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Members of the three Woodstock fire departments took part in Ice Rescue training March 6 at Roseland Park. Webster brought its Hovercraft. Top and upper left: training. Lower right: An immersion suit set out to dry on a picnic table. Linda Lemmon photos.
Training on the 'cold side'
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
Woodstock fire departments, Bungay Fire Brigade, Muddy Brook Fire Department, and Woodstock Vol. Fire Association, took part in ice rescue training March 6 at Roseland Park.
Webster Fire and Rescue brought its Hovercraft and all practiced rescuing ‘victims’ in immersion suits in the open water. 30-40 took part, according to Allan Kelly, dive rescue command, and the training went “very well.” Comments at the finish of the training session keyed in on the importance of immersion suits, how many people it takes to safely pull someone who has fallen through the ice and the recognition that the departments all work well together and part of the reason is that they all train together. Kelly, who started the dive team back in 1980, said there are three training sessions: Ice rescue, under-ice rescue and swift water rescue. They try to do all of them each year. The dive team, he said has gone out on mutual aid from Nashua, N.H. to the far side of Connecticut and into Massachusetts. “Some are new to cold suits,” he said, “so training was important for that.” It was a well-run drill, overall, he added.
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