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Pinellas Firefighters Dive Into Water-Rescue Training

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 26, 2008

PALM HARBOR - It wasn't a person drowning in the driver's seat of a car at the bottom of retention pond. It was a dummy strapped into a contraption made of PVC pipe and construction mesh at the bottom of a swimming pool.

But the dozens of Pinellas County firefighters who were brought to the pool this morning were told to imagine the dummy was real. They were then taught how to get the dummy out of the contraption without endangering themselves.

It was the first time a Pinellas firefighter had received such training, said Bob Markford, chief of emergency medical servicesand safety for Palm Harbor Fire Rescue.

Previously, firefighters were instructed only in how to rescue people on the water's surface. But "with the frequency of cars going into ponds" and other bodies of water, it was decided that every engine company in the county should learn to perform "subsurface rescue,'' Markford said.

With three hours of classroom training under their belts, some 160 firefighters from six north Pinellas fire departments arrived at the pool at the Camp Wai Lani Girl Scouts camp for hands-on instruction.

First, they had to swim laps, mainly to give colleagues and supervisors an idea of who were the strongest swimmers. With that knowledge, an engine company could decide which firefighters should dive in to save that person in the hypothetical car.

They also had to jump into the pool with all their equipment on and to learn how to float should they fall in or accidentally get pushed in during a rescue, said Liz Monforti, spokeswoman for Palm Harbor Fire Rescue.

The firefighters were also taught how to rescue someone through a car door and window. They were taught how to smash glass underwater and to slash a shoulder or seat belt if a victim had to be freed from those restraints.

A fire department lieutenant from Oldsmar, in full scuba gear, remained at the bottom of the pool as a safety precaution, but nothing went wrong. Firefighter after firefighter brought the dummy to the surface and to the edge of the pool.

According to a training video, the firefighter performing the underwater rescue should be tethered to another on shore. That, too, is new, in Pinellas training. Before, when a firefighter swam to rescue someone drowning on the water's surface, he or she wouldn't be tethered to anything for fear the tether would get entangled in something, Markford said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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