Gordon Smith has served as the fire chief for the Johnson Volunteer Fire Department for 30 years, keeping watch over a 95-square-mile area in rural Vermont's Lamoille River Valley, just this side of the Canadian border. Over the years, he has led his department's transformation from a volunteer program with one fire truck that was used to put out occasional structure and grass fires and sometimes get a wayward cat down out of a tree, to a sophisticated agency facing the complex demands of the modern fire service — including water rescue.

“In 1993 we officially launched our water rescue program,” Smith says. “We'd had an unofficial water-rescue team for about 30 years, because we would respond to anything and everything. We have a lot of recreational water activities and occasional floods. And we've had drowning accidents through the years, which is what got us started to begin with.”

Fire Chief Mac Martin oversees the Illinois River Area Volunteer Fire Department in Tahlequah, Okla., which serves a rural farm and ranch area of 8,900 people 60 miles east of Tulsa.

“With our recreational river and a summertime population that can swell to 250,000, we can get three or four calls at the river every Saturday night,” Mac Martin says. “Plus, the river floods sometimes.” Formal water-rescue training was launched in 1992 and the program has grown since that time. All 12 volunteer firefighters in the department serve on the water-rescue team, along with Mac Martin, who is a certified airboat operator. “We handle flat water, swiftwater, and dive rescue and recovery,” he says, “and we do a lot of searches on the water after dark, with people missing.”

For members of the St. Johnsville (N.Y.) Fire Department, “water rescue is part of our rescue regimen,” says Chief Jamie Carter. That fire department inherited the job after the local sheriff's department could no longer fund a dive team. “Our biggest issue was need,” Carter says. “We are the only local team to do water rescue and we serve the whole county, as well as the state, when needed.”

In Cabarrus County, N.C., Midland Fire and Rescue provides a variety of water-rescue services, including open- or flat-water, swiftwater, dive and ice rescue. In addition to serving county wide, a specialized swiftwater rescue team can be deployed through the state's emergency management office to serve statewide and nationally.

“We're classified as a Type-II Swiftwater Rescue resource,” Deputy Chief Kevin Lewis says. “We started in 1990 as a dive team and expanded our training in 1995 to include swiftwater rescue. But in the late 1990s, we realized that Midland just didn't have enough personnel to maintain a water-rescue program on our own, so we built a county-wide program that now includes six local fire departments and Cabarrus County EMS.”

On the edge of Lake Champlain in upstate New York, the Keeseville Volunteer Fire Department is one of the oldest fire agencies in the Adirondacks. With the Au Sable River meandering 10 miles through the village, water rescue calls are common. Fire Chief Leonard Martin says that the agency's formal water-rescue program began in 2004.

“Up until this time, we had no money for water rescue,” Leonard Martin says, “but we were allowed to respond to water rescue calls using old horse collar [personal flotation devices] and a 12-foot Zodiac boat. I was concerned that for the safety of our personnel, we needed to do this right or not at all.”

For volunteer departments already struggling with budget issues, funding is an on-going challenge.

“We're a village-owned fire department in a mostly rural area in New York; the funding isn't there to progress into technical rescue,” Carter says. “Because our water-rescue team serves communities throughout the area, we can't use tax dollars to fund our program. We've had to rely on private donations through our town fair and state grants.”

In Vermont, Smith is proud of the traditional fund-raising techniques that help to offset the cost of Johnson Fire's specialized water-rescue program.

“We offer chimney cleaning on a Robin Hood basis, where people donate what they can afford. There's no set price,” Smith says. “There are several advantages in cleaning chimneys, including fire prevention and getting to know everyone's setup in case they do have a chimney fire. We also fill swimming pools in the summer, we go door to door for fund raising, meeting all of the local residents, and we host an annual fireman's ball.”

When local property owners want to demolish old buildings prior to constructing new ones, Smith says that in exchange for a donation, “We'll burn down the old house. We involve neighboring fire departments and we all get excellent training from this.”

Unrelated to fire-demolition fund-raising projects, the department's fire station burned to the ground in 2004, taking with it all of their fire-rescue equipment and vehicles.

“State grants helped us rebuild,” Smith says, “and allowed us to get a new boat, rescue trailer, pick-up, and other equipment. But even after losing our only fire station and all our equipment, we were told that we did not qualify for any federal fire grants. We were pretty mystified about this.”

“We're lucky that we get a portion of the sales tax in Cherokee County, Okla.,” Mac Martin says. “Although we don't actually get many structure fires, we charge membership fees for local landowners of $25 per year. And we do bake sales.”

In Cabarrus County, Kevin Lewis says that a healthy tax base and support from the town of Midland provides enough money to pay for all the programs.

