This past weekend on March 2-3, 2014, the Chester County Fire School held their annual Technical Rescue Weekend. WhiteCap Water Rescue Training was selected as the lead for instructing the Water Rescue & Emergency Response training class. Chester County Fire School is located in Coatesville, PA. The following instructors from WhiteCap Water Rescue Training lead this training session; Brian Sarver, Alex Myers, Dave Ellick and Todd Stahl.

Berwyn Firefighter/EMT Tom Hardon and Deputy Chief Engineer Tom Torresson attended this important training. The present flood risks in the T-E area, especially in the Glenhardie section of Tredyffrin have increased the need for Berwyn personnel to be effectively prepared to handle water rescue incidents.

This 16-hour course includes many valuable swiftwater rescue techniques. The course provides the base on which all other PA Fish & Boat Commission courses are built. Using both classroom, indoor pool and practical hands-on training, Water Rescue & Emergency Response covers planning, medical considerations, rescue equipment, self-rescue and shore-based rescue techniques. This course meets or exceeds NFPA 1670 Operations Level Guidelines.

As mentioned, the classroom portion of the training was held at the Chester County Fire School, the indoor pool session was provided at the Brandywine YMCA and the moving water site was on the Schuylkill River.

Water flow for this training at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday morning was 2,680 cfs with a temperature of 36 degrees. Weather conditions for this day were 34 degrees, cloudy and 5 mph winds.

Participating companies in this training were; Fame Fire Company, Alert Fire Company-Downingtown, Berwyn Fire Company, Wagontown Fire Company and Lionville Fire Company.