How NOT to do a swiftwater rescue (video from Spokane River)

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Originally Posted by Summit

I would still like to hear:

Why was it thought that the victim could get into a raft or hold onto a kayak if she was deemed incapable of grasping a rope?

Sad Santos makes some very good points: You must control your scene for the protection of those in other agencies as well. Around here the Sherrif would kick anyone out if we asked them to. Luckily, the LEO and FFs around here have been trained by the water rescue team in "how not to get yourself killed on a swiftwater scene." Perhaps in conjunction with Bliss-Stick's offer, a 1hr presentation could be put together for other agencies.

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It would be a lot eariser for her to get in a raft than to try and hold a line. That was the thought. Al he would be able to hold on to her as we pulled them both in. It id not turn out that way.so we were hoping that
We have two 8.5 perceptions but the paddler wanted to use his own. As I said before we have discussed this and we will be using mine from now on. Again I will be taking with Fire and medics on some protocols. Medics did not treat her gently enough no get rid of her clothes fast enough as far as I was concerned.

Being a small team and my partner was not able to show up. I did get involved instead of command. It is hard to do both well. Most cases something suffers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Summit

I would still like to hear:

Why was it thought that the victim could get into a raft or hold onto a kayak if she was deemed incapable of grasping a rope?

Sad Santos makes some very good points: You must control your scene for the protection of those in other agencies as well. Around here the Sherrif would kick anyone out if we asked them to. Luckily, the LEO and FFs around here have been trained by the water rescue team in "how not to get yourself killed on a swiftwater scene." Perhaps in conjunction with Bliss-Stick's offer, a 1hr presentation could be put together for other agencies.

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The thought was she was to cold to hold on to a rope maybe she could get into the raft. It would be eaiser to get into a raft than to hold the rope if cold.

I will be talking to both Fire and Medics on their care of the victim. She was not reated as a hpothermic person should have been. Fire again all I can do is talk with them. We still have to work with them as they maybe our only help. We will be trying to train them, we'll see how that goes.
As I said before we will be using my 8.5 perception from now on and not his playboat.

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Originally Posted by BlurredElevens

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Maybe you and your SAR team should practice a bit before playing hero.
That water is not that swift. Taking a low volume play boat out for the save was a piss poor idea.
You should know these things BEFORE an easy rescue like this one occurs.
Your team should have the proper equipment with them, they clearly didn't.
Then you go on and on about the woman being cold. Duh. Come and speak with a swiftwater team in the mountains where ALL whitewater (not class II) is snow melt. They could teach you guys a thing or two. That was a clown show, sorry.

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And maybe we do practice, that is way we had a successful rescue. Maybe not text book or even close but we won. The boat was a mistake, I have admitted that numerous times. we will be using mine from now on. If you read the previous post you will see that we are a volunteer team and most our equipment was still 20 to 30 out. Should we have done nothing? I carry a lot of gear but not all. Some of the guys carry their own boats such as he did. If you think that the 21000cfs is not snow melt then please tell me what it is?????? I am glad that your team has never made any mistakes and your so great, we are still trying to get to that status. This clown show did in fact make a successful save and we also learned from it to, from some of the other posters.

Hey Jumpman, jusy my opinion. If your kayaker is going to be using the Perception it should become "his boat" and have the department buy you another one. If he is really commited, he needs to feel more comfortable in it than he does in his his play boat. In current dealing with a swimmer, pin, wrap, etc... you cannot be thinking about how the boat you are in is handling, it needs to be automatic, like sittinh in you lounger. He should be in the boat several times a week, each and every week so that his own stability is not even an issue. I don't know what model Perception you are using but since they have not made a new boat in years you should make sure it has a semi planing hull, not displacement as it makes a more stable platform to work from. Also with a creeker the ends are higher to get the swimmer more out of the water. Hope this helps.


Bliss-Stick

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Originally Posted by Jumpman

The thought was she was to cold to hold on to a rope maybe she could get into the raft. It would be eaiser to get into a raft than to hold the rope if cold.

I will be talking to both Fire and Medics on their care of the victim. She was not reated as a hpothermic person should have been. Fire again all I can do is talk with them. We still have to work with them as they maybe our only help. We will be trying to train them, we'll see how that goes.
As I said before we will be using my 8.5 perception from now on and not his playboat.

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Having been a medic for several years and knowing the attitude of most medics (if infact they are medics and not EMT-B or A's) you might not be well received. If they aren't interested in providing better/quality pt. care and the Q/A process, it might mean giving their director or physician director a call. Just a heads up.

This is a little information on the person in the Kayak...

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Detective Roger Knight and Volunteer Rescue Diver Chris Jundt were awarded the Medal of Valor – On August 4, 2005, Detective Knight and Diver Chris Jundt both entered the Spokane River at Plantes Ferry Park in an attempt to rescue a male drowning victim. The cold water and swift current placed both at risk of injury or loss of their own lives. Despite the peril, they unselfishly accepted that risk in an attempt to save the life of a Spokane County citizen.

For their immediate acts of bravery and heroism that rose above those normally expected in the line of duty, and for display of extreme courage by placing their own lives in immediate peril in order to preserve a human life, Detective Roger Knight and Rescue Diver Chris Jundt are awarded the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Medal of Valor.

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Volunteers may not be experts in all aspects of every possible rescue situation, but the fact is that they are doing what very few people in a given area are willing to do, much less are capable of doing.

Armchair quarterbacking comes easy to some. The intelligent discussions here are welcome and instructive. Nasty comments from others who apparently can do no wrong, are not.

Literally, within seconds on a scene, decisions must be made for better or for worse. We learn from every incident. There are good days where there is plenty of support for things like crowd control and technical rope rescues, and there are bad days when only a few rescuers show and the attempt is made.

When watching a video it is easy to slip into a educational mode and point out what may or may not have been done.

The fact is that as a volunteer group we don't train daily to become experts in the field of swift water rescue. Unfortunately we don't have that luxury. Although many of us would love to do this, we all have our own full-time jobs and most of us have full-time families too.

We are professionally trained, and a professional group, that do what we can to save the lives of the people in our community that get into trouble within the surrounding water.

The man that leads us, although not always the most calm individual ;) , places the safety of our team above all else.

I have been on the team for over four years, and this team has been on more rescues then I can even remember. During this time we have been instrumental in not only saving countless lives, but also help put criminals away through evidence recovery, provide closure to families with body recoveries, and prevent people from getting injured from falling through the ice by providing animal rescues.

The next time you feel the need to call a rescue team "asshats" why don't you take a deep breath and look in the mirror to see if you're really proud of who you have become.