Swift Water Rescue is one of the most dangerous calls an emergency responder can get. With flood seasons worsening, it’s imperative to prepare rescue teams to respond safely. Dalan Zartman, a 20 year career veteran of the fire service and president and founder of Rescue Methods, LLC., has been an active leader in the research, consulting, and training of heavy rescue teams around the globe for the last 15 years. Zartman calls water rescue training one of the “most lethal” disciplines for an emergency responder. “The environment is always dynamic. Mother Nature will always win, if you don’t interpret her properly.” 

Outdoor Training is not Advanced Enough

Fire fighters have annual swift water rescue training, usually outdoors. “Half of the time these training days aren’t what you designed the training for.” Zartman explains, “Things can become unsafe very quickly, or things cannot be challenging enough to mimic what you’re trying to reproduce within the training concept. So everything about training outdoors with live environments is challenging and unpredictable to a large degree.”

“Half of the time these training days aren’t what you designed the training for. Things can become unsafe very quickly, or things cannot be challenging enough to mimic what you’re trying to reproduce within the training concept.”

The alternative training takes place in a placid indoor swimming pool. “In more controlled environments that don’t induce swift water…you develop a very false confidence in the environment because it’s completely different doing something in static water as opposed to moving water.” Zartman says, explaining the dangers of not being prepared for those calls. “You don’t have any of the tangible challenges of, you know, realism. We always avoid real sequences most of the places in the US, because it’s high risk from a training perspective, guys aren’t prepared for it. It’s their first crack at it. It’s their first exposure to that intense high risk environment.” 

2010-08-12 00:00:00 UTC Photographer Name: Scott E. Schermerhorn City/State: Fairfax, VA Disaster Types: Flooding Categories: US&R. Creator: Department of Homeland Security. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Public Affairs Division. 3/1/2003

Rescue team provides aid to people stranded in a flooded vehicle.

Flood Conditions are Worsening

The impacts of flooding in the US are increasing in severity. Flood damage is projected to double as global temperatures rise, according to a research article published in the journal, Nature.. “When it occurs, we consistently see in the US, a significant lack of preparedness and capability from resources to skill sets, tactical response applications…it’s usually not good; and placing firefighters, life savers, in very precarious positions.” Zartman comments, “Fire fighters are still going to respond. They’re still going to do what they’re going to do, but they usually do it haphazardly, and not safely when they’re not properly trained and its huge.”

“When it occurs, we consistently see in the US, a significant lack of preparedness and capability from resources to skill sets, tactical response applications…it’s usually not good; and placing firefighters, life savers, in very precarious positions.”

Swift Water Simulation

So how can the emergency response industry evolve to meet the rising need for flood rescue? One focus Zartman points out is swift water simulation. “I’m a huge fan of site training facilities with capabilities that produce flows that allow you to conduct your water operation almost year round.” Zartman recently travelled to Australia’s new swift water training program, looking to their facilities as a great next step. “To simulate conditions and mimic them accurately, it’s huge. Anything that can simulate swift water is massive. Very very important and critical to the industry.”

“To simulate conditions and mimic them accurately, it’s huge. Anything that can simulate swift water is massive. Very very important and critical to the industry.”
 Swift water simulators could be the next step in emergency training, making advanced training more accessible to emergency responders. “If we can mimic worst case scenarios in a safe, controlled environment that can be immediately shut down, controlled, and mitigated… If a technician starts to struggle, or has made a mistake, being able to extract them from that quickly and safely, but really amping up what we expose guys to from a preparatory perspective, that’s rare.”, says Zartman. 

Advanced Fitness Training

Another important factor may seem obvious, but swimming capability. “Swim skills, basic agility skills, technical skills, all of those have to be at a very high level before you start doing rescues. Dive offs and rope based swift water ops, all those have to be in place.” However, this isn’t always the case. “We categorically just put guys through a water craft course, but they have no business being out on the water, or don’t have the agility to swim. I think we need to flip flop our basic training priorities. We need to have higher fitness standards.” 

As the climate and storms in the US are changing each year, the rescue training industry is evolving to respond. Experts in the training industry like Zartman are working to help make those adjustments to keep communities safer, as well as the life savers who work to protect them.

For more information about Dalan Zartman’s work to fill the training gaps that exist in the essential development of outstanding rescue professionals and organizations go to http://www.rescuemethods.com/. 

Sources:

Zartman, D., personal interview, October 11, 2023

Kreibich H, Van Loon AF, Schröter K, Ward PJ, Mazzoleni M, Sairam N, Abeshu GW, Agafonova S, AghaKouchak A, Aksoy H et al (2022) The challenge of unprecedented floods and droughts in risk management. Nature 608:80–86. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04917-5