News

Pittsburgh Safety Units Get Water Emergency Lessons

Margaret Harding

01/16/2012

It's hardly pool season, but police officers, paramedics and firefighters are jumping in the water at Peabody High School this week.

Every Pittsburgh public safety official is expected to be trained in basic water safety by May, a move prompted by the deadly flooding of Washington Boulevard in August, Public Safety Director Michael Huss said.

"We find ourselves around water all the time," Huss said. "I thought it was imperative that we have this training."

Police recruits went through the eight-hour training in December. Command staff for the police, fire and emergency medical services bureaus began the training this week, and the presidents of the unions representing employees in those agencies hopped in the pool together on Friday.

Huss said the city has budgeted $250,000 for equipment and $250,000 for training to beef up its water rescue efforts.

"We support it," said Anthony Weinmann, president of the paramedics union, the Fraternal Association of Professional Paramedics Local 1. "We believe everybody should have the basic training of the water awareness and what to watch for and what to be careful of."

The training begins in a classroom and goes over self-preservation techniques and the hazards of floods and other fast-moving water.

"This is one of the best educational training sessions I've gone through," firefighters union President Joe King said after the classroom portion. "It brings together all public safety to work together as a team. That's where it will be successful."

Dan O'Hara, president of the Pittsburgh police union, said he found the classroom portion to be especially educational.

"It pointed out a lot of things about water that even trained public safety people are unaware of," O'Hara said.

The instruction then moves to the pool, where trainees practice shore-based rescues and learn how to keep themselves safe in the water. Fire Lt. Patrick Shaw, who helped coordinate the program and serves as one of the instructors, has demonstrated what can happen if a firefighter in full gear falls into water.

"I'm a very good swimmer and it doesn't take very long until you need some help quick," said Shaw, who was trained in water reconnaissance in the U.S. Marine Corps. "We do that as an impact thing. No matter how good of a swimmer you are, if you're wearing this stuff, you're not going to float for very long."

Shore-based rescue techniques include pitching throw bags to victims and pulling them toward land. Shaw had the trainees practice both throwing and catching the bags in the pool.

Some teams will go through additional swift-water rescue training, Huss said.

"It will make a tremendous difference," Huss said of the training. "It will allow them to react much quicker, instead of waiting on specialized personnel to arrive."