“For the county-wide, advanced swiftwater-rescue program, each participating fire department pays for their members to get certified,” he says, “and Midland picks up the expense for our equipment and training.”

There is a unique conglomeration of volunteer and paid fire companies serving under the umbrella of the Baltimore County (Md.) Fire Department, encompassing rural and metropolitan areas along the Chesapeake Bay and in the Maryland countryside. Kingsville (Md.) Volunteer Fire Department's water-rescue team leader, Lt. Mike Berna, says that as a volunteer agency, there's no way for it to fund or become proficient in all of the current technical-rescue disciplines, including collapse rescue, confined space and water. So Baltimore County devised a plan where each volunteer company would specialize in the hazards in its area. This is how Kingsville, on the east side of the county, and Arbutus, on the west side of the county, became designated for swiftwater and flood rescue, respectively. Other volunteer companies specialize in confined space, and one does trench and structural collapse. They work in concert with the career tactical-rescue team, under the Baltimore County Fire Department.

Divvying up technical-rescue duties regionally seems to be a nationwide trend, based on risk-management assessments, call volume, and the interest of volunteer firefighters and personnel from surrounding agencies. Carter says, “The interest of your own volunteers may determine whether or not you get into, or stay in, water rescue. You can't force someone to work in or around water. You've got to focus on safety issues first and foremost, and do a lot of active training in the environment.”

Developing good relationships with local law enforcement and other fire departments has bolstered St. Johnsville's water-rescue program and helped share the cost of operations. “When it comes to dive rescue and recovery operations, I stress to our people that law enforcement must be in charge, because every dive recovery is treated as a potential crime scene,” Carter says.

Carter is adamant that all fire departments nationwide need to have at least a basic level of awareness and rescue training for water-rescue operations.

“I can't think of any fire department in the country that doesn't have some kind of water hazard in its district,” Carter says. “This is for the protection of your own personnel, as well as potential victims. But if you're developing specialized technical water or dive rescue capability, then you're moving to another level in terms of the funding, recruitment, and training needs.”

In rural Virginia, Capt. George Lewis is the Warren County Fire and Rescue Department water-rescue team leader and instructor/trainer with Rescue 3, International. “One of the biggest issues that volunteer agencies need to address is physical fitness,” he says. “Whether it's flat water, swiftwater, dive, or ice rescue, working in and around the water is very physically demanding.”

One of George Lewis's goals as a water-rescue instructor is to show those in his classes what their limitations are. To that end, he recommends that all chiefs scrutinize their agency's physical fitness requirements.

“People in our classes are going to go back to their departments and serve as the local water-rescue experts,” he says. “If we have not shown them their own limitations and stressed the physical demands, they're not going to understand what their limits are. So our classes are very physically demanding. In all honesty, a lot of the volunteers and some of the career people simply don't make it through.”

Hazard recognition is another serious training issue. “People everywhere just don't recognize how dangerous water is,” George Lewis says. “Whether you're dealing with flat or swiftwater, you have to know what personal protective equipment is needed and why. You need to understand low- to high-risk rescue options and when to call for assistance, if a situation is beyond your team's capability.”

In terms of national standards for water rescue, volunteer fire departments can draw from the still-evolving National Incident Management System framework for technical rescue, the National Fire Protection Association's technical-rescue standards, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's technical-rescue-team typing standards.

“These guidelines can provide volunteer fire departments with a path to follow,” George Lewis says. “However, volunteer departments do not have to meet water and dive rescue team typing standards unless they are offering to serve as a regional, state or national water-rescue team resource.”

“Meeting NIMS standards is now tied in with federal funding,” Smith says. “You won't get any federal funding unless you're NIMS compliant, so that's another motivation.”

“The big push nationwide is for agencies to get up to speed with swiftwater rescue,” George Lewis says. “If you're trained in swiftwater rescue, you can manage all of your local inland water-rescue scenarios.”

According to NFPA, flat water becomes swiftwater when moving at a rate greater than 1 knot (1.151 mph). “It doesn't take much to move a rescue from flat to swiftwater,” Lewis says. Equipment, including personal protective equipment and rescue boats, is another area of critical concern to George Lewis.

“Whether you're operating in flat or swiftwater,” he says, “you've got to have the proper boat and train your boat operators in real conditions. And you have to know the limitations of your boats and personnel.”

Berna says that Kingsville tries to maintain 40 hours per year of water-rescue training. Providing team members with gear helps inspire participation among volunteers.

“We've been able to provide everybody with their own personal set of water-rescue gear,” Berna, says, “including dry suits, ice rescue equipment, and other equipment, which gives them ownership and pride. It's also easier to maintain because each person takes possession of that equipment. This is a motivator for anyone who wants to join the team. They know that they're going to get a very nice bag of equipment when they put their time and energy into this.”

