By Kevin Cole
Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska)
Copyright 2006 The Omaha World-Herald Company
The Missouri River’s swift current isn’t the only possible snag in completing a successful rescue operation.
With several fire and police agencies usually involved in rescues, a high degree of interagency cooperation is a necessity.
“Our toughest challenge is communication with everybody that responds to a river rescue effort,” said Lynn Manhart, an assistant chief of the Council Bluffs Fire Department. “That’s why we are here working together tonight.”
Five agencies from two states trained Wednesday to increase their cooperative efforts during a river rescue exercise on the Missouri. The drill will be repeated tonight and later this summer.
“You look at that river running from 6 to 8 mph and you know it’s dangerous,” said Joe Fuxa, a battalion chief with the Omaha Fire Department. “It’s fast, it’s mean, and there are snags everywhere.”
Manhart said anywhere from six to a dozen water rescues must be made each boating season on the Missouri. Three operations have already been completed this year.
Joining the Omaha and Council Bluffs Fire Departments in the training exercise were the Eppley Airfield Fire Department, the Omaha Police Department helicopter and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
The drill began when two mannequins were placed in the middle of the river across from the Narrows County Park in Council Bluffs. A distress call was then placed to 911 at 6:10 p.m. It was received by a Pottawattamie County dispatcher.
“That’s part of the challenge,” said Omaha Battalion Chief Steve Meschede. “You don’t know which call center, Douglas County or Pott County, is going to get the call. Then it’s up to them to coordinate with the other agencies.”
Boats were launched from the Ameristar Casino landing (Council Bluffs Fire); Sandpiper Cove marina near downtown Omaha (Douglas County); and Eppley Airfield (Eppley Fire). The Omaha police helicopter also responded to the call.
By 6:30 p.m., the Council Bluffs boat had secured both “victims” and was on its way back to the Ameristar landing, where an ambulance waited.
“The Council Bluffs boat really works well on the river,” said Fuxa. “It has a wide bottom so it’s very stable, and there is a side opening that makes it easier to pull people out of the river and transfer victims.”
Fuxa said Omaha decided not to buy its own rescue boat because of the three boats already available.
“When you look at the cost of buying a boat, maintaining it and then training personnel, it doesn’t make sense for us,” Fuxa said. “By working with Council Bluffs and the other two departments, we get the same result.”
Because Pottawattamie County has yet to convert to 800-megahertz radios, the Omaha Fire Department has lent its Council Bluffs counterpart three of its radios for just such situations.
“Communication is the key,” Fuxa said. “There were a few quirks in our communications tonight, but overall it probably went better than we thought it would. We know that we have to work together to locate the victims and get them out of the water as fast as possible to have a chance of saving them.”