Swift Water Rescue Crew Holds Practice

Los Angeles firefighters in yellow waterproof suits took over Hansen Dam reservoir Wednesday to practice rescuing “victims” by helicopter and personal watercraft.

The daylong exercise involved about 10 of the 48 members of the Fire Department’s swift water rescue team. The firefighters played victims and rescuers alike.

“If we never have to make a rescue, that’s how it should be,” Battalion Chief Craig Fry said. “We have Olympic-level swimmers, yet they are no competition for water moving in the L. A. River.”

The firefighters practiced rescues using recently donated personal watercraft, which are equipped with baskets for carrying victims.

Training is especially important now because the rainy season begins next month, Fry said. A normal amount of rainfall--13 to 15 inches--is expected this year, he said.

The swift water rescue team has saved more than 500 people and has not lost a member since it was started in 1991, Fry noted.

During rescues, firefighters wear “dry suits,” which cost about $600 each and have several advantages over traditional wetsuits. The impermeable fabric protects rescuers from hypothermia and hazardous materials in the moving water.

Besides the dangers posed by water temperatures and contaminants, rescuers face brush and heavy objects floating in the moving water, said Firefighter Tom Burroughs, a member of the swift water rescue helicopter flight crew.

Although the reservoir’s still water was far different from the sometimes fast-moving Los Angeles River, the exercise was time well spent, firefighters said.

“The more we practice, the better we become,” Burroughs said. “We’re firm believers in Murphy’s law: When it goes bad, it goes bad real fast.”