SWIFT Water Training in South Kent

Today, members of your West Haven Fire Department Center District began an intensive 4 day training on the Housatonic River in South Kent, Connecticut to become Swift Water Rescue Technicians provided by the company Water Training Resources.

Some people may ask, is there really Swift Water in West Haven?!? Quite simply put, yes. The technical definition of “swift” water is any current moving more than 1 knot or 1.15 miles an hour. Which occurs during some of our tidal changes, heavy rains with flooding on our creeks, rivers, and city streets, and especially during extreme weather circumstances such as hurricanes. This training is of course transferable to ALL of our open water rescues on Long Island Sound, keeping both our rescuers and citizens in distress as safe as possible. And while all this valuable training is priceless, an added bonus… is, well, the price, which has been covered by the Assistant to Firefighters Grant provided by our partners at FEMA which is the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency, with an application submitted by our very successful grant committee under the direction of Chief of Department James O’Brien, Deputy Chief William Johnson, and Deputy Chief Ron Pisani. Since 2016, the committee has obtained over 5.1 million dollars in federal grant funding. Training costs, equipment rental, and even staffing costs were covered in this grant, once again showing how our department has not only a commitment to training excellent, but a desire to providing the residents of the first fire taxation district the best value for money spent on YOUR West Haven Fire Department!