Three members of the Garland Fire Department’s swift-water rescue team earned gold medals for their dominant performance at a training event designed to test rescuers’ skills in dynamic water situations.
The annual Riversport Swiftwater Conference & Championship Games brings rescue teams from around the country to participate in events while learning new strategies and techniques of the craft. The conference goes over numerous swift-water rescue skills, such as boat paddling and raft flips, throw bag and water entries, strainer and blowouts, wade crossing and rescuing foot entrapments, and flat-water boat skills, among others.
Swift-water rescue incidents are especially dynamic and dangerous situations, requiring technicians in the field to consistently hone their skills in order to make quick consequential decisions in an unforgiving environment.
Driver Engineer Robert Kilmer, Driver Engineer Lonnie Green and Driver Engineer Jeff Schmitz represented Garland Fire and won gold in the 30-HP and 40-HP swift-water boat competitions at the event in Oklahoma City. They will now apply the lessons they learned at the conference to Garland’s own swift-water training program in New Braunfels later this month.
Information and photo provided by city of Garland.