Fire crews stage life-saving training exercise on river
MEDICINE HAT, AB — Fire crews closed down Maple Avenue Bridge to one lane this morning as they conducted a series of training exercises.
Both the aquatic and technical rescue teams got a rare opportunity to work with one another during the exercises. In the scenario, a person had been swept away by the fast moving current of the South Saskatchewan River, and was clinging on to one of the bridge’s pillars. Rescue teams rappelled down to extract the victim and place them in a rescue boat that had arrived on the scene.
Chief Training Officer Garnet Decker says that this kind of training is not uncommon for members of the fire department.