Swiftwater rescue  not only crosses international  borders, but language barriers too. I was fortunate enough to spend a few days last week working with 4 fire fighters  Thailand. These 4 gentlemen are here in the states training with Thai Fire training director Chatchay Thaikla. The group has several stops on their trans-continental sight-seeing training trip...

We braved the early winter weather that came through the Sierra Nevada this week, and had a great few days training on the Truckee River and the surrounding mountains.  We had two students all the way from Argentina joined by a few other folks from various parts of California's fire rescue. Rain snow or shine,...

Foot or body entrapment rescue can be one of the more challenging and time sensitive problems we as swiftwater responders have to deal with. In such cases, the initial size up  is imperative, and should determine 3 things: 1) scene safety 2) Victim heads up or heads down 3) available resources. There are many more parameters...

My last course for the fall was a great one. 7 students were in Coloma for some swiftwater action. We saw good water and awesome weather. UK native, Icelandic River Guide Mark Hirst joined us for the course and had some great additions and perspective for the river guides in the course. Plus, we found...

When you come on scene to a rescue, whether you are on a tactical response team, or a boating party (commercial or otherwise), there are certain steps to take that will help facilitate a successful rescue / recovery. The ultimate goal in any rescue is to save the victim(s), and manage the scene without subjecting rescuers...