from a jet boat allows firefighters to maintain a safe distance while effectively reaching victims in distress. Techniques like ferrying, where a rescuer holds onto the victim in a controlled manner, are practiced to minimize exhaustion and ensure safe transport to shore.

Mastering Key Skills for Effective Water Rescue
During the training, firefighters practiced critical skills necessary for operating jet boats in challenging conditions. These skills include:
1. **Controlled Maneuvering**: Firefighters learn to navigate tight turns and handle the boat in shallow waters, which is crucial when needing to approach a victim without risking injury.
2. **Ferrying Techniques**: This involves moving a victim to safety in a calm and controlled manner, thereby reducing panic and maintaining a low heart rate for the person being rescued.
3. **Safe Shore Landings**: Firefighters must practice how to safely bring the jet boat to shore to create a secure environment for assessing and treating the rescued individuals.

The training conducted at the Medicine Hat Fire Department highlights the vital role jet boats play in water rescues and the rigorous preparation firefighters undergo to ensure their safety and the safety of those they rescue. By mastering key skills and maintaining realistic training practices, these brave individuals are better equipped to handle the challenges posed by water emergencies.

Resources

Fire Departmenthttps://www.medicinehat.ca/community-support-culture-safety/fire-services/
Water Safety https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/aftercareinformation/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=ack3122

