Firefighters take plunge in the name of safety
DIVE TRAINING CERTIFICATION CONTINUES TODAY
Members from the Lethbridge and Medicine Hat fire departments are working towards completing their dive training certification.
On Monday, they began the start of their 34-hour training by spending the day at the pool working with new equipment, before they made their way into River-Stone Lake at William Pearce Park on Tuesday, and will be wrapping up their dive training today.
Andrea Zaferes, the vice-president of Lifeguard Systems, a U.S. organization that teaches investigators how to find bodies and evidence underwater, was leading the program.
She said the training session helps members of the water- rescue teams safely execute a rescue mission.
“Because in the world, more public safety divers have died than longterm drowning victims have been saved and that’s not a good number,” said Zaferes.
Zaferes added in Canada two rescuers have died in the last few years.
“You look at why that happened and you create a system for preventing that from happening.”
That’s why adequate training is so vital. This year’s certification involved veteran and new divers, as they are required to be re-certified every three years.
Zaferes said firefighters want the highest safety standards, and in her opinion, they’re participating in one of the most challenging courses out there — learning to dive in zero visibility.
“The thing about dive training is there is no difference between training and real calls,” said Zaferes. “When you’re training law enforcement, they’re blank bullets, you’re not shooting real bullets at each other, but that is a debriscovered bottom (of the lake),” she said.
She noted rescues need to be done by the experts.
“If you see someone fall in, if you’re not a lifeguard, do not go in the water, because far too many people who try and help someone end up drowning themselves and two dead is never better than one,” said Zaferes. Call 911, and leave a couple of objects on the shore, in line with where the person is in the water, like a pen or shoe.
She also recommends shouting out to them.
“Most people who are drowning forget they have legs. Sometimes all they have to do is stand up, but shout at them: “Get on your back! Float on your back! Take a breath! You have to shock them out of that drowning process,” she said.