Lethbridge first responders receive rescue, recovery training in moving water

The Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services Water Rescue team has spent some time in the Oldman River, conducting advanced search and recovery training in moving water.

The four-day training began on Monday and is the first of its kind to be conducted in Lethbridge. But there’s a reason for that: this specific training has been brought to Lethbridge to teach local divers proper rescue methods in moving water, after a teenage boy slipped into the river last year and divers were unable to locate his body.

“This training is going to make us 100 per cent more effective as a water rescue team, and as a dive team,” said Brendon Pyne, water rescue team lead with Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services.

The team completed the training on Thursday with the help of international instructors.

“Up until last year they found everything they were ever looking for on actual calls, and then they had a river call and we had never trained them for the river.”

Pyne said the main issue the team faced last year was their lack of experience in the river compared to still water.

“The challenges we faced last year were not being aware of diving in moving water.

“It’s a completely different technique than diving in still water.”

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In July of 2018, a 14-year-old boy fell into the Oldman River. While dive teams spent six days trying to locate his body, the search was called off and the body was later found by kayakers in the water.

Though Zaferes said the team worked to the best of their abilities in recovering the body, it was a large learning curve for them in realizing the different protocols needed for search and recovery in moving water.

“They did the best they could without the actual training, so when we found this out, we completely changed the course we were going to do and said no, we’re going to do a river course now,” Zaferes said.

WATCH: (June 1, 2017) Lethbridge Fire Department completes water rescue training

1:48 Lethbridge Fire Department completes water rescue training

The four-day water rescue training taught divers the importance of interviewing witnesses and learning where a body may be going due to flow and weight, as well as how to quickly anchor boats and safely dive in moving water.

“The first thing to do is keep their divers safe,” said Zaferes.

“Make sure that the one job they have to do every time is go home and then next job is to find that victim as quickly as possible.”

A new diver in training with Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services, Adam Perrett, has been on the job for two weeks now, and noted today’s training was invaluable.

“It’s quite different than anything I’ve ever done,” Perrett said. “I was a little nervous the first couple of days, not being able to see but now that we’ve done this repeatedly, I have the confidence that I could go out and dive anywhere now.”

With river activities such as floating and kayaking prominent for many residents in Lethbridge, officials said they plan to continue hosting similar training days in the river moving forward.