The ResQmax Line-Throwing Gun

BY RAUL A. ANGULO

Anytime there is a body of water in a jurisdiction, there is a potential for someone to drown. Almost every city has a community swimming pool, and although lifeguards are employed, the fire department will more than likely be called to render emergency medical basic life support or advanced life support service.

When cities have larger bodies of water, like rivers, lakes, reservoirs, quarries, bays, and oceanfront, special teams like swift water rescue, ice rescue, dive teams, and ocean-surf rescue teams are necessary. Not every firefighter will get to be on the team, but if you have waterfront in your city, any firefighter can be the first rescuer on scene, so you better be ready.

Seattle, Washington, is a city surrounded by water with many lakes within its boundaries. One of the popular tourist attractions is Ride the Duck—a fleet of World War II amphibious vehicles converted to take sightseeing tourists around the city by land and by water. Many waterfront cities have these vehicles as a tourist attraction. Seattle has had its share of Duck accidents, but the most recent one nationwide occurred on July 19, 2018 in Branson, Missouri. Seventeen people drowned, including children, when a sudden storm swamped the boat on Table Rock Lake.

Every fire apparatus in Seattle has a life ring and a water rescue throw bag, both with 150 feet of eight-millimeter (mm) water rescue rope (that floats), but to my knowledge, there is no requirement to train on throwing the life ring. Drownings are low-frequency events, so when the life ring is needed, you better be accurate. This is no time to be fumbling with the rope or trying to figure out the best way to hold and throw the life ring to a drowning victim. In addition, the public will probably be watching and recording you. Nothing can look worse than a professional charged with saving a life, swinging a rope with a life ring, only to step on the rope or have it get snagged in the bushes or a tree.

It was this vision of public embarrassment that prompted me to drill my crews on throwing the life ring on a regular basis. I picked up a few sticks from the shoreline and threw them out in the lake. At first, crews thought it was silly—until they realized throwing the life ring for distance and accuracy was harder than they thought. They all took turns laughing and kidding each other; then it became a competition to see who could throw the life ring the farthest and hit the floating stick. No one wanted to quit until they outdid each other. The loser had to buy Slurpees for the crew at the 7-11. Needless to say, what would normally be a quick 10- to 15-min