Members of the Cobourg Fire Department held their annual ice water training at the Cobourg Harbour on Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Wearing ice water immersion suits firefighters went out onto the ice to simulate different types of rescue scenarios.
Each time anyone would go out onto the ice, they were tied off rope to a firefighter on shore.
Firefighters would go through each phase of the scenarios becoming a victim, rescuer, or line tender holding the rope.
Captain Kevin Schroeder said the training is done once a year so people can refamiliarise themselves with the techniques.
“There are also a lot of new people that have never done any of this training. So this is a good opportunity to get them through many different roles.”
Schroeder said he wasn’t sure if there would have been any ice.
The inner harbour was still frozen and the north wall was used to launch the rescuers from and there was open water approximately 250 feet from the wall where the “victims” were in the water waiting to be rescued.
“Sometimes when you train it’s a matter of convenience, but in reality there are many different things we look at before going in the water. For this scenario we wanted to come out this way because it has a few different challenges.”
In the fire service, training is something that happens almost daily in the profession.
“Every few years there are different techniques, so even if you’ve been on for awhile there is always something to learn.”
The main thing Schroeder emphasizes that especially this time of year, “no ice is safe ice.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
