HYALITE — On Monday, teams from Central Valley Fire District and Gallatin County Sheriff Search and Rescue had their annual ice rescue training session.
"We as a team, we play victim, and we play rescuer, " explained Central Valley Fire Captain Dustin Pitman.
Captain Pitman said the firefighters practice rescuing single and multiple victims, including what he described as “spontaneous volunteers” — people who jump into the water to help someone in need.
Watch Central Valley Fire District firefighters train for ice rescues at Hyalite Reservoir
With the recent warm weather, Central Valley Fire and Gallatin County Sheriff Search and Rescue had to relocate to Hyalite Reservoir for their training.
Captain Pitman, who's been with Central Valley Fire for the past 12 years, said usually at this time of the year there's six to eight inches of ice, and right now there's only four.
So, I suited up and walked cautiously on the ice with Captain Pitman to learn how to rescue someone who's fallen in.
"When we're rescuers, we walk out holding that rescue sling," explained Captain Pitman. "The idea is to get into the water and behind your victim."
He added that the rescuer needs to push the victim against the ice shelf, strap the rescue sling around their chest, and then pull them up and out of the water.
Although Captain Pitman said Central Valley Fire hasn't received any ice rescue calls, "it's going to happen one of these days that we get a call, it's just the way the valley is growing."
"Even though it's a low-frequency call, we train on it a lot throughout the year just so that when the call does come in, we're ready," he said.
