Water Rescue Playin-- er... Training.

coldclimb

It was a brisk morning a bit below freezing, and the Mat-Su Water Rescue Team headed out to do some ice rescue training. This entailed putting on all our rescue gear and playing around on thin ice for a good part of the day. :rofl Here's a few shots of the fun!



Joe testing the water, literally. If you can stick that spike through, the ice is too thin to walk on. Oddly enough, it's actually a fairly accurate device. :huh




Things are cracking and creaking underfoot.




Okay so it'll support us. Now we start TRYING to get through.




Which can be achieved with much jumping up and down. Here's a hole of my own.




Richard makes his own way through the ice.




Self extrication is fairly easy at this point, in such a small hole.




Cliff, the Dive Chief, watches the procedings, floating gently on an almost-broken shelf.




Richard rests on the edge of the ice shelf.




Eventually some of us got down to business and did some SERIOUS training. :rofl




Oops... rescuer goes into the hole with victim. A common occurance, but one TRIES to avoid it.




And finally one of myself shot by Jeff, displaying the thickness of the ice. Hope you enjoyed training! I know I did.

gregneil

That shot of Richard trying to break through is really really cool. I love the motion blur and the reflection in the ice. All the shots are cool. thanks for sharing.

Skippy

coldclimb wrote:

It was a brisk morning a bit below freezing, and the Mat-Su Water Rescue Team headed out to do some ice rescue training. This entailed putting on all our rescue gear and playing around on thin ice for a good part of the day. Here's a few shots of the fun!
Joe testing the water, literally. If you can stick that spike through, the ice is too thin to walk on. Oddly enough, it's actually a fairly accurate device.
Things are cracking and creaking underfoot.

Okay so it'll support us. Now we start TRYING to get through.
Which can be achieved with much jumping up and down. Here's a hole of my own.
Richard makes his own way through the ice.
Self extrication is fairly easy at this point, in such a small hole.
Cliff, the Dive Chief, watches the procedings, floating gently on an almost-broken shelf.
Richard rests on the edge of the ice shelf.
Eventually some of us got down to business and did some SERIOUS training.
Oops... rescuer goes into the hole with victim. A common occurance, but one TRIES to avoid it.
And finally one of myself shot by Jeff, displaying the thickness of the ice. Hope you enjoyed training! I know I did.

Just how long can a person last once they are unfortunate enough to go through the ice, if they were just dressed in ordinary clothing.

How long before hypothermia sets in ???

Although you all look like your having fun, we all know it's serious business, and that those who go into rescue a victim can also get into trouble.

Can't get over how thick that ice is, yet you managed to go through it.

The last image you posted that ice looks at least 3 plus inches thick

Excellent series Coldclimb .... Skippy
.

coldclimb

Skippy wrote:

Just how long can a person last once they are unfortunate enough to go through the ice, if they were just dressed in ordinary clothing.

How long before hypothermia sets in ???

Just a couple minutes. Not very long at all.

Our service area for our small group of volunteer on-call responders is the size of West Virginia (a little bigger actually).

And the water is always cold.



Thanks a ton for the comments, I always appreciate them!

ultravox

Hmm... volunteers ....
thumb

DaddyO

ultravox +. Quality shots. Found myself laughing at several

of your er.... training shots. Michael

coldclimb

Thanks Ultravox and DaddyO!

Deanna Alko

Hi,

I really enjoyed images 1, 5, & 9. They seem to really capture the event and tell the story of the training but also, the composition & exposure exert an artistic flare.

Thanks for sharing these.
- Deanna

JenGrace

*cheer4rescuers*

I enjoyed the stories in your shots.