She’s one of only 23 people in NSW who has been through the arduous training allowing her to be winched into remote areas during a bushfire to extract firefighters in danger.
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Now Nicole Cooper, who is a member of the Merimbula Rural Fire Service and a member of the remote area firefighting team, has gone a stage further and completed a NSW RFS course for down the wire technicians to allow her to retrieve people from flood situations in support of other emergency services.
Ms Cooper remains the only NSW RFS down the wire trained specialist for the Far South Coast.
The three-day training course took place in Sydney and Penrith where the trainers used the Whitewater Stadium facilities to simulate fast moving flood water. A major part of the training was understanding the power of the water and how to ensure volunteers didn’t get into trouble themselves.
“We had to throw ourselves into rapidly moving water and self-rescue,” Ms Cooper said.
“You have to get on to a position on your back and look for the eddies at the side where you have a better chance of escaping the fast moving water. This gave me a new respect for water.”
Then came the strainers; these can be an object such as a tree or vehicle stuck in fast moving water, around which might collect a lot of debris.
“These objects can be very dangerous, because the force of the water will pin an object or body against the strainer and then pile up, pushing it down under water. For a person caught in this position, it will be difficult or impossible to get to safety, often leading to a fatal outcome.” Ms Cooper said.
“You have to be realistic; you don’t want to go into moving water,” she said.
On day two volunteers were placed in a cage, belted into seats and placed in a swimming pool. The cage was flipped upside down and everyone had to get themselves out. The exercise simulates a helicopter coming down into water and volunteers are then blindfolded to simulate nighttime or dark conditions.
On the final day Ms Cooper was winched down from a helicopter to retrieve people in the water.
“You come out of the helicopter, sit on the skids and get dropped down to a point where you can see where you have to go. Then you get dropped next to the victim and put the safety harness on them. Both of you are lifted up and travel along (hanging off the winch) until a safe place is seen to place the rescued person,” Ms Cooper explained.
“It’s a skill you hope you never have to use but it’s good to know the service is there for the community if needed,” she said.