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Transcript

0:00

Hey, this is Brian again, and I'd like to ask you to do a favour. We can't do this work without people like you. So if you can, please like, share, subscribe, tell your friends about bring back the porch. You're only effective for a very short time in the water. Just do the cold. And even in the summer when it's as hot as it gets, the water still doesn't get that warm. So by being able to work from a platform that's warm and a platform that's not compromised by by water, and you're able to be on top of it, oftentimes you can affect a much safer rescue. It's a lot smoother This episode of bring back the porch. Brought to you by Medicine Hat Monumental Crafting Quality Memorials of Distinction since 1970. So today we're at Fire station number one. We are looking at what's going on here for jet boat training with the Medicine Hat Fire Department. And you've been working with these fellows for the last couple of days. You're about to hop in the boat with them. What is the biggest safety risk for these people when they're out on the water? So if you're talking about the firefighters, I can answer that first. And they can ask answer to the public. So at any time firefighters are working on the water, they're working in a like a relentless environment. And the water, while it is relentless, it is predictable. And once you kind of learn the rules and you learn how to read what the river is doing, you can operate in a safe manner. Firefighters, when they're going into a response for somebody that's in trouble in the water, oftentimes are having to deal with an environment that can be quite chaotic. So the skills that we teach and the jet boat skills in particular, these gentlemen also took course last week or the week before for the aquatic, the actual surface skills where they're in the water. The skills of learning today is how to handle a jet boat. You can have all kinds of different jet boats, but the principles of how they operate and how the fire service operates them pretty similar. So these these firefighters today in the water that they're going to be working in, they've already done some basic maneuvering skills. And we usually work in with departments like this to make sure that they're hitting a basic competency with the fire service. There's certain standards they have to meet and the standards they meet have to do with training certain types of skills that they have to have. check-offs we call them JPR, and once they go through that, it just also reminds them sometimes because you don't, there's so many things you have to train as a firefighter. It reminds everybody to keep current with things. So that's what we're doing today. When it comes to safety with the public in the water, oftentimes it's the unexpected that happens. The water can be moving like right now it's in flood stage and it can change in the next day. So sometimes they have plans, sometimes they might not be as confident as swimmers as they thought they were. They're not wearing the right gear. Anybody that's working in or around the water or playing in the water should have the right gear. So typically that's a life jacket or a pfd self rescue equipment, that type of thing. And depending on what activity they're they're engaged in, there's usually more safety or less safety just depending on what they're doing. And so when firefighters are responding to that, it's usually because everything's gone wrong. And when they're doing that they just have to be smart, efficient. And a lot of times just courageous because it's not something that most people want to do, is put themselves in harm's way and to limit the risk as much as we can by training. It's that's a really good thing. I know that in conversations with the chief and some of the firefighters, the they planned for the worst, they prepare for the worst and they hope they never need to use it. A jet boat like this, what advantage does that give them in the water, say, as opposed to just jumping in? How does it help them help people more? Well, we live in. I come from Calgary, but same temperature of water. You're only effective for a very short time in the water. Just do the cold. And even in the summer when it's as hot as it gets, the water still doesn't get that warm. So by being able to work from a platform that's warm and a platform that's not compromised by by water, and you're able to be on top of it, oftentimes you can affect a much safer rescue. It's a lot smoother now dealing with the patient, getting into the jet boat. That can be kind of hard sometimes. So when you have a nice dry, stable platform and you're able to work with the patient, sometimes the only motive you need to the only thing I should say you need to do with the jet boat is get the person to shore. So we practice a skill called ferrying, where a rescuer will hold on to the person. And it's very low speed, but it's just controlled. And we'll just take the person over to the shore. And what that does a lot of times is it just keeps everybody from being exhausted. Exhausted people make mistakes and it doesn't matter whether you're a firefighter. Sometimes we like to think I'm a firefighter as well. We like to think that we're unable to get exhausted, but the water can take take it out of you pretty quick. And if you have multiple patients to deal with or multiple victims in a scene, and you can just be systematic and organized and efficient, you can you can usually affect a much better outcome. So the Saskatchewan right now is very high. How does that affect the training? Yeah. So where I typically teach the rivers are usually moving pretty quick. So I'm in my comfort zone with this. One of the things that's kind of funny about a jet boat is a jet boat works really well in water that's two feet deep because they can the jet actually pushes off the bottom, kind of like if you're swimming in a deep end of the pool, there's nothing really to push off. But when you're swimming in the shallow end, you can push push off of it and get a bit going. A jet boat to really simplify it kind of works like that. The jet boat that Medicine Hat has is an outward jet, which is just a different type of jet boat. There's other boats that they're looking at to as they as, you know, boats time out and you instead it's time to replace them inboard jets. What it all comes down to is that when you're in shallow water, that's where jets really, really thrive. Typically departments that have big lakes that don't have shallow bottoms, we'll use a prop drive. And it's just a different type of means to to push the boat. So they might be a little bit excited to be able to be in this faster moving water. Yeah. And not drag your knees. Just some days the shallow water can be a bit unpredictable. One of the hazards that we deal with on a day like today is there's a lot of turbidity in the water, so that's the inability to see the bottom. There's just suspended mud and stuff from the runoff. So you just have to be real careful. And we use certain techniques to limit our chance of getting squished. It's basically what it comes down to. Right? So so we should let people know that when they see this footage that we're about to shoot, the people in the water are actual Medicine Hat firefighters. Absolutely. They are in training and they are not in peril at this point, but they are putting themselves in a little peril to be in that fast water and and kind of going forward to help their members learn. And everything that we we do when we train, there's a very specific formula that we follow. It's the same to all firefighting, right? You want to train realistically because drawing pictures on a chalkboard or a whiteboard doesn't really teach you lessons. And some of the lessons can be a little bit bumpy sometimes. That's totally fine. The level of risks that we're dealing with for firefighters and today in a training environment is quite low because things are predictable today because we know what we're doing. Our lesson plan is very thought out. That changes when it's a call, because the lesson plan is whatever you're about to do. Right? So yeah, I would say in terms of the level of peril, the risk is minimal today. And part of that's just because these guys are really good. They know what they're doing. I know when we we done a session a few weeks ago with the firefighters who were learning new hose techniques and switching from a shotgun hose into a different kind of nozzle. One of the things they talked about was muscle memory and the ability to try things in when they're in training, so that they know physically how they're going to be reacting at the time that they're in in that. Right. So I'm assuming in the water, it's kind of the same thing. You have to be practicing those skills with your hands and with your legs about how you're moving things, how you're how you're practicing. Right. So there's an expression in the fire service. And I believe the military tears train like you fight and fight like you train the last time you want it. The worst time to learn a technique is when you're doing it for the first time. In anger, we would say, or on a fire ground. And it's the same as the water the first time