Need you input

Although this may not be the correct forum, I'm going o solicit here. as you probably know, North Carolina has experienced floods of "biblical proportions". Many rescue squads are prepared or water rescues, while some are not. My questions...

1. What is the minimum personal eqt.and trng. required prior to attemting a water rescue for your agency?

2. What source have you found the lowest price for quality eqt.?

THANKS.

Any personnel who may be involved in a water rescue must have Swiftwater Awareness (8 hours). All persons who enter the water or are involved in the direct attempt must have Swiftwater Rescue Ops Level I. Yhis is a 16 Hour certification. Operatrations involving Highlines and searches as well as more technical approached require Swiftwater level II (20 hours) training on top of Rope Level I and various other certs. I dont have our chart in front of me, but we are NFPA 1670 compliant in our system now. Boat operators must be certified as such with a 16 hour swiftwater Boat Operator Class as well as documented training time (10 hrs minimum).

I will first handedly profess that this is well worth the time spent training. I was a participant in a rescue during hurricane Floyd, some of the most dangerous fast moving water i have ever seen, and we pulled off a successful rescue, and were able to save the crew of an initial attempting rescue boat which had overturned and dumped its crew. I will always stand behind strict rigorous training NO EXCEPTIONS!

We get our equipment from CMC, START Rescue and a company called PRI, which is based in New Jersey. We carry Stearns Exposure suits, Rescue Dry suits (not for diving) and Swiftwater PFD's, and Pro Tec helmets as well as a ton of rope, hardware, and other assorted accessories.