My Job - Swift water time!!

My job as a Swift water Technician  in the fire department can have its really cool moments - apart from doing actual calls whereby most will end up in a body recovery due to the nature of the fast moving water and rapids, and most of our victims cannot swim we do get to do fun things like training and water standby events.




 

 

Me and Malcolm Midgley 
Our Aquatic Unit (Red truck in background)



 Time to play skipper!!


 Had heaps on fun making lots of waves and the rest of the crew sea sick LOL!!

 


 
One of our many smelly rivers where we have had to carry out  several rescues in flooded water and drownings when various religious rituals are performed in the rivers where sadly the victims were unable to swim.

catching the throw bag
not sure what I was doing here
perhaps its some sort of riverdance!!



putting on my bright pink gloves - of course!!


 

 

to the rights is a group of logs across the river
forming part of the rapid. We had to swim on our
backs feet first between and under the logs. some of
us got caught between the logs, including me
 and had to do some quick maneuvers to get
ourselves out of trouble or drown. was awesome
I even had cuts and bruises to show afterwards!!!
Here we are all swimming across the current made by the rapids
to the other side of the bank. Myself and the boys are in an
Eddy - a small pocket of water that is not following which
is why we can stand where we are and not be washed
downstream.



plucking up the courage to start to swim
across the rapids - being the only girl in the
team I get teased a lot about my dainty
swimming style but it does the job and I
can hold my own!!




And I am off.............


and I make it to the other side
Whoop Whoop

I will survive.....
and the boys will be boys absolutely no one will own up to ownings
those LOL





My fellow techie Hentie and I
we did our ALS Paramedic course together,
worked at training school together,
 did our swift water course together,
then worked in operations at
 Fairview Fire House for a couple of years

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