Monthly Training 4th May

Training with Fire Service and Kessock ILB SRT at Muirtown Basin. Using fire hoses to place across water. Water entry and boating operations.

 

 

 

10 of our team Attended

+ 4 North Kessock RNLI SWR team 

+ 1 Fire Service SWR team

Training On The River Ness

Tonight the team along with 4 members of the Red Cross took part in some Flood Training exercises on the River Ness. We carried out some basic throw bagging,used the dingy to recover a dummy form the Island and then carried out some live bating where a swimmer leaves the bank and swims to catch the casualty as they come down the river.(This is alway a last resort)

New Rope Rescue Training

On Sunday the 13th April the team had another training exercise with the new Rope Rescue Equipment held by the Sector Manager who attended an instructors course. The team is almost up to speed with all the new techniques and hope to go live in May. The new Rope Rescue Equipment will replace the old Cliff Rescue Equipment and will allow the team to be trained to the same level as other services in the rope access industry world-wide. This equipment is being rolled out throughout Her Majesty’s Coastguard Cliff Rescue Teams and aims to bring an improved service to the public.

The training is tailored to two levels, Technician and Operator. Operator is individuals who are trained in setting up of equipment and its safe use. Technicians are trained to be the edge person or the person going “over the edge”. The reason for the two levels is it has been recognised that the person going “over the edge” requires further specialist skills in casualty rescuing and the setting up of an immediate rescue. Immediate Rescue only requires two people who must be Technicians and they can descend quickly to stabalise a casualty before the full backup team arrives.

Below: Arrowhead hold fast. Allows for main, safety and edge person lines to be attached to a 5 anchor point.

Below: Quad Pod in the distance which keeps the main line up off the ground and the edge man monitors the progress of the descending Technician.

SRT Training Monday 7th April 2008

The team on Monday night practiced their Swiftwater Rescue Training in the River Ness. Training is carried out regularly for this skill as it requires great knowledge and precision timing. Firstly the team placed a diagonal zip line which is used to transfer rescuers and casualties from one side of a fast flowing river to another or taking people from an piece of land cut off by rising water around them. The second part of the training which requires precision timing is the snatch and grab method. This is the last resort. The steps we follow first is

Shout (Get the casualties attention and get them to try to swim)

Reach (Try reach out to the casualty)

Throw (Deploy a throw line)

Row (Try to locate a boat to row out to the casualty)

Go (Entering the water should be a VERY last resort)

The ‘Go’ part is where the Coastguard wearing the correct PPE, drysuit, buoyancy aid, helmet and gloves is attached to a line and jumps in to the water as the casualty approaches, grabbing them and being pulled back to the rivers edge. This is a last resort as it carries the highest risk for everyone.

The photos below show the dummy we used. Unfortunately it wasn’t caught on the last attempt and headed off down the river. This part was used as an excercise to see how long it would take a person to float down stream. Thanks to Kessock Lifeboat for retrieving it!!

Untrained people should never jump in fast flowing waters as it carries a HIGH RISK OF DEATH.

Dial 999 and ask for the COASTGUARD

New Coastguard Helicopter Rescue 100

Today some members of the team managed to get a tour round the new Stornoway Coastguard Helicopter, the Sikorsky 92 when it landed at the Raigmore Hospital Helipad after dropping off a casualty. First impressions when it was coming into land was “What a down-draft!” but the inside gives better casualty comfort and has all the latest state of the art technology for Search and Rescue Missions. It even has a cargo ramp at the back for easy access for stretchers and as like the old S-61 it has the double winch capability.

Monthly Training Evening

We carried out a spot of cliff training tonight in the Bucht Park in Inverness. Not a cliff to seen anywhere apart from a pretend one (a grassy slope). The purpose of tonight’s training exercise was to check individually each team member’s ability to carry out the following tasks:

• Setting up an in-direct hold fast
• Setting up a direct holdfast
• Setting up the quad-pod
• Setting up the breastman
• Preparing the luff
• Kitting up as the cliff man
• Starting and operating the winches
• Setting up a holdfast using the ’spider’ short stake system

Rounded off with the setting up the whole cliff system against the clock. A useful night of everyone getting to grips with all the skills involved in setting up the cliff rescue equipment.

Of course since we were in a grassy park on a hot summer’s evening (16 degrees) there was no need for helmets to be worn. The caps were necessary to keep the sun out of our eyes or as this member thought to make himself look like a ‘cool dude’.

Flood Training – Loch Achility

Tonight the Swiftwater Rescue Technician’s in the team, held a flat water training session on Loch Achility in order to practice using small inflatable boats. The boats would be used in a flood situation to recover people from their houses to a place of safety. Hence being very familiar with handling the boats and recovering people in and out of them is a critical skill. Naturally as well as developing skills a bit of fun was had – can you guess what happened next?

May monthly training evening

 

This evening the team practised various swiftwater rescue techniques on the River Nairn at the A9 trunk road bridge at Daviot. Despite low water levels due to a lack of rain, the team practised a tensioned diagonal, clinch, wedge, river searching and throw bagging.

Learnie Cliff Exercise

 

Tonight four members of the team joined the sector manager and members of Fortrose and Cromarty team’s in a cliff training exercise at Learnie on the Black Isle. The steep 90ft cliff has excellent vehicle access relatively close to the edge, which means a shorter distance to carry the heavy gear. Then with our our winches, stakes and tripod arranged, we were ready. Our dummy then had an accidental stumble or two at the cliff edge allowing for team members to practice recovering a casualty using the rescue strop (the dummy hadn’t broken any bones (!) and didn’t require a stretcher).

Margaret from the Cromarty Team then had her first experience of being lowered and then winched back up a cliff, with Andy Sutherland providing support. Congratulations to her.

Monthly Training Exercise

On Monday night the team spent 2 hours at the Ness Islands opposite the Bught Park in Inverness, carrying out a search exercise which involved a swiftwater rescue of two casualties from the River Ness. The casualties being our dummy and a child’s buoyancy aid. Once a month the team carry out an evening training exercise which is supplemented with various days, exercises, courses and events throughout the year.

Training exercises allow’s the team to rotate roles, practice skills and prepare for likely incidents the team may have to deal with. Other benefits include becoming familiar with areas on our ‘patch’ and an opportunity work together, regularly as a team.