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Reporter Dives Into Rescue Training

Mark Schantz/SUNCOAST NEWS

Suncoast News reporter Klint Lowry jumps into the swimming pool wearing full bunker gear to see if he can float as fire rescue trainers promise.

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: August 30, 2008

PALM HARBOR - One of the perks of being a reporter is access to new experiences. When Palm Harbor Fire Rescue spokeswoman Elizabeth Montforti invited local journalists to join North Pinellas firefighters while they practice their water rescue techniques, it was like getting an unexpected bonus.

We often see incidents in which rescue teams have to try to get people out of submerged cars. We watch, and we may even try to imagine being the rescuer.

This seemed like the safest way to get a hint of what it would really be like. After all, I would be surrounded by trained rescuers. Nothing was going to happen to me because if I drowned, they'd all have to take the class again.

I tried to absorb to what I could from a short training video they showed and the poolside briefing from the instructors, who all seemed to be talking very fast. I listened and boiled it all down to a simple strategy - watch the real firefighters and try to do things the way they do.

Meanwhile the inner journalist started keeping a running tab of two things: insights on what real rescue workers face and on what regular people could learn from them.

The training had four parts. The first was simple enough, swimming to the other end of the pool and back. This wasn't just a warm-up, I was told. Not everyone is equally comfortable in the water. During this training, fire departments note which of their people are best suited to go in the water, and who'd be more useful pulling the tow rope.

This is a good thing for anyone to remember - know your capabilities. I can testify to that. I work out almost daily, but I hadn't swum in years. Those two laps were tougher than I expected, as muscles all over my body let out a collective, "What the...?"

For the next trick, we had to fall into the pool wearing full firefighter's gear. It weighed 40 pounds, including air tank and mask. If that ever happened, the trick to staying afloat is getting face-up and curling into a ball. The suit forms an air bubble, and you can paddle to safety with your hands.

Maybe there isn't much there for a civilian to take from that, except the fine art of not panicking. Coming out of the pool, the water-laden suit, which had more than doubled in weight, pulled every part of me down.

Then we took turns tossing tethered floatation devices to someone out in the water. To a degree, a little time with a Frisbee is all anyone would need to get a knack of this. But this exercise came with maybe the most important piece of advice of all in this kind of emergency - don't go in the water unless you have to.

For the last test, we tried freeing a life-size dummy from a submerged mock "car." Just like in the first test, my lack of experience in the water showed. The video and the instructors had repeated an important point. The victim is already in trouble; don't put yourself in trouble, too. Come up for air as many times as you need to, even if it means taking more time.

It went right back to what I realized swimming laps. If there was one key thing I picked up that would do everyone well to remember in case they ever are faced with attempting a water rescue: admit to your limits. Becoming another victim is no way to be a hero.

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