Flatwater First Responder
Overview
This 1-day Flatwater First Responder course is designed for emergency responders who work near, in and on non-moving water including lakes and ponds, or very slow moving water including flood or tidal waters.
Students learn shore-based rescue “reach” and “throw” techniques using common rescue equipment. Participants also learn low risk “go” rescue and evacuation techniques.
Note: While this class fulfills NFPA requirements for an Awareness certification, it goes well beyond the Awareness level by teaching self-rescue and in-water rescue techniques – again, for non-moving water. It is up to the employer to decide whether or not personnel may perform the full range of skills taught.
Flatwater First Responder Course Details
- Duration
1 day (8 hours)
- Format
2 hours classroom, 6 hours on non-moving water
- Participants
Minimum 10. Maximum 15.
- Prerequisites
- 18 years of age (16-17 years with parental persmission)
- Basic swimming ability
- In good physical condition
- Price
$209
- Recertification
Repeat the entire course at a 15% discount every three years
- Annual Training Maintenance
Click here to read about the options available for annual guided practice
- Required Equipment
- Drysuit or wetsuit*
- Personal flotation device (PFD: Type III or V)*
- Water-rescue helmet*
- Neoprene gloves (optional)
- Neoprene footwear with a good walking sole, wading boots, or running shoes
- Layers of wool or fleece clothing for under the drysuit/wetsuit including sweater, pants, gloves, socks
*Rental options available
- Takeaways & Documentation
- Rescue 3’s Surface Water First Responder Manual
- Personalized skill sheet signed by the instructor
- Registration of training record in Rescue 3’s international database
- Certificate of completion
Flatwater First Responder Course Content
- Philosophy of safety & rescue
- Rescuer safety
- Flatwater dynamics & hazards (including flood water)
- Search considerations
- Personal & team equipment
- Site assessment
- Pre-planning
- On-scene safety & site control
- Communications
- Throw bags and “reach, throw” rescues
- Survival swim
- Swimming rescues and towing
- Wading (individually and in groups) & entrapment drill
- Basic boat-based rescue concerns and techniques
We only offer this as a private course
Our private training courses ensure personalized hands-on training through human-based scenarios
Private CoursesTraining Maintenance
If you have a group that would like to review their training together, the training maintenance program may be right for you.
Your group pays the instructor’s daily teaching fee and travel costs associated with bringing the instructor to your training location, along with an annual fee to be part of the maintenance program. This is generally a pretty reasonable approach for training departments because:
- it allows us to deliver the training in small chunks every year, rather than in one big chunk every three years
- it gives department members more annual hands-on time with their skills
- new members can integrate into maintenance programs by jumping on an open course from our public schedule
We track your members, and their status on course content completion within a three year cycle, which mirrors a traditional three year recertification cycle. It’s an excellent value for the cost, and allows you to review your skills in your own backyard.
The training maintenance program replaces the need to recertifiy your training on a traditional three year recertification cycle.
Sorry – there’s no individual audit program available for this course.