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Fire crews stage life-saving training exercise on river

May 16, 2017 | 4:57 PM

 

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.

“We train all the time,” says Decker. “We train every day… and when we have scheduled training times for these big events like this. But each team has their own training schedule, and then this one was a perfect opportunity for us to get together.”

The exercise was inspired by a similar incident that occured in Calgary, in which someone was swept away by the river and holding on to the bridge. A similar incident happened to a young teen in Medicine Hat last week. The teen was carried away by the current and had to be rescued on a small island on the river. These incidents show how dangerous the river can be at this time of year.

“It is flowing very fast,” says Shane Ruether, who took part in the exercises as part of the technical rescue team. “It pushes you. You don‘t have any opportunity to stop yourself. If you’re in that water, you’re moving with it.”

It is for this reason that anyone going out onto the water is advised to use extreme caution.

“We want people to be safe on the river,” says Decker. “Wear your life jackets. on the river or lakes, let people know where you’re going to be, and what time to expect you back.”