Participants learned how to rescue victims and protect themselves during swift-water emergencies.
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

BETHEL – As the speed of a river doubles, the force of the current triples.

Most people don’t realize that, said Fred “Slim” Ray, until it’s too late.

“The two most common things people say who’ve been rescued is that, one, ‘It happens so fast,’ and two, ‘I couldn’t believe the force of the water,'” said Ray, an authority on safety and rescue in floods and swift-moving water.

Ray, 55, from Asheville, N.C., was in town to teach a swift-river rescue course to 15 men and women from Canada and Maine.

Flooding causes more fatalities than any other natural disaster, Ray said, and flash floods are the No. 1 disaster killer in the United States and worldwide.

“It’s an absolute certainty that firefighters are going to be called out to rescue someone in floods.” It is also, “one of the most dangerous things firefighters can do,” he said.

“In 1995, 20 percent of all firefighters who died in the line of duty, died in water rescue accidents. Firefighters don’t do a lot of swift-river rescues, but when they do it’s quite dangerous. Their chance of getting hurt increases dramatically because they don’t have the training,” Ray said.

A river at low water is not the same as a river at high water, he said. Not only is the force of the water greater – a 6-mph current pushes against the body of a person with a force of about 134 pounds, 12-mph current with a force of 538 pounds – but there is more of it.

“It only takes two feet of water to float most cars. That’s less than you’d think. Even big pickup trucks with big tires are easier to float,” Ray said.

“The (sport utility vehicle marketers) haven’t done people any favors by running ads showing SUVs going across rivers. They make you think that you can just put it in four-wheel drive and go, but when (the vehicle) starts to float, it doesn’t matter,” he added.

On-river training included rescuing each other, self-rescue, rescuing combative victims and avoiding underwater obstacles. The water temperature on the Swift River in Mexico where they trained last weekend was 41 degrees.

The on-river classes followed two days of classroom training.

Ray, who is paralyzed from the waist down, taught the class from aboard a kayak on the river. He was injured in a 1991 kayak accident.

To simulate underwater obstacles, Ray uses a plastic pipe, placing it across the water to make the class learn how to swim over it.

Bethel Assistant Fire Chief Mike Jodrey said it was very difficult to get over the pipe when the force of the current pushed his legs under it.

“When you start feeling the force of the river, it gives you a whole new perspective of the river,” Jodrey said.

That’s why Ray’s class was well worth the time and effort, Jodrey said.

“It took 24 hours out of Mother’s Day weekend, but it was definitely worth it,” he said.

“That says something about the caliber of the class when people drive seven hours to take it or 18 hours to teach it,” he added.

Two soldiers from the Canadian army and two search-and-rescue team members from Lincoln joined firefighters from Bethel, Gilead and Newry.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com