Swiftwater Rescue Team
The Boyne Fishermens Rescue and Recovery Service provides a Team of highly trained members as Swift Water Rescue Techicians.
What is Swiftwater rescue ?
Also called whitewater rescue it is the rescue of persons from fast moving water in areas such as stormwater drains, canals, rivers, creeks or flooded fords. It involves many rescue techniques and includes the use of rope throw lines and suitably equipped and trained rescuers entering the water to perform the rescue a subset of technical rescue dealing in whitewater river conditions.
All of our on call rescue swimmers are qualified as swift water rescue technicians (SRT), this enables us to carry out rescues in difficult environments such as the face of a weir or a remote location where boat access is not possible. The rescue swimmers must complete an intensive four-day course, in which they are taught about,
- Hydrology
- Technical rescue equipment
- Hazard identification & risk assessment
- Rope systems
- Swimming in moving water
- Medical considerations
- Boat-handling skills
- Scene management
- Contact and in-water rescues
- Incident command
- Crossing techniques
- Search Operations
- Flat water boat handling
This qualification is externally certified and internationally recognized by Rescue3 Europe, training provided by swift water training Ireland. Each member has to complete recertification every three years.
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