JBER 673d CES firefighters conduct annual ice water rescue training

by Airman 1st Class Ty-Rico Lea
JBER Public Affairs

1/16/2014 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska  -- The alarm bell clangs in the fire station: ice water rescue. Firefighters scramble to the truck and are out the door in less than 60 seconds. Conditions permitting, they can reach some of the remote lakes on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in seven to 10 minutes. In water at the freezing point, even an experienced swimmer in good condition could die or become incapacitated in less than 15 minutes.

One minute to dress, seven to get to the water's edge: eight minutes. The responders have about seven minutes to make the difference between life and death - rescue or recovery.

This small window of time to make a difference in extreme temperatures is why members of the 673d Civil Engineer Squadron conducted ice water rescue training Jan. 11 at Upper Otter Lake on JBER. The training prepared firefighters on the proper methods of water rescue; when minutes and seconds count, it pays to be ready to act instinctively.

The training is an annual requirement for military and civilian firefighters new to the concept of ice water rescue. It requires participants to travel out to a sheet of ice covering the lake and plunge in, one by one, in simulated rescue scenarios. Each scenario varied in conditions and required firefighters to perform specific rescue sequences with various tools. For example, using specialized survival suits, rescuers would break the ice at their feet, swim out to the deepest part of the lake, swim back and climb back onto the surface. Firefighters completed this process several times to ensure all members could effectively get in and out of frigid water.

"We came here today to learn the ice rescue technician course and it was a lot of fun," said Airman 1st Class Cody Burnett, 673d CES firefighter. "I learned a lot of stuff. We used things such as Mustang suits, which were insulated outfits that doubled as personal floatation devices, so we can float to the victim and back to land with very minimal effort."

As the training progressed, trainers implemented additional pieces of equipment for use.

The trainees used ropes to reel in victims and drag them to shore and sent an inflatable boat to retrieve multiple victims while trainers blew whistles to signal others for help.

Louis LaRousse, 673d CES firefighter, was the lead instructor for the training. He required the participants treat each exercise as if they were real rescues.

"I try to make it as realistic as possible," LaRousse said. "It's a service we provide to the people. When we do have an issue, emergency or real-world, members of the 673d CES fire department here on base can provide coverage for both the Air Force and the Army side."