HOUSTON – As you prepare for hurricane season by prepping for your family, first responders in Houston are doing the same.
At the Houston Fire Department, firefighters are training just in case the Houston area finds itself in the path of a hurricane this season.
Part of that training includes rescuing people from fast-rising water or flooded-out communities.
“Swift water is dangerous,” said Captain Michael O’Hare of the Houston Fire Department. “We are that last line of defense Before they are hurt.”
Captain O’Hare is among the group of leaders heading the training at Schlitterbahn Waterpark on Galveston.
There, the men and women of the Houston Fire Department are earning their name of “Houston’s Bravest.”
The training scenarios put firefighters in real work scenarios with real consequences for just one wrong step.
“This opens eyes, but this doesn’t come close to the real forces that you’ll be dealing with,” Captain O’Hare said.
So why are we at a waterpark?
“Schlitterbahn is nice enough to give us a couple days to run the pumps up,” Captain O’Hare said.
The different kinds of currents and pools give Houston Firefighters the opportunity to get a feel for some of the different kinds of swift water they could encounter.
KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding was invited to tag along for an exclusive opportunity to train alongside firefighters to get a taste of just how difficult their training really is.
The first session involved flipping a capsized inflatable rescue boat.
“If our boats are caught sideways in the current, they will probably knock over,” Captain O’Hare said.
When that happens, one of the firefighters swims under the boat and braces themselves in the air pocket.
Meanwhile, on the top, another firefighter is using their body weight to pull on straps and flip the boat upright.
“This is what we want our guys to realize before they do get inside the water the first time,” said Firefighter Christopher Cullen.
Next, firefighters headed over to the not-so-lazy river for some defensive swimming training.
“Our feet are up and in front in case we encounter something under the water that we can’t see,” Captain O’Hare explained.
In this instance, it’s a giant plastic tube, which could be a floating tree or telephone pole.
“Things that we call strainers, or anything that is stopped in the water, that if we get wedged up against, we won’t be able to recover,” said Captain O’Hare. “So, we learn how to swim over those or to divert around them.”
The easy part is floating on your back and letting the current push you along. But flipping around and getting over the obstacle is no walk on the beach.
Photojournalist Jeovany Luna: “How was it?”
Gage Goulding: “It wasn’t that bad. But the camera doesn’t do it justice.”
The Houston Fire Department saved the best training for last - one that was introduced with the following statement: “We’re not here to get hurt.”
At the Boogie Bahn, crews crank up the water blasting at our feet.
“This isn’t normal training where you go out and just do it,” Cullen said.
The goal is to work as a team and move sideways through the swift water, using only a paddle to check for dangers in front of them.
“A lot of people, they see this skinny moving water and think it is not moving very fast,” said Cullen. “And since it’s not moving very fast and it’s not deep, they think they can cross it.”
KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding was voted to the front of the pyramid by his fellow teammates.
Two Houston firefighters were holding Gage down by his life vest while he moved sideways through the water, breaking up the pressure for those behind him.
They made it most of the way through the water, but where the current was its strongest, we lost one of our teammates.
It wasn’t long until everyone fell.
Christopher Cullen: “We’re going to put you in some harm’s way, and you might get some bumps and bruises on it. That’s the only way you’re going to learn from it.”
Gage Goulding: “So how did I do with everything? Be honest.”
Christopher Cullen: “I think you did great. I mean, you saw everybody falling down. That gets everybody over there.”
While it might look like fun and games, it’s a very important experience for firefighters to get their feet wet when it comes to dangerous flood waters.
“We don’t want our guys to walk out and haven’t been introduced to that type of water before,” Cullen said.
While they’re preparing for hurricane season, they use this knowledge year-round.
In early May during historic rainfalls and flooding, the Houston Fire Department deployed their swift water teams to rescue those caught in the flood waters or trapped in their homes.
“The opportunity for us to go in and help evacuate people; It’s good for refreshing us and boat operations and safety factors,” Captain O’Hare said.
While they hope everyone heeds warnings, evacuates and never finds themselves in harm’s way - they need to be ready just in case.
“If something does happen, you’re going to have a team that’s ready to come get you,” Cullen said.