Jetty Rescue Drill 2017
The third Thursday of June is always the Jetty drill run by
the Point Pleasant First aids dive team. Along with the first aid we also have
the life guards from Jenkinsons beach patrol. With the official start of the
summer just days away this drill helps coordinates the response of both the
life guards and first aid to any emergencies on the jetty.
With fishermen and
bathers walking and fishing from the concrete jacks at the end of the jetty
they don’t know how dangerous they can be. They can be very slippery and with
the gaps between the jacks you can fall pretty far down in between the openings
and some of the opening go down pretty far.
The drill started
out with the guards finding out how to move someone down the rocks on a
back board. The back board is passed down a line of rescuers who are set in
place down the rocks. This is done with a full size person on the board so they
get a feeling for the real thing.
After a few times
moving the victim up and down the rocks. One of the squad’s instructors run
through how a person is put on a backboard and how to lift and carry them. The
dive team then shows everyone how to search the rocks, then the guards and
first aiders are put in teams and sent out to find the victims who are hidden
in the rocks.
Once found the life guards and the first aiders work to recover the victim and get them up and out of the rocks and it’s not that easy. There is never enough room to work in and it’s never just a lift out. Here they get to use what they first learned, moving a victim across the rocks and in one case using lines to lift a victim strait up and then across the rocks.
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| victim found |
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| last minute instruction before a victim lift |
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| victim is up |
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| and moved across the rocks |
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| A head count to make to sure everyone is accounted for |
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Point Pleasant First Aid and Dive Team and Jenkinsons Beach Patrol
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