WATER RESCUE

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WATER RESCUE
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Water Rescue

• Need for water rescue awareness
• Most FDs have some body of water
• Potential for flooding
• Many water incidents require resources beyond
  capability of FD
• Operations and technician trained
• Proper PPE
• Technical rescue equipment

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NFPA 1670

• Water related disciplines
• Dive
• Ice
• Surf
• Swift water

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Hazards Associated with Water Rescue

• Firefighter (human) nature
• Action oriented
• Need to do something now
• Make rescue attempts without proper training or
  equipment

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Hazards Associated with Water Rescue (cont)

• An average of 7 public safety rescuers die each
  year in water related incidents.
• WHY?
• Sound judgment, good reasoning, and disciplined
  plan of action was not followed.
• The temptation to enter an uncertain environment
  was too great.
• Lack of training and expertise in water related
  emergencies.

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Environmental Hazards

• Extreme temperatures
• Cold
• Hypothermia, frostbite, equipment malfunctions
• Effects ability to think clearly fine motor
  skills
• Heat
• Hyperthermia, overheating in PPE
• Underwater survival time lost in hot temperatures
• Exhaustion, dehydration

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Environmental Hazards (cont)

• Weather
• Rain, snow, high winds, fog
• Accelerates hypothermia
• In still water, body heat is lost 25 times
  greater than in air at the same temperature
• Aquatic environment
• Animal life, fish, insects
• Plant life, seaweed
• Biohazards, bacterial, viral

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General hazards

• Utilities
• Electric, gas, sanitary, communications
• Hazardous materials
• Personal hazards waters edge
• Tripping, falling
• Steep, slippery terrain
• Drop-offs
• Holes
• Hidden obstructions
• Cause injury, entanglement

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Dive Operation Hazards

• Barotraumas
• Decompression sickness
• Nitrogen narcosis
• Oxygen toxicity
• Embolism
• Drowning
• Fatigue
• Lost diver
• Loss of air
• Anxiety reactions

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Dive Operation Hazards
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Ice Operation Hazards

• Cold injuries
• Frostbite
• Hypothermia
• Thin ice
• Sudden immersion reflex
• Entrapment under ice

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Surf Operation Hazards

• Breaking waves
• Generate extreme force
• Undertows, tides, current

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Swift Water Operation Hazards

• Awesome, relentless power of moving water
• Strainers debris
• Stationary objects
• Holes
• Obstructions
• Above the water surface
• Below the water surface
• Upstream V
• Downstream V

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Swift Water Operation Hazards
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Swift Water Operation Hazards
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Eddies

• Caused by an obstructions in the current that
  extend above the waters' surface. Upstream water
  flows around these obstructions leaving a void on
  the downstream side of the obstruction, causing
  the downstream to flow upstream to fill in the
  void behind the obstruction.

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Upstream Vs

• Upstream V's should be noted as they indicate
  areas that may be trapping a subject against an
  obstacle. The Upstream V as shown in figure- 2
  helps to indicate where the obstacle lies.
  Visible eddys downstream of an obstacle can be
  possible resting spots or dead zones that may be
  passively holding a subject from further travel
  down the waterway. 

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Downstream Vs

• Downstream V's are generated by water moving
  around several obstacles coming together in the
  path of least resistance. These downstream V's
  will contain some of the fastest moving water in
  the channel. If the subject does not become
  trapped, the downstream V's have the highest
  probability of containing the subject

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Holes Pillows

• Holes and Pillows are also indicators of a
  submerged or partially submerged obstacle. The
  pillow will lie upstream if the obstacle is
  completely below the surface of the water and
  downstream if the obstacle extends above the
  surface of the water. A hole is created by the
  void formed by water swirling around the
  obstacle. Water flows back into the hole to fill
  the void which may cause a strong flow of
  upstream current immediately following the
  obstacle.
• Local hazards play a large role in local waterway
  rescues. Holes as explained above can create a
  strong upstream current. Striking these upstream
  currents while traveling downstream may be
  equivalent to striking a solid surface. An
  extended head or neck could be easily injured if
  submitted to this abrupt change in water-flow
  direction.

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Limb entrapment

• Limb Entrapment is probably the most common
  hazard, where an arm or a leg becomes wedged into
  a rock or submerged debris and the body is held
  downstream by the force of the water.

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• For this reason if one finds himself trapped in a
  channel he should travel feet first with his feet
  high as is shown below.

