Swiftwater rescue as a dedicated search and rescue discipline is relatively “new” despite accounts of floods as weapons of mass destruction dating back as far as biblical times. The earliest example of an organised approach to swiftwater rescue can be traced back to the 1970s when a group of North American whitewater rafting guides and canoeists sought to improve their life expectancy during the boom years of commercial white water rafting. These were the days when throw bags were waiting to be invented, helmets were seldom worn and life jackets were usually inherited from military surplus socks. In 1975, following a spike of public safety worker drownings attributed to failed rescue attempts, a group of river guides and boatmen, amalgamated climbing, caving and kayaking rescue techniques to form the first structured swiftwater training programme called the SRT Programme.
By 1978, private organisations evolved to meet the need for formalised swiftwater rescue training. In California, Jim Segerstrom, Mike Croslin and Warren Berg formed a three day “technician” standard course for the United States Life Saving Association (USLA). By 1980, river rescue programs were being developed throughout the world and in 1983 the USLA received a grant from Levi Straus Company to create a national system of regionalised technical rescue teams. In 1983 the Royal Lifesaving Society of Canada was sued by the family of a young girl who was paralysed from an accident during a training course in Saskatoon. The resultant settlement led to the USLA dropping all certification programmes other than their professional surf lifeguard programme. In response to this, 1984 saw the development of the International Rescue Instructor’s Association (www.IRIA.org) which was formed to provide a base level for education, instructional delivery and certification. Today IRIA exists as an independent audit and certification standard setting not for profit charitable organisation. Incidentally, currently it is the only organisation that sets a clear swimming standard as a pre-requisite of Technician level grades and beyond.
One of the most significant advancements in the field of swiftwater rescue took place in 1993 with the formation of the Higgins and Langley Awards to honour outstanding achievement in swiftwater and flood rescue. The awards architect, Nancy Rigg, a tireless water safety educator, journalist and campaigner, lost her fiancé Earl Higgins, a writer and filmmaker, thirteen years earlier trying to rescue a child who had been swept down a flood relief channel in Los Angeles. In 1993, Jeffrey Langley, a Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighter-paramedic and swiftwater rescue pioneer, also lost his life in a helicopter incident. The Higgins and Langley Awards (http://higginsandlangley.org/) are now awarded across a number of categories on an annual basis.
Most swiftwater rescue technology has been “adapted” from climbing, boating and military equipment. The throwbag has become virtually synonymous with swiftwater rescue, however this adjunct has only been around for 25 years.
Folklore charts the development of the throwline back to canoeists in the North Eastern region of the US, inspired by the drawings of a canvas bucket stuffed with hemp rope in an old nautical training book designed to pass lines from ship to ship. Before long, water based outdoorsman across the world had seen the value of carrying a short length of lightweight floating line in a small bag with a foam base. Since these humble beginnings, throwlines have evolved long range designs (BELL), Frisbee floatation type devices (Personal Retrievers), compressed air rocket delivery systems (Resqmax) and even remote capture devices (Reach Rescue Systems).
As one wise man once said, wisdom is the accumulation of another’s poor judgement and much of the methodologies and doctrine viewed as today’s best practice can be attributed to tragedies of yester year. The clean line principle, releasable ropes and the low to high risk hierarchy or rescue are all examples of Darwin’s evolution theory. Logical and intuitive responses are very often dangerous if applied to the swiftwater environment and 26% of rescue service personnel in the developed world are either weak or non swimmers. With 300000 weather related fatalities every year and forecast to increase as climate change creates more extreme bouts of weather, swiftwater rescue is finding itself under an increasingly intense spotlight.
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