With single digit temperatures on Saturday, January 31, 2004 it turned out to be the perfect weather for Gloucester County, New Jersey Stations 9-1 (Oak Valley), and 15-1 (Woodbury Heights) conduct a surface ice rescue drill.
Units got together to practice and re-enforce the Lifeguard Systems In-Water-Ice Rescue training the companies completed together last year.
Woodbury Heights Deputy Chief Rob Connelly and Assistant Chief Bruce Farrell conducted the drill. The drill was held on Glen Lake in the small borough of Woodbury Heights, New Jersey.
A month long of sub-freezing temperatures provided the companies with eight-inch thick ice covered with six inches of snow.
The companies practiced single and two man rescues. The rescue scenarios included passive, self-rescue, near submerged, and aggressive victim challenges for the rescuers.
The companies used the drill to train and re-enforce Awareness, Operational, and Technician levels of training.
Topics included Hot, Warm, and Cold zone operations, PPE, and effects of hypothermia not only on the victims who have fallen through the ice, but the rescuers as well.
