Swiftwater Operations
Overview
This 2-day Swiftwater Operations course prepares emergency responders to work from a shore-based position near (within 10’ of) moving water, an area sometimes called the “warm zone”.
This course is appropriate for those who will be providing shore-based support for others trained to the Swiftwater Technician level.
- Duration
2 days (16 hours)
- Format
1 day classroom, 1 day on the river
- Participants
Minimum 10. Maximum 12.
- Prerequisites
- 8+ years of age
- Basic swimming ability
- In good physical condition
- Price
$415
- 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-sports 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
- Water Rescue Field Guide
- Personalized skill sheet signed by the instructor
- Registration of training record in Rescue 3’s international database
- Certificate of completion
- Rescue 3 ID card
Swiftwater Operations Course Outline
Classroom Session
- Rescue 3’s philosophy of safety and rescue
- Risk management, risk vs recovery, low to high risk options
- Hazard assessment, size up, and pre-planning
- Swiftwater dynamics/hydrology
- Personal equipment
- Shorebased rescue skills and techniques
- Drowning and medical conditions related to swiftwater
- Scenarios and real-life examples
River Session
- Review of key concepts
- Site safety assessment
- River signals and on-river communication
- Shore-based “reach and throw” techniques
- Shallow water crossings
- Self rescue swimming skills
- Written test
- Debrief, completion of training records and issuance of certifications
We only offer this as a private course
Our private training courses ensure personalized hands-on training through human-based scenarios
Private CoursesAnnual Training 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.