Pasco firefighters train for high-water rescues

FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer went in the water with Pasco firefighters as they train to rescue people from flooded homes and communities.

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. - Pasco County firefighters with the department's Special Operations Water Rescue Fleet held a series of training exercises Tuesday on Bell Lake in Lake O'Lakes.

The training focused on high-water rescues using the Pasco County Fire Rescue's swift water inflatable boats. Firefighters purposefully capsized one of their boats. They then practiced flipping it back over and rescuing people from the water.

What we know:

"You're going to work through heat, you're going to work through stress," said Capt. Andrew Breuer. "They're going to learn to work on their own independently because, when this is happening, you're talking about having 10 or 12 teams out rescuing people at the same time."

The department just received two new swift boats this year.

Firefighters conduct this type of training throughout the year, but especially during the summer months when people are more likely to be on the water and when the area is more likely to be hit by a hurricane and floods.

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Pasco County firefighters saw first-hand how important this practice can be during Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, when the rescued hundreds of people from flooded homes and communities.

"We had 212 rooftop rescues from these boats in the neighborhoods that were west of [US-19]," Chief Lee Hudson said, referring to their response during Helene.

Hudson said the department just received two new swift water boats this year. PCFR didn't have a single one, however, until after Hurricane Idalia in 2023.

"Our hurricane response was John boats and paddles and we saw really quick that the need to provide the service to the people in the county provided us with the opportunity to go out and look for a better source to transport some of them back and forth," Lee said.

"By us having the equipment that we have and being able to do what we did, we didn't lose a single life in Pasco County. That's how important it is," Bruer added.

The Source: FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer gathered the information for this story.

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