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Accident Highlights Rescue Differences

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By KEITH MORELLI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2007

TAMPA - Bill Wade recalls the time a van drove off a seawall near the Platt Street Bridge and sank.

The water was dark, cold and choppy. But there were two children in the van. Wade and the other firefighter with him sized up the situation and jumped.

Rescue workers are facing more moments of truth like this as more people crowd into the Tampa Bay area, rich in waterways, then fall out of a boat, slip off a bridge or drive into a pond. Some rescuers will jump right in.

"They would use whatever tools they had available to try to get somebody out of the water," said Wade, now a fire rescue captain in Tampa. "You do the best you can with what's available."

But who jumps and when depends largely on where you live.

In Manatee County last week, an off-duty paramedic pulled up after a car veered into a pond and he called for help. He wasn't trained to do any more. An ambulance arrived, but no one on board was trained, either.

They had to wait until firefighters arrived, four minutes later, and by then, it was too late. Both men drowned as onlookers stood by.

Paramedics and emergency medical technicians in Manatee County are not trained to perform rescues as firefighters are, emergency medical service Capt. Larry Leinhauser said Friday. That won't change, he said, until water-rescue training is offered at emergency medical school.

"They can't do that any more than a firefighter can start an IV," he said.

Yet the city of Tampa and Pasco County have paramedics who can do it. In Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, a few have the training. Manatee and Polk counties say they have none.

Manatee County's emergency medical service endured withering criticism in the days after the accident. But Leinhauser said it would have been worse if untrained paramedics went into the water.

"We go to shootings and stabbings, and we put our lives on the line daily," he said. "We don't have water-rescue training, though. We just don't have the skills to do that. We can lose personnel. They may be well intended, but they're just not prepared to do that. It's foolish."

The department will make some changes, though, he said. Ambulances are adding flotation devices and rope lines as standard equipment so first-responders can throw them to people struggling in the water and pull them ashore should the need arise, Leinhauser said.

In Tampa, a city almost ringed by water, every paramedic, emergency medical technician and firefighter is trained in water rescue and can jump in at a moment's notice, said Wade, who is now the fire rescue spokesman. It is one component of a four-week orientation.

Training Levels Vary Around Region

The city was at the vanguard of a cross-training move back in the 1970s, Wade said, by schooling firefighters already trained in water rescue work to be emergency medical technicians and paramedics.

In Hillsborough County, cross-training has blurred the line between jobs, but only a select few in certain watery parts of the county have received water-rescue training, said Hillsborough Fire Rescue spokesman Bruce Delk.

"If we were to roll up on a scene," Delk said, "we do have personal flotation devices and tag lines. Still, it would be hard for us to be standing on the sidelines and not do something.

"If we were to take it upon ourselves to do that, that's what we would be doing, taking it upon ourselves. That takes specialized training and equipment that we do not have."

Two crews in the county are trained in surface water rescues, to help someone floating who needs help, but not in rescuing people who are submerged. In the past, firefighters have jumped in to pull people from a submerged vehicle and were cut by glass or metal.

In Pinellas County, a handful of crews are designated as marine units and can do water rescues, a department spokesman said. If a call comes in for a water-related emergency, those units are dispatched. But most paramedics or emergency medical technicians riding on an ambulance are not trained in performing water rescues.

As in Tampa, all of the Pasco County Fire Rescue responders are trained to jump in and do water rescues, said acting assistant Chief Mike Ciccarello.

Pasco County Cross Trained

"All of our people have been cross trained and have gone through the water-rescue training," he said. "We do water rescue, water survival, and all of our vehicles carry personal flotation devices."

He said the training is used often in Pasco: "Our people go into the water pretty routinely."

That's in contrast to Polk County, which, like Manatee County, doesn't have emergency medical responders trained in water rescue.

They used to get the training at a community college but it was cut, said emergency medical service spokeswoman Heather McClanahan. The Manatee County incident may push county officials to reconsider, McClanahan said.

"We might push a little harder for this," she said.

Still, crews are in the business of saving people, she said, and if an ambulance arrives at a water emergency, someone might jump in anyway.

"A crew has to make the call. They size up the scene and, if appropriate, they will go in. Nine times out of 10, they probably will go in."

That's what happened with Wade 14 years ago, when he found himself bobbing in the Hillsborough River near the Platt Street Bridge trying to save someone trapped in a van 10 feet below.

He said bystanders had jumped in and pulled a couple of children to safety, but the father was still inside. He wouldn't make it.

But Wade and the other firefighter, both of whom had water-rescue training, jumped in while others dumped the ice out of a foam cooler on the truck and tethered it to the shore. The two used the cooler as a place to rest between dives.

After they made four or five dives each, police divers arrived and took over.

"It was Dec. 27, 1993," Wade said, "and that water was cold."

WATER RESCUE: COMPARING COUNTIES

Tampa Fire Rescue: Every firefighter, paramedic and emergency medical technician undergoes water-rescue training as part of a four-week orientation after they are hired.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue: Paramedics and firefighters do not have water-rescue training as a rule. Two units do have the expertise and equipment.

Pinellas County Emergency Medical Services: First responders generally are not trained in water rescue. Specially trained units are called in if water rescues are required.

Pasco County Fire Rescue: All paramedics, firefighters and emergency medical technicians are trained in water rescue. Vehicles have personal flotation devices and rope lines.

Polk County Emergency Medical Services: First responders used to get training from a community college, but instruction was halted a few years ago.

Source: Tribune research

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at kmorelli@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7760.

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