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Swift Water Operation Hazards (cont)

• Current patterns
• Laminar flow
• Helical flow
• Upwelling
• Eddies
• Back current
• Heavy downpours
• Make quiet streams swiftwater

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Swift Water Operation Hazards (cont)
Water weight 62.4 lbs per cubic foot and
typically flows downstream at 6 to 12 miles per
hour.
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Swift Water Operation Hazards (cont)
When a vehicle stalls in the water the waters
momentum is transferred to the car. For each
foot the water rises, 500 lbs. of lateral force
is applied to the automobile.
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Swift Water Operation Hazards (cont)
But the biggest factor is buoyancy. For each foot
the water rises up the side of the car, the car
displaces 1500 lbs. of water. In effect, the
automobile weighs 1500 lbs. less for each foot
the water rises.
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Swift Water Operation Hazards (cont)
Two Feet of Water Will Carry Away Most
Automobiles!!!
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Low Head Dam Hazards

• The killing / drowning machine
• Boil line
• Point where water breaks in two directions
• Illusion
• Cannot be perceived from upstream
• Do not look dangerous
• Hydraulic
• Vertical whirlpool
• Aeration in the hydraulic
• Causes cavitation to boat props

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Hydraulics

• Hydraulics form when water flowing over the top
  of the obstruction hits the water below creating
  a hole or depression which is filled in by the
  downstream water or backwash.
• Hydraulics are created both by natural and
  manmade objects.
• Natural hydraulics such as rocks, have an escape
  because of the non uniform surface and the flow
  of water
• Manmade hydraulics, such as low head dams, are to
  perfect and have a uniform flow from end to end
  with little chance of escape.
• The design of a low head dam will have a direct
  effect on the intensity of the hydraulic

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Low Head Dam Hazards
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Low Head Dam Hazards
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Low Head Dams

• Low Head Dams are river obstacles that create a
  deadly trap for exposed subjects in the waterway.
  If the low head dam is sufficiently covered with
  water flow, a continuous "Hole" that extends
  across the waterway may be generated. If the
  subject makes it to the top surface he will be
  trapped between the Boil line and the dam by the
  flow of the intense backwash.  If a subject is
  trapped in the recirculating water below the
  surface, he will quickly loose orientation and
  expire unless he can escape the motion. A
  possible escape route is shown below. A subject
  trapped in such a situation is in most critical
  need of outside action. A raft rescue or a
  helicopter static fly away is often the only
  reasonable chance the subject may have for
  survival.  

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Water Rescue PPE

• Firefighting helmets, boots, and turnout gear are
  NOT appropriate for water rescue
• Proper PPE includes the following
• Wet suits / dry suits / exposure suits
• Thermal protection
• PFDs (whistle knife strobe light or light
  stick)
• Worn by all personnel
• In or near water
• On a boat
• Taglines / lifelines
• Helmet, gloves

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Cold Water Near Drowning

• Age of victim
• Temperature of water
• Below 70oF
• Patient could be below thermocline
• Length of submersion
• Under 90 minutes
• Still rescue mode
• Quality BLS ALS treatment

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Size-up

• Scope, magnitude, type of water rescue incident
• Environmental factors
• Change in weather conditions
• Loss of daylight
• Water levels
• Current changes

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Size-up (cont)

• Assessment of hazards
• Location number of victims
• Risk / benefit analysis
• Rescue vs. recovery
• Access to scene

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Water Rescue

• Awareness Level Personnel May
• Establish scene control
• Establish IC
• Initiate accountability safety
• Evaluate patient condition
• Can patient assist with rescue?
• Activate Needed resources

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Water Rescue

• Awareness Level Personnel May (cont)
• Secure interview witnesses
• Keep witnesses at scene
• Interview witnesses separately
• Collect witnesses personal information

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Water Rescue

• Awareness Level Personnel May (cont)
• Establish last seen point
• Triangulate with multiple witnesses
• Use a reference object
• Hole in ice is great last seen point
• Dont destroy it

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Water Rescue

• Awareness Level Personnel May (cont)
• Identify number of victims
• Identify age and sex of victim, if possible

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Water Rescue

• Awareness Level Personnel May (cont)
• Evaluate physical evidence
• Notes
• Clothes
• Footprints
• Tire tracks
• Debris
• Oil slick
• Bubbles

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Water Rescue

• Beyond the awareness level
• AHJ must have emergency response plan
• Operations technician level personnel
• Police evidence technicians
• Specialized equipment
• Boats, tow trucks, etc.
• EMS response
• Ambulance for patient(s)
• Ambulance for divers
• Aeromedical transport

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Scene Considerations

• Rehab personnel early
• Operational plan
• Reach, throw, row, go

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Scene Considerations

• Request divers early in an incident
• Victims at the surface may submerge
• Keep incident operating in rescue mode

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Water Rescue Summary

• Recognize the need for water search and rescue.
• Describe implementing the assessment phase. 
• Identify the resources necessary to conduct safe
  and effective water rescue operations.
• Identify the emergency response system for water
  rescue emergencies. 

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Water Rescue Summary

• Identify the site control and scene management
  procedures at water rescue incidents.
• Identify the general hazards associated with a
  water rescue incident. 
• Identify the rescue vs. recovery mode when
  concerned with a cold water near drowning
  patient. 

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