Ice Water Rescue Training for Cobourg Fire Department
Members of the Cobourg Fire Department practised their annual ice water rescue training at Cobourg Harbour on Saturday.
Cobourg firefighter Jeff Briggs said the annual training is something that gives firefighters a chance to deal with conditions they may encounter in an emergency.
“It’s a skill we practise once a year that we hope that we never have to use, but it’s valuable to know the different techniques.”
Briggs said the fire service is trained with dealing with people who’ve fallen in using a “1-10-1″ which means they have a minute to get their breathing under control, 10 minutes of survivable rescue time for themselves and roughly an hour of rescue time depending on the size of their body and other conditions.
“The most important thing if you fall through the ice is to try and remain calm and get their breathing under control. Being in cold water that can be difficult.”
“If they can, try and get themselves out of the water.”
“The biggest thing we want to remind residents is this time of year the ice and water conditions are completely unpredictable and completely unsafe and residents should remain away from all the ice in the area.”
Author: Pete Fisher
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