you're doing something. Sometimes it's unavoidable just because, like the world of possibilities. Right. But majority of of rescues kind of happened in sort of a specific type of way. And that's what we train for. So by learning that muscle memory, how to put a boat, we do certain skills and I can run through them real quick. We we learn to do certain types of turns on the water with the jet boat because they behaves differently. And anybody can go fast. But to go slow and be controlled and be able to make tight turns on a river, it actually takes a fair level of skill. And these gentlemen are demonstrating today to be able to get up to a bridge. But one of the big dangers that you run into and rivers, is that people will become like, they'll have rafts and they'll be tied together, and they'll go around a bridge abutment on each side, and they'll have a rope and things can go wrong. And a lot of people have lost their lives from that. So how do we clear that? How do we get people off that if it's a stand up paddle board, they should never use a leash in moving water because unfortunately, people have gone both sides of a bridge and they've drowned. It's how to deal with those types of situations, right? It's lots of times there's a happy ending with calls, and then a lot of times it's not right because a person could be underwater and sometimes they're not noticed for a while. Right. Just because they are underwater. Right. So we learn how to deal with, situations like that. I personally like I've rescued animals, I rescued people or rescued equipment, all kinds of stuff. So there's no book that says this is how you do it, right? You build a basic toolbox of skills and you get it. Another skill that guys learn is the ferrying. So how to take a person in a controlled, slow, purposeful manner and it just keeps the heart rate down. It keeps everybody calm. Because a lot of times when people in the water, you know, their heart rate's up and they're panicky. And so we work on that and just conditioning our minds just to bring calm to a situation that basically that. And then how to put a boat into the shore. We have a regular shoreline around here. So you really have to learn how to put a boat to the shore safely and to create a safe space to work on a patient, stabilize them and get them out of the water. Right. Josh, thank you very much for your time. I'll let you get back to educating some firefighters. My pleasure. All right. Have a good day. Today we're doing jet boat training. And from what I understand, this is sort of a recertification for a lot of the members. Do you already have your ticket for for this kind of training? Yeah. So we do a lot of in-house training. Kind of day to day, like when the season is obviously good for it. So we all have in-house training. This is bringing an outside agency in to learn some different techniques and get some different skills and also get time on the river. I know that the river is fairly high today and moving a little fast. Does that lead to excitement for you guys to be able to kind of train in something that's not tepid and shallow? Yeah, it's a different skill set. We generally like to do what we call practice like you play. So in one aspect, it would have been nice if the river was lower because that's normal or normal conditions for us. It is a little bit easier with it being deeper, because we don't have to worry about as many hazards underneath the water. So, but it does add a different aspect to it, which is nice. So you've spent a day in the classroom. Now you're going to get some some practical experience. What's can you kind of explain what you do in the classroom a little bit? Yeah. So yesterday for about two hours we did a PowerPoint presentation and we do a little bit of dry land work. So so yeah. So it's PowerPoint presentation. Then we came down here, we went over the boat kind of maintenance general maintenance and kind of like wear and tear points that we might need to know how to service it kind of on the go. And then the afternoon yesterday and all day today has been on the water. Well, it's pretty exciting to kind of see that the water is a little high and a little dirty. Yeah. When we were talking with the instructor, he was sort of saying that you were training for a couple of specific things. One is to do slow turns. One is to do ferrying. Do you have a favorite maneuver that you like to do on the water or something that you use the most favorite? The bridge abutment maneuvers are actually something that's interesting. So it's when you come up beside the bridge, you kind of tap the nose into it and then turn it to about a 45 degree angle. So if somebody got caught on the front side, it allows us to have a stable platform to work off of. So it's not a skill that's used very often, but it's a it's a fun skill to do because it's different than just kind of driving around. So so we have firefighters that are going to be in the water today. Yep. And what is your goal with them. Are you to try to get them to the shore. Are you practicing all kinds of safety with them or are you. Is there a goal in mind when they're in the water there? Yeah. So right now. So actually last week we had a different course, a swiftwater rescue course, which is more about the swimmers going in this one. We're focusing more on the jet boat operator side of things. So right now what we're doing one of the drills is there's somebody in the water floating down. So the jet boat operator is going to be maneuvering the boat to be able to do what's called the pick off. So get hands on the victim and then we'll ferry across. We won't for this evolution, we're not going to worry about bringing them onto the boat. We'll ferry them across to the shore and then we'll restart the evolution. But it's all about the maneuverability of the boat. Is is what we're concerned about. Now, this boat can reach high speeds. And in this case, we're going to be doing very low speeds. What's kind of the difference in the handling between those two? Because our boats more of a closer to a flat bottom than what you would typically see like in the ocean with that V bottom. At higher speeds it's a little bit harder to maneuver. It tends to want to step across the water than actually dig in and do those sharp turns. So and because it's a jet boat versus a prop, lower speeds when you're turning, you have to be a little bit more careful that you don't suck air into the into the motor. And then that way, you know, you lose all your propulsion. So, so it's finding that balance between high and low speed for maneuverability. Now on the boat, how many how many team members are on the boat at once. Out here we're doing three. So we'll have two rescuers and then the jet boat operator. Oh, sorry. No, we're doing two. There'll be one rescuer, and then the other guy is playing as the victim. And then one operator. So how important is the communication between you guys, between the rescuer and the operator? It's very important. He's basically going to be at the bow of the boat directing the operator which way he should go to successfully make the catch of that patient. So communication is really important. So if you weren't to make the catch on the first attempt, what what happens then? Do you just swing around and try again? Yeah, we could do that. Depending on the patient's level of consciousness, the rescuer might just immediately bail in and then the boat will go and do a little lap so we can get hands on the victim right away to make sure that their airways clear and they're not drowning. So that's typically probably what we would do. And then we have we bought ourselves time to get the boat back into a position that we need to get it into. So how important is boat safe. Let's, let's let's break this down for the people that are listening or watching and and they're, you know, maybe they've they're only used to the river being a very slow river. And they suddenly it starts to be a little bit faster than they were expecting. What are some things that people could do when they're on the river to help themselves before they needed to be rescued, to help themselves? Oh, like before you're needed actually happens. Yeah. So proper river safety is always important. So knowing the conditions. So right now we just had a large amount of water. The reason why it's brown is because it's a lot of runoff water. So a lot of stuff changes on that riverbed. Some trees we did have some water going over the embankment so some trees could have fallen in. So there could be hazards just underneath the water that you might not see. So being careful when you're by the banks, obviously being aware that, hey, maybe there's a big rock in the middle of the river that never used to be there, but because of that large amount of water that we had, it's now moved into different areas. And then as far as personal safety, always having a life jacket is very important. Making sure that if you're on a boat, you have extra fuel, you have water even, because you could be out there for a while. Flares. If you're kind of going towards that dusk or dawn time can help us. So just general kind of safety stuff like that. Well, Joshua, thank you so much for your time. Yeah, I think