By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
January 27, 2007
Clad in an insulated plastic suit which kept him warm and
buoyant, Greenwich firefighter Steve Lanzarone floated in the
frigid Mianus River to help his fellow firefighters practice
their cold water rescue skills.
In the face of brutal subzero cold, eight firefighters took turns
wading into the Mianus River off River Road and dragging each
other to safety using specially designed ropes fitted with
flotation devices.
All 107 career firefighters received the training over the past
week.
"That was good," Lanzarone said afterward.
Yesterday the high temperature in Greenwich was 21 degrees, with
wind chills dipping to 13 below, according to the National
Weather Service in Upton, N.Y..
Firefighter Mark Dawson said they considered calling off the
water rescue drill, given the weather, before deciding they could
still train safely.
"When do people fall in the water? When it's cold -- we're
going to train today," said Dawson, who instructed the
firefighters and directed the exercise.
The firefighters practiced their aim tossing the rope devices
called "throw bags," Dawson said, an important skill
because firefighters have only a short amount of time to get the
victims the rope before hypothermia robs them of the strength to
grip the lifeline.
Dawson said firefighters throw the lines upstream of the victim
so it will float toward them.
"Ideally, you want to be able to pull somebody out because
the last thing you want to do is put somebody in the water,"
Dawson said.
When ice separates firefighters from a victim, they crawl across
it on their bellies using handheld spikes to grip the ice and
pull themselves across, Dawson said.
Firefighters refreshed their memories about how to measure the
strength and thickness of ice by its appearance, Dawson said, a
method that is not always accurate.
Dawson said new ice, the strongest kind of ice, is clear or black
in appearance, as opposed to the weaker layered ice, which has
thawed and refrozen several times, creating fissures that can
break.
"The rule about ice is you don't walk on it, you crawl
across," Dawson said. "You don't trust ice until you're
on it."
Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Nixon said the course was important
because cold water rescues are few and far between.
Dawson said ice rescues in Greenwich often involve dogs, and on
at least one occasion, a horse.
Last February, firefighters rescued a 13-year-old Frost Road girl
who plunged through cracked pond ice, Nixon noted.
"With the weather now and some of the streams and ponds
freezing over, it's when we experience these types of
incidents," Nixon said. "So it's good to refamiliarize
ourselves with the equipment."
Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.