Hook & Ladder firefighters hosted Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue firefighters on February 11, for the first of at least three training sessions for the two companies being planned for this year.

Hook & Ladder Firefighter Mike McCarthy led the training, which covered ice rescues.

The group worked inside Hook & Ladder's headquarters at 12 Church Hill Road, combining a brief classroom session with hands-on trials of gear and procedures.

The purpose of having the firefighters working together, Mr McCarthy said, was "to get two of the fire companies working together, and doing skills review for ice rescue."

The benefit of having multiple companies participate in training together, he said, was to get members of the companies to know each other, as well as each other's capabilities.

"If we get dispatched out" to a water or ice rescue, Mr McCarthy said, "we're all going to be going to that call, and it's better to know ahead of time what we're going to do, and who we're going to work with, than to try and figure that out when we get there."

Mr McCarthy called The Newtown Bee on Wednesday from Watertown, N.Y., where he was leading an ice rescue session for another group.

Approximately firefighters attended the weekend session, Mr McCarthy said. There was not enough ice for firefighters to safely train on any of the local ponds or lakes, and rain on Sunday morning kept everyone indoors.

"It would have been nicer if we got outdoors," Mr McCarthy said this week, "but doing simulations inside worked well."

For those who had not done so before, the training session offered an opportunity to don water rescue suits. First responders don these suits over their own clothing to protect themselves from the worst of water's temperatures when doing a water rescue.

Those trying on the gear were advised of the proper order of donning the suits, as well as the lead locations leaks will begin showing as suits begin to wear out.

Two stations had been set up inside the firehouse bays. At one station, teams faced a scenario where they needed a first responder to crawl across ice (tarps on the bay floor) to reach a victim in the water.

A mock barrier had been set up on the northwest area of the bays, where "victims" were waiting for their rescuers. Mr McCarthy had instructed those responding on the proper way to approach their victims, how to safely get a harness onto their victim, and the signal that was to be used to let first responders waiting on shore know that they were ready to be brought to safety.

At the second station, Hook & Ladder Assistant Chief Jason Rivera served as another water victim while firefighters practiced throwing rope bags past his location.

Hook & Ladder Chief Chris Ward explained to one young firefighter the importance of throwing the ropes past a victim rather than merely trying to get a rescue rope to land in front of someone in cold or icy water.

"Way back before you were probably born," Chief Ward told Sandy Hook Firefighter Luke Loudon, "there was a bad plane crash in the Potomac River, in Washington, D.C."

Referring to the deadly Air Florida Flight 90 crash of January 13, 1982 - when 70 of the 74 passengers and four of five crew members were killed after the 737 they were on crashed first into the 14th Street Bridge (where four more people were killed) before plunging into icy waters below - Chief Ward said "a lot of lessons came out of that incident."

"People couldn't understand, at the time, why the victims weren't grabbing ropes being thrown to them," he said.

"They had hypothermia," he continued. The victims in the water were unable to move much due to the effects of the water on their bodies. That, Chief Ward said, was one of the reasons firefighters and rescue divers are now taught to throw ropes past victims.

Asst Chief Rivera concurred.

"Throw past me, and I can just wrap my arm in the rope," he said to one group. "That's all you need to start dragging someone to safety."

Following that work, members of each company then visited the other company's rescue trucks. Mr McCarthy opened the compartment on Hook & Ladder's Engine 113, which carries that company's water/ice rescue gear as well as plenty of other tools. He mentioned what could be found in each cabinet, in cabinets on top of the truck, and even inside the cabs.

On the opposite side of the bays, Sandy Hook Engineer Scott Allen was doing the same with his company's rescue truck, for Hook & Ladder firefighters.

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-305408" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SH_Hook-Ladder-and-SHVFR-training-12-rescuers-harnessing-victims-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Hook & Ladder and SHVFR training 12 -- rescuers harnessing victims WATERMARKED" width="800" height="492" /]

Two teams practice water rescues during the February 11 training session at Hook & Ladder's firehouse. Hook & Ladder Firefighter and water expert Mike McCarthy led the training. Sandy Hook Fire Chief is watching Mr McCarthy work with Sandy Hook Firefighter Kyle Degenhardt, and Hook & Ladder Firefighter Shane Powers, on the right. At left, Sandy Hook Firefighter Scott Allen practices putting a harness over a victim, in this case portrayed by Hook & Ladder Chris Gindraux.

-Bee Photos, Hicks

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-305409" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SH_Hook-Ladder-and-SHVFR-training-18-view-toward-shore-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Hook & Ladder and SHVFR training 18 -- view toward shore WATERMARKED" width="801" height="668" /]

Back on "shore," teams of firefighters were ready to pull the first responders and their victims to safety after harnesses had been put around each victim.

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-305410" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SH_Hook-Ladder-and-SHVFR-training-06-Powers-McCarthy-02-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Hook & Ladder and SHVFR training 06 -- Powers & McCarthy 02 WATERMARKED" width="600" height="900" /]

Firefighter Michael McCarthy, on the right, makes a point during an ice/water rescue training session conducted at Hook & Ladder Fire Co. #1 headquarters. Hook & Ladder Firefighter Shane Powers is wearing a wetsuit, and was one of the first firefighters to go through a rescue scenario during the February 11 training.

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-305411" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SH_Hook-Ladder-and-SHVFR-training-11-Allen-Lindell-B-Clark-WATERMARKED1.jpg" alt="SH_Hook & Ladder and SHVFR training 11 -- Allen, Lindell & B Clark WATERMARKED" width="800" height="433" /]

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Firefighter Bruce Clark removes the eyeglasses of Scott Allen, an engineer for Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue dressed in a wetsuit, while Hook & Ladder Firefighter Matt Lindell looks on, Sunday morning. Members of both local fire companies spent a few hours Sunday at the Hook & Ladder firehouse on Church Hill Road, learning about the effects of cold water on the body, and the gear and tools needed for cold and ice water rescues.

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-305412" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SH_Hook-Ladder-and-SHVFR-training-10-Aurelia-DeWolfe-Stohl-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Hook & Ladder and SHVFR training 10 -- Aurelia, DeWolfe & Stohl WATERMARKED" width="500" height="688" /]

Sandy Hook Engineer Andy DeWolfe gets a hand while donning a wetsuit from Hook & Ladder Firefighter Mike Aurelia, on the left, and Sandy Hook Firefighter Steve Stohl during Sunday's training.

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-305413" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SH_Hook-Ladder-and-SHVFR-training-13-Kampmier-bag-heading-toward-Rivera-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Hook & Ladder and SHVFR training 13 -- Kampmier bag heading toward Rivera WATERMARKED" width="800" height="856" /]

Hook & Ladder Assistant Chief Jason Rivera holds his arms outstretched, mimicking a victim in the water, as Sandy Hook Firefighter Craig Kampmier practices throwing a rope bag toward Mr Rivera. This was one of two stations set up for a training sessions that had the two local fire companies learning how to approach and save victims from water accidents. The morning's focus was on cold and ice water rescues, and the effects on the body of cold water.