Lakeland police undergo high-water rescue training to prepare for upcoming hurricane season
Lakeland police undergo high-water rescue training to prepare for upcoming hurricane season
FOX 13's Carla Bayron reports.
LAKELAND, Fla. - After Hurricane Milton caused unprecedented flooding in some neighborhoods last year, the Lakeland Police Department’s dive team is now trained to help rescue people in high water.
The backstory:
Last year’s hurricane season brought flooding to the Twin Palms Mobile Park community that Lakeland police and residents had never seen before.
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"The water was at rooftops," said Sgt. Robert Bernhardt with the police department's dive team. "Four feet inside the trailers. It was a shock to us when we got out there. We're like holy cow.
We're wading into deep chest water. People on top of countertops and people looking for help to get out."
Dig deeper:
To better prepare for this hurricane season, six out of eight members of the dive team underwent high-water recovery certification.
They trained for a week at the Swift Water Rescue Training Facility in North Carolina, which houses a 140,000-gallon tank. It can duplicate weather conditions, change the current, and place obstacles in the water.
"As far as contaminants, you have gas, oil, pesticides, poison," said Bernhardt. "You don't know what's in this water so having that knowledge now what to look for prior to going into water to get citizens out safely is going to be benefit the city and citizens."
The team also got new helmets and gear to protect themselves from contaminants in the water and two new boats to evacuate people from flooded areas.
Bernhardt says he's now more confident going into these kinds of operations.
"Hopefully we won't have to, but if we have to know, we can do it properly and safely," said Bernhardt.
What's next:
Going forward, the dive team is planning on getting its remaining team members certified. They must re-certify every five years.
The Source: This story was written with information gathered by FOX 13's Carla Bayron.