Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Jimmy Ivy | 210216-N-EJ843-0041 GROTON, Conn. (Feb. 16, 2021) A firefighter from Naval Submarine...... read more read more
GROTON, Conn. – The Naval Submarine Base New London (SUBASE) Fire Department (SBFD) performed a cold water rescue drill onboard the base at North Lake, Feb. 16.
Conducting cold water rescue missions is not a routine operation for SBFD. The team took advantage of the icy weather to perform their evolutions.
“This is an incident that wouldn’t happen every day,” said District Fire Chief Tom Clapsadle. “We want to make sure that in the event that someone were to fall through ice we’re prepared to rescue them as the temperatures here can go from 50 degrees to 10.”
Capt. John Dwire of SBFD District Six, noted that their team tries to conduct the cold water training drills as much as possible depending on weather and ice conditions.
“We do this drill at least annually to refresh our older members and to train newer members on our equipment and to be familiar with their technique,” said Dwire.
Dressed in dry suits, to keep their body temperature normal, the firefighters threw a cone onto the middle of the frozen lake to simulate a person in distress. Next the team took turns crawling out and securing the simulated person to a rescue ring. Then team members ashore pulled the rescue team and simulated person back to safety.
“We like to get guys out on the ice to practice the skills of crawling on it,” said Dwire. “Crawling on ice is a lot different than just walking. On thin ice you have to disperse your weight more, so there’s certain techniques that we train on and utilize.”
Clapsadle later stated that in his time onboard SUBASE New London there have been occasions where the firefighters cold water rescue training has been put into use both out on the waterfront, and in off-base housing.
The SBFD is here to help the local community and the base, but reminds personnel that during an emergency of any kind, on-base or off-base, they should call 9-1-1.
| Date Taken: | 02.16.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.08.2021 15:33 |
| Story ID: | 390846 |
| Location: | GROTON, CONNECTICUT, US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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