Pittsfield Fire Upgrades Boat, Trains For Potential Water Rescues
Crews took shifts throughout Wednesday testing out the new equipment.
And the Fire Department is no different. Except, the department is thinking about rescuing people after boat crashes, or kayaks tipping, and people drowning.
The department has just upgraded its boat and for the next week, every member of the department will be out on the lake, learning the new equipment and getting prepared for the potential water rescues firefighters will have to make.
"This is one of those high risk, low-frequency events. They don't happen a lot but they are very risky. It puts our guys at a serious risk," training Capt. Neil Myers said.
Last year, a group of Pittsfield firefighters went to the Massachusetts Fire Academy for a daylong training on water rescues. Myers said all of the training was done on rigid inflatable boats, which provide much more stability in the water.
Last fall, there was some room in the equipment budget and the department already owned an offboard motor, so it purchased the newer style boat to replace the metal dinghy.
"We've had that for a long time and it just proves to be difficult to do rescues in. To try and pull victims up onto the side of that, it was really tipsy. There is a reason why the Navy and Marines use these style boats. They have a low center of gravity. They sink into the water nice and deep," Myers said.
It also purchased a few new dry suits, boots for swift water, and netting designed to make pulling a victim into the boat easier.
Myers said the department only handles a couple water rescue calls per year. But he clearly remembers a boat accident on Onota Lake just a few years earlier and how difficult those responses can be.
"We train on this every year, even with the old boat. We train on getting in the water, how to backboard a person in the water. That is a real challenge. You have nowhere to stand. You are trying to keep yourself floating plus you are trying to put a board under a person, strap them on, and put head blocks on them. It is really, really tricky. So that's a lot of training. We'll be doing that in the summer," Myers said.
As the weather warms up, the new boat is in service. But, Wednesday was the first time most in the department has had a chance to pilot it.
Myers said when it comes to water rescues, the speed of response is the most important as the threat of drowning and hypothermia is present. He said the department's first goal when getting to a call is getting to the victim and giving them something to keep afloat. And then, the firefighters work to pull the victim in.
"We don't do a lot of rescues like this. One, two, three times a year there will be a boat accident or someone sucked into the lake in a kayak. It is rapid," Myers said.
"There is always the potential, like anything in this line of work."
Myers said the new boat vastly increases the speed the firefighters can get to the victim. The boat is always in service and as soon as the call comes in, the firefighters can deploy it to the scene.
"It is fast and we can deploy it in rivers, whereas the other one we couldn't," Myers said.
Tags: first responders, lakes, ponds, pittsfield fire, search & rescue,
