PRACTICAL LESSONS
Training exercise on river turns into actual rescue
TROY, N.Y. » Members of the Troy Fire Department received some unexpected hands- on training in the Hudson River Wednesday afternoon.
Assistant Fire Chief Eric McMahon said firefighters had been out in the Hudson River near William D. Chamberlain Riverfront Park on the department’s newest fire boat for some training throughout the day Wednesday, when crews then received a call for an ill elderly man out on his boat.
“While we were out training a person took ill in their boat and we happened to be in the area training and it’s one of those serendipitous things that because we were out on the water. He was in a boat in an area where there is very limited access, we canceled training and steamed up to him and got him into our boat,” McMahon said.
McMahon said the department does always carry EMS supplies in its boat and those supplies
came in handy to help the unidentified elderly man receive oxygen and other help.
“We put him in our boat and brought him back here to where there was better access, had medics meet us and just transfer care over to them,” McMahon said, who added he was unsure what illness the man was suffering from, but that he was transported to a nearby hospital via ambulance. “I believe he’s going to be OK and he seems like he’s in good spirits and he was a very nice and pleasant gentleman.”
McMahon noted that the department had just taken possession of the new boat that they were training on throughout the day Wednesday.
“That’s the reason why we were out training,” Mc- Mahon said. “To be honest with you the boat is not even in service yet, so we were just making sure that everybody was trained on the boat and once everybody gets trained on the boat then the boat will go in service, but officially that boat is not in service yet, but you just can’t say ‘ look it, we’re not in service, we’re not going to respond to a [incident]’.”