Justin Sondel
The Buffalo News, N.Y.
(TNS)
With a hot September sun beating down, Niagara Falls Firefighter Earl Bass climbed over the rail on the First Street traffic bridge above the roaring rapids a few hundred yards from the brink of the falls. With ropes attached to his belt buckle and upper back, he slowly descended toward the deadly waters, a team of his compatriots lowering him to a shallow spot where the water covered the slippery rocks by a few inches.
Donning a yellow helmet and red and yellow swift-water dry suit, Bass stepped onto a submerged rock, paused to retrieve his cellphone from a zippered pocket and smiled for a selfie. Today, he was playing the victim in a swift-water training exercise, part of a new program for the department despite being involved in rapids and gorge rescues for about as long as fire brigades have rushed to the aid of folks in the Cataract City.
Bass, sweat dripping down his face shortly after being rescued by his partner Gus Nienburg, said joining the swift-water team has been eye opening.
“This is way outside my comfort zone,” he said.
Bass said that while standing in the rapids was both unique and exciting, he also gained a lot of knowledge by performing the training and built trust in his fellow swift-water team members.
“I felt a lot more comfortable doing this,” Bass said. “Gus is a good dude, too, so I wasn’t worried about his ability to come get me.”
Bass and Nienburg are among the eight swift-water team members. The unit was created last fall, though plans to institute an official swift-water team had been in place since 2019.
Niagara Falls Fire Department Capt. Jason Cafarella, a member of the swift-water team who handles logistics around training and organization, said that those plans were delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, when state trainings were canceled.
But last year the department was able to upgrade its equipment and send eight firefighters to the state’s training course in Oriskany, near Rome. There they spent the better part of a week − four firefighters in September and four in October − receiving classroom training and practicing what they learned on the state’s swift-water training course.
Cafarella described it as a ringed pool, akin to the lazy rivers found at resorts and theme parks, with various terrain obstacles and powerful jets that move the water. The ring then attaches to a pond-like area where first responders can train for deeper water scenarios.
There is also an area in the center with cars and mock buildings where they simulate flood rescue scenarios, he added.
“So not only were we trained in swift water, we were trained for flood response, too,” Cafarella said.
All Niagara Falls firefighters go through rope rescue training, techniques that are deployed in the rapids and the gorge using fixed pulley systems to allow all units to safely respond to emergencies that require first responders to retrieve people