Entry Level Water Courses for Emergency Services
These courses offer an entry point in to our programme for emergency services personnel. The Swiftwater Rescue Technician (SRT) programme is our flagship programme and allows students to move on to more advanced courses, listed below.
This high level course is designed for management and command personnel from emergency response, municipalities, regional districts, and industry who are responsible for coordinating a response to major water rescue and flood incidents. The course provides the underlying knowledge and skills to successfully manage single or multi-agency operations within a jurisdiction’s existing emergency response framework.
The SRT course provides rescuers with the fundamentals of survival in moving water and is recommended for anyone who may be called upon to effect in-water rescues. Students gain knowledge in hydrology and river classifications, size-up, site control and scene management. Practical skills include self-rescue, swiftwater swimming and the fundamentals of shore, boat and in-water rescues. Additionally students are introduced to the basics of boat handling and the fundamentals of rope rescue including mechanical advantage and anchor systems.
This course is designed to provide students with both a theoretical and practical knowledge of the basics of swiftwater rescue. The class includes one day of classroom instruction and one day of practical field exercise. Students are trained in hazard recognition, equipment use, and basic shore and boat-based rescue techniques, as well as a wide variety of other skills. After completing this course, personnel will also be able to be in the support role for technician level rescuers in higher risk technical water rescues.
Designed for personnel who may be deployed to a basic (still) water environment, such as lakes, ponds and canals, where they may be required to undertake rescues. The course is a mixture of theory and practical sessions. The content includes the use of a variety of rescue equipment.
This comprehensive introduction course trains students to the Awareness Level and provides the information necessary for those individuals who may respond to a water or flood emergency, or who will support trained rescues from the shore, air, or from afar. Students will learn proper protocol and techniques, as well as dangers to avoid and how not to become victims themselves.
This 8 hour classroom seminar introduces personnel to the problems associated with swiftwater & flood rescue as well as the procedures to follow in flash flood, large-scale disaster, and seasonal flooding situations.
The Inland Rescue Swimmer is focused on the inland open water environment to include areas such as lakes or ponds of various sizes. Here the swimmer improves their swimming technique and is introduced to swimmer adjuncts. Safety of the swimmer is a high priority during this module while training for victims in the open water environment, including interventions and medical management. The student will practice both shore and boat based open water search techniques, as well as recovery of submerged victims.
Body Recovery from Water (BRW) course is a one day classroom course. This course is aimed at those who may lead or participate in body recoveries, in particular but not limited to swiftwater environments. Participants need no prior water experience as the one day format is entirely classroom based.
Advanced Water Courses for Emergency Services
These are advanced courses and require a prerequisite course before attending. They build on the foundation knowledge learned in one of our entry level programs.
This course builds on the skills learned in the Swiftwater and Flood Rescue Technician (SRT), taking the students beyond the emphasis on self-rescue to concentrate on victim rescue. Students are exposed to more complex water rescue situations including a mock night river rescue scenario. The three day course includes 4-6 hours of classroom instruction, followed by two and one-half days of hands-on skill development.
The Rescue from Vehicles in Water workshop is a specialist course for Swiftwater and Flood Rescue Technicians that explores the skills required to deal with car related rescues in Swiftwater and Floods. The course looks at vehicle behavior and stabilization in water, as well as access techniques and victim extrication. Vehicle hydrology, glass management, anchors, and weight transfer are all addressed in this two day, hands on clinic.
With a curriculum designed by international experts, this one day course is specially-designed for those already certified to the Swiftwater Rescue Technician level (current certification required). It explores the complexities and techniques of body recovery from shallow depth swiftwater environments.
This four day course examines the initial first response actions to be undertaken, progressing through to extended searching activities, and concludes with search suspension considerations.
The Inland Advanced module, a one day upgrade, is the next step in developing the complete rescue swimmer. The swimmer will spend time learning the techniques and strategies for search and rescue of victims in a slow moving water environment such as large rivers or bays. The management of large events such as plane crashes, boating and commuter incidents will also be discussed. The swimmer will continue to improve safety and survivability of the responder with orientation to helicopter operations to include emergency egress drills and the use of spare air devices.
The Coastal Basic module is a one day upgrade and is designed for the responder who is responsible for search and rescue operations on the coastal water fronts. Here the Rescue Swimmer will learn a combination of basic lifeguarding techniques combined with the essentials of inland rescue. The course will cover the water dynamics which occur in the water effected by tide and surf. The swimmer will learn techniques to swimming efficiently and effectively with a continued focus on victim management.
This course teaches students how to rescue animals without becoming victims. Subjects covered include rescuer safety, animal behavior in rescues, basic first-aid for animals, and how to extricate and safely transport animals in a flood or low angle environment.