Special Feature SECTION
STARTING AND STAYING UPSTREAM
T
Tim Rogers, Ret. Battalion Chief, Charlotte Fire Dept.
he late medical sociologist Irving Zola once shared a parable that has had a profound impact on how I have come to approach swift water/ flood rescue training, program development, and response. It goes: “I am standing by the shore of a swiftly flowing river and hear the cry of a drowning man. I jump into the cold waters. I fight against the strong current and force my way to the struggling man. I hold on hard and gradually pull him to shore. I lay him out on the bank and revive him with artificial respiration. Then, just when he begins to
it. Simply waiting downstream with ten or so trained personnel was not going to work as we were serving a city with a history of flooding with over 700,000 citizens living among 18 water sheds with almost 3,000 miles of the open channel. Therefore, and with all that, I want to share some of the lessons learned and how you, along with your department or agency, can shift to an upstream swift water and flood response approach. SOMETIMES IT RAINS TOO MUCH Accept it! Sometimes in your community, it rains too much. When it does, all that rainfall
STARTING WITH WHERE AND WHY History is still a great teacher, and there is plenty of available data and information regarding the
southeast. The National Weather Service (NWS), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Mapping System, your city or county storm-water management division, the South Carolina Floodplain Mapping Initiative (SCDNR), or the North Carolina Flood Risk Information System (NC FRIS) are just a few examples of where you can start to find out where it historically floods in your community. With just a few clicks on any of their websites, you can access volumes of information regarding the flood history and potential in your communities Continued on page 10
Accept it! Sometimes in your community, it rains too much. When it does, all that rainfall can exceed the capacity of your geographical response area to absorb, contain, or discharge all the additional water. breathe, I hear another cry for help. Near exhaustion, it occurs to me that I’m so busy jumping in, pulling them to shore, and applying artificial respiration that I have no time to see who is upstream pushing them all in….” For the last 30 years, I’ve been a student of and immersed myself in the swift water and flood rescue discipline. It all came about by happenstance. In 1992, my department was in the beginning stages of expanding its technical rescue capabilities, and I happened to be a part-time outdoor educator who spent a good bit of time as a raft guide. One of the program development team members heard about my river experience, and the rest is history. However, it didn’t take long to figure out that if we didn’t build a program that took a “rescue ecosystem” and thus an upstream approach to swift water and flood emergencies and response, we’d always be spending our time in the figurative downstream and the reaction mode that Zola alludes to
program. Where does it flood? Why does it flood pluvial, fluvial, or tidal influence? What or who is impacted? What will be the capability and capacity of my organization and community to respond appropriately? What are my decision/action trigger points?
Photo Courtesy of Safe Rescue LLC
Since these rescuers from Harris County, Texas are often required to remove subjects from the upper floors of structures during flood incidents, their boat squad training includes scenarios that allow them to practice those skills.
Photo Courtesy of Safe Rescue LLC
An example of training, equipment, management, and personnel coming together to form a capable resource. The result is a successful and safe operation while using the four-point boat on tether technique.
can exceed the capacity of your geographical response area to absorb, contain, or discharge all the additional water. Since one inch of rainfall can produce 17,378,560 gallons of water per square mile, it then comes down to rate, volume, and the aforementioned absorption, containment, and/or discharge capability of your geographical service area. Further, accept that once permeable areas are made impermeable due to paving and building construction, runoff from those areas can increase by as much as 80%. Thus, the normal containment and discharge capability of a stream, creek, or storm-water management system can be further and quickly compromised. The result of too much rain in either case! The additional water overtops its confines, and the banks expand toward a new lowest point and/or seek a new level. In other words, it floods. Therefore, ask these five questions as you conduct your flood risk and response assessment, moving to an upstream approach as you develop your response
8 | CAROLINA FIRE RESCUE EMS JOURNAL | SUMMER 2022
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