Firefighters receive specialist water rescue training at Holbrook Park

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) – After severe flooding in recent years, it’s clear that first responders in southwest Louisiana are often called upon to perform water rescues.

A training organization dedicated to this has come to our area to teach new skills to area firefighters. Thirty lake area firefighters learned skills that could one day mean the difference between life and death for someone or themselves.

The participants gathered at Holbrook Park to learn the techniques to use during a water rescue. They first learned on dry ground and went through the skill moves that they will later demonstrate in the water.

Gary Simon is a water rescue instructor with Strategic Technical Aquatic Resources and Rescue (STARR), a nonprofit organization in Mississippi. He said such training is vital.

“The operations level gives them techniques to be able to stand on a shore and save people who are in the water. So we teach them rope throwing techniques, backtracking and how to catch someone who is good for about 80% of our saves, paddling drills in a boat, how to maneuver around hazards and environmental things . How do you capture someone and put them in a boat,” Simon said.

They learned how teamwork will keep them safe.

“We teach them to hold each other, to walk safely, to make sure they have sure footing so we can ease that pressure,” Simon said.

And they learn to control their emotions.

“A lot of people get carried away and see a problem and the emotional urgency take over and they rush in without stopping or thinking. One of the most important things we teach them is to stop, to pick up their breath and then move, because it will save your life,” Simon said.

In the afternoon, they are in the water trying out skills that will help them rescue people in various difficult situations. For example, they learned the best way to bring someone who fell overboard back into the boat.

What if the boat capsized? How do you put it right side up with a man inside? The trainees demonstrate that it’s not as easy as it looks by completely turning the man around in the boat. But on the second try, everything went perfectly.

And of course, the training was just faked because there’s no whitewater at Holbrook Park.

This was STARR’s first time to the Lake Charles area.

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