Recruitment is another area of concern. “We haven't had a problem with recruitment,” Carter says, “but there are towns in our area that are struggling to provide service. We do a lot of training and this keeps our members active and motivated. You need to provide dynamic training events. We train for four hours a week. Instead of sitting in front of a computer screen or television or listening to a lecture, we take our people out and we run scenarios. Once a month we do water training, whether it's ice rescue or dive training. So we have a lot going on that sustains interest and motivation.”

Demographics play a role, even in the most dynamic departments. “We're proud of our program,” Mac Martin says. “But most of the permanent residents are older farmers and ranchers. We don't have a big pool of youthful people to draw from.”

Leonard Martin says that hands-on training is the key to sustaining interest among volunteers in Keeseville. “We're getting younger people into the department by offering hands on training,” he says. “Our people like to be out in the field, not sitting in a lecture room. We've started a junior firefighter program and our young people are excelling in technical-rescue training.”

“If something happens in a community where the fire department has not prepared for a water rescue, this can leave you open to a lot of scrutiny,” George Lewis says. “If you put the word ‘rescue’ on the side of your truck, you're basically advertising that you can do the job, whatever it is. So at least get that water-rescue awareness training under your belt and do some planning to know who to call if you need help.”

---

Nancy J. Rigg is an internationally recognized author, documentary filmmaker, public-safety consultant, swiftwater-rescue advocate and has won the George B. Walter Service to Society Award from Lawrence University. She also is the executive director of the Higgins & Langly Memorial and Education Fund, a nonprofit organization that sponsors drowning-prevention and water-rescue education.

Father's Tragedy Leads to Donations

Thomas Dragoon works along the Canadian-U.S. border as a senior inspector with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. On June 5, 2006, his family suffered an unimaginable tragedy.

His 28-year-old son, Mark, was rafting with two friends on the Au Sable River in upstate New York near Keeseville.

“Mark and his friends overshot their usual exit point on the river and were swept into rapids, which had been made even more dangerous by recent rains, where they capsized,” Dragoon says. “After a frantic call to 911, the Keeseville Volunteer Fire Department's swiftwater-rescue team responded, rescuing two of the three young men. Unfortunately, my son, who was a good swimmer, lost his footing when he tried to help his friends out of the water. He hit his head and was swept downstream.”

Mutual aid calls were placed and a comprehensive search ensued. “We were in rescue mode initially, for about five hours,” Keeseville Fire Chief Leonard Martin says, “and then moved into the recovery phase the next morning, after calling off the search due to safety concerns for our rescuers.”

At first light the next morning, rescuers from Keeseville and other volunteer fire departments in the area — plus federal, state, and county agencies — gathered to assist the effort being led by Martin, Dragoon says. “The dangerous search area consisted of over five miles of the Au Sable River, and included the majestic Au Sable chasm, which flows into Lake Champlain.”

Colleagues warned Dragoon that there is an unwritten “rule of four,” which means that after four, maybe five days of recovery operations, local, state and federal agencies have to pull out of the search. “The thought of my son's body remaining trapped in the Au Sable River was a possibility, and my heart sank.”

Martin reassured Dragoon that although the formal search would have to end, a volunteer search could continue as long as everyone registered through incident command for safety and accountability. After 10 days, with every volunteer safely accounted for, members of the Search and Rescue Team of the Northern Adirondacks located and recovered Mark Dragoon's remains.

High-profile incidents, including inspiring, successful rescues, and tragedies where lives are lost, can serve as important public safety reminders and help improve and expand the support base for critically needed, but often under-funded, water-rescue programs. Even in the midst of a personal tragedy, Dragoon noticed that local fire-rescue teams were strapped for money, equipment and resources. “The Keeseville swiftwater-rescue team was pulling their rescue boat around on an old snowmobile trainer,” he says.

“If I could offer any advice to volunteer fire chiefs, I would remind them not to overlook the tremendous state, federal and volunteer assets that are right at their fingertips. An army of more than 200 volunteers from 17 local fire departments, two county sheriff's departments, four state agencies from New York, two search-and-rescue teams, and countless business and church groups joined together to bring Mark home,” Dragoon says. And in the year following his son's death, through a combination of political support and a successful nomination for Circuit City's Fire Dog Contest, he donated more than $75,000 to the Keeseville's swiftwater-rescue team.

Through a grassroots group called Mark's Magic, Dragoon hopes to carry on his son's legacy by placing valuable resources at the feet of emergency service providers at the local level to help them build and sustain critical water-rescue programs.