Calloway County (KY) Fire-Rescue issued this press release on Facebook Sunday:

On 2/18/2023, at approximately 6 p.m., Calloway County Fire-Rescue was dispatched to the Dexter community for the report of a 10-acre field fire. First arriving units found the large field fire to be an unreported controlled burn. On scene command immediately cancelled all other responding units.

Shortly thereafter, one of our responding tankers was involved in a rollover accident near the intersection of KY-80 East and Green Valley Road (KY-1346). Fortunately, our engineer, alone in the vehicle, was uninjured in the accident and was released from the ER late last evening. No other vehicles were involved in the incident.

We’d like to take this opportunity to remind all citizens that if you do plan to have a controlled burn to please notify the Calloway County, KY 911 Communications Center at 270-753-3151 prior to starting your fire. While we understand there is no county ordinance or law that says you have to, it does help prevent unnecessary fire department responses and could have possibly prevented this vehicle accident.

If you have any questions, please contact our headquarters during normal business hours at 270-753-4112.

By Alan M. Petrillo

Rescues in swift water are fraught with challenges for firefighters when compared to flooding situations where the water is static or slow moving. In both instances, firefighters use technical equipment and special techniques to effect a water rescue safely and bring victims to solid ground.

Mike Cranston, lifeguard sergeant with the River Rescue Team at the San Diego (CA) Fire-Rescue Department, points out that his agency’s swift water rescue team is unique in that all of its members are also lifeguards. “Other teams try to keep their staff out of the water, but we want to get in the water,” Cranston says. “We deal with a lot of urban flooding situations, extricating people from flooded cars, often in swift water situations.”

Cranston notes that when it rains, the Tijuana River valley floods, including its tunnels that immigrants use to cross the southern U.S. border. “We can have groups of people spread out over distances who need to be rescued but don’t want to be identified by the authorities,” he says. “Another area where we do flood rescue and swift water rescue is the San Diego River, where there a lot of homeless camps around it.”

The San Diego swift water rescue team usually fields two lifeguards in rescue boats and often uses an inflatable rescue raft with no transom that is either towed or paddled to a victim, Cranston says. “For a swift water response, we have s strike team of three persons in pickup trucks, each outfitted with an inflatable boat, ropes, and the hardware for our technical rescue systems,” he points out. “The three swift water rescue squads are stationed around the city and are supported by San Diego firefighters for manpower assistance with the rescue systems, as well as the San Diego police, who usually are the ones locating the victims for us.”

Mike Arras, deputy chief at the St. Louis (MO) Fire Department, says his department has several Zodiac RIBs (rigid-hull inflatable boats) that are used for flooding situations and swift water rescues. Two of the Zodiacs are assigned to the department’s rescue squad, while others are assigned to the three companies that make up the department’s Marine Task Force. “Our marine companies man our fireboats and rescue boats and are trained in swift water rescue too,” Arras observes.

• Water Rescue Equipment for Swift Water, Flooding, and Boating Incidents
• Swift Water Rescue Requires Specific Equipment Cache
• Are You Ready for Highwater/Swift Water Season?
• Equipping Fire and Rescue Boats for Service

 

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