BY CHAD GREATHOUSE
在肯塔基州的50年2010年洪水,在人y rescues, we received a call for a minivan stalled on a flooded road with two passengers inside. The fast-moving, knee-deep water was flowing across and perpendicular to the road. On the upstream side of the road was a split-rail fence; on the downstream side, a seven-foot slope that led downhill to a wire grid horse fence. This situation left little room for error and made placing downstream backup difficult because of the fence. Two of us waded on the upstream side of the road along the downstream side of the split-rail fence. When upstream of the van, we tied a throw bag rope to a sturdy fencepost and one of us walked downstream to the van, using the rope for support. After putting personal flotation devices (PFDs) on both occupants, we walked them out one at a time, the child first and then the father. No one was swept into the fence strainer (which allows water to flow through, not solid objects). However, there was a significant potential for this scenario.
Looking back on the rescue, I considered how we could improve our response and how we would rescue someone from a fence strainer, which is so common in central Kentucky's horse country and cattle farms. Most training regarding strainers focuses on rescuer survival-how to avoid getting caught in a strainer and how to swim or climb up and over it if you cannot avoid it. This is essential training, but it overlooks rescuing a victim from a strainer. This is compounded by our experience of performing more recoveries than rescues from strainers. What happens if a victim or a rescuer is swept away into a strainer during a rescue attempt?
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