By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

ANDOVER – Andover Fire Chief Ken Dixon said Tuesday that he learned at least one thing from last weekend’s swift-water rescue training course.

“It has become very apparent that I’m going to have to buy some dry suits,” Dixon said of the Andover Technical Rescue Team’s immersion training in the Swift and Ellis rivers.

“Swimming out there in Levis is not conducive to an operation. Anybody who goes swimming in jeans in 40-degree water, that’s a lot of dedication,” he said.

Not only did the 14 team members who participated in the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 7, 8, and 9, course have to go swimming, they also had to learn how to handle a rescue boat and use ropes to reach stranded swimmers and boaters.

They also had to contend with not having enough water that Saturday morning to having dangerous levels of roiling water that Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

“Come Friday, we were getting nervous about getting water in which to train. We went all over the county looking for water,” Dixon said.

The Friday night was spent learning rules, regulations and techniques in a classroom setting. Saturday and Sunday were the “get wet” days.

In the rain that Saturday morning, they and certified trainers Eddie Freeman and Matthew Mauzy of North Carolina, and Bruce Pierce of Newry, stopped first at the Mexico Recreation Park on the Swift River.

“The water was not even high enough to get your shoes wet,” Dixon said.

So, upstream they went to an area known by locals as Three Pools. Again, not much water. They finally began setting up their equipment on the Swift River at Coos Canyon in Byron.

By that time, however, the several inches of rain that fell high in the Swift’s watershed was percolating downstream in a hurry.

“We had gotten ready to get into the river, and it had come up a foot and a half and was raging, rocking and rolling down the canyon,” Dixon said.

They retreated back to Three Pools and trained until the water there suddenly rose 3 feet and became dangerous.

“When we first started training, it was nice, but toward the end of the day, it was a real drowning machine. What was nice and calm 20 minutes ago now could eat you,” Dixon said.

Sunday was no better.

Thinking that the high water would have receded overnight, their return to the Swift River in Mexico revealed that it hadn’t.

“It was like the Androscoggin River going through Coos Canyon,” Dixon said.

They ended up on the calmer Ellis River in Andover under the covered bridge.

But, soon after they arrived, the river rose 3 feet, and they had to retreat to the station.

Still, Dixon said, among the things learned were how to handle combative victims, understanding river currents and hydraulics, and ferrying a boat or swimmer across a river.

“We’re in pretty good shape. It’s better to have the skill before you need it,” Dixon said.

The training is funded by a $106,290 Assistance to Firefighters grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It required a 10 percent match from Andover.

The grant allowed the Andover Fire Department to purchase necessary equipment to perform technical rescues with ropes, and rescues in confined spaces and trenches, and the training necessary to develop the skills to safely perform those tasks.

Future training sessions are to include ice-water rescue on Dec. 4 and tower rescue sometime after that.

“Hopefully, we’ll have some ice by then,” Dixon said.