(Butler, PA) Recent headlines:
“Hundreds rescued by helicopters and boats after heavy rainfall sparks floods in Australia”
“Australia flash flooding: Thousands evacuated”
“Australia floods: Rescue chopper saves family from rising floodwaters”
Australian authorities considering an expert to educate those who train first responders welcomed in November amid historic flooding Butler County Community College professor Chris Calhoun, who serves as a rescue technician with and provides logistical support for the Pennsylvania Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team.
Calhoun has also authored the water-rescue curriculum for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
The Butler resident demonstrated for emergency services trainers in New South Wales paddling skills and paddle-craft rescue tactics, and recorded presentations about water-rescue instruction and water dynamics that will be used in Australian national flood-rescue symposia.
“My expertise is teaching people how to facilitate and hone skills so they are proficient when they go out there. That’s probably one of the reasons I was asked to go.”
Calhoun previously met Shannon Crofton at an International Association of Water Rescue Professionals conference in South Bend, Ind. Crofton is a station officer and a volunteer flood-rescue instructor with New South Wales State Emergency Service.
“My expertise is teaching people how to facilitate and hone skills so they are proficient when they go out there,” said Calhoun, coordinator of BC3’s park and recreation management associate degree program. “That’s probably one of the reasons I was asked to go.”
Calhoun discussed flood-rescue response, training and tactical operations with leaders of New South Wales State Emergency Service, Fire and Rescue New South Wales, and with New South Wales Police Force Aviation Command.
The volunteer New South Wales State Emergency Service has approximately 9,000 members whose major responsibilities are responding to flood and storm emergencies, according to Calhoun.
The paid Fire and Rescue New South Wales is the busiest in Australia, Calhoun said, and one of the world’s largest urban fire and rescue services.
“A lot of times in the outlying rural areas, it’s not departments,” Calhoun said. “It’s volunteers.”
In one 24-hour period in November, New South Wales State Emergency Service performed 222 flood rescues and received 909 requests for help, Sky News reported.
The Associated Press reported in November that “A rare third consecutive La Nina weather pattern, which is associated with above-average rainfall in eastern Australia, has created a flooding emergency across large swathes of New South Wales that has lasted for two months.”
“Australia Seeks International Help as Flood Crisis Worsens”
“They’re not recovering,” Calhoun said. “They’re still engaged and will be for a significant period of time. That’s how big the problem is. To my understanding, this is some of the worst flooding that they have had in Australia.”
New South Wales State Emergency Service began in 1955 in response to extensive flooding, according to the organization’s 2020-2021 annual report. Many emergency response plans are initially developed following incidents that caused catastrophic damage, Calhoun said.
“And first responders went out unprepared,” he said. “People died. Responders died. So all of a sudden there is a high emphasis on ‘What are we going to do?’ and ‘How are we going to develop training?’”
Calhoun was asked to record in Barangaroo podcasts that will be used to educate trainers and that were titled “The Evolution of Water Rescue in Pennsylvania,” “Water Rescue Instruction: A Guide to Effective Teaching, Skills Facilitation and Risk Management” and “Water Dynamics: Risks and Hazards of Tactical Operations in Aquatic Environments.”
Among the insights of his recordings:
“The power of water is relentless,” Calhoun said. “A lot of people underestimate that power. If you are not 100 percent focused on what is going on, you can get yourself in serious trouble.”
Podcasts topics included surveying water and being aware of dangers such as surfacing rocks or trees — called strainers — and limbs hanging into the water.
“The hazards you need to be aware of,” he said.
“They only had about 30 seconds left”: why cars become death traps in floods”
“They also have to understand if they go to a car and take someone out of the vehicle, that changes the weight ratio in the car,” Calhoun said. “If there are people still in that car, that car can move.
“That when water goes over the top of a bridge and cascades down the other side, it creates a low-head dam hydraulic, also known as a drowning machine.
“That in urban flooding environments, if you are walking and not probing ahead of you, you can fall through a manhole cover that has become dislodged by water pressure and you can be gone.”
Calhoun, who also serves with the Butler County Water Rescue Team 300, conducted trainings for New South Wales State Emergency Service representatives at Penrith Whitewater Stadium, Sydney, site of the 2000 Olympics.
“Probably one of the weaknesses of any boat operations programs,” he said, “is paddling skills.”
Most emergency response programs are proficient in teaching first responders how to use a boat, Calhoun said.
“The challenge is when you damage your engine, your engine fails, and your only recourse is your ability to be able to paddle,” Calhoun said. “You have to understand how to read moving water dynamics, and how to paddle a rescue craft using the power of the water to get from Point A to Point B.”
“Australia battles floods as frustration swells over relief, warnings”
“Eastern Australia is battling fifth major wave of floods in 19 months”
“A massive area. And they are just dealing with one situation after the next after the next after the next.”
Calhoun illustrated to New South Wales State Emergency Service representatives paddling skills that included strokes; moving water tactics such as ferrying, eddy turns and ascending and descending currents; and how to properly use body mechanics for power and to edge or carve the boat.
He also demonstrated paddle-craft rescue tactics that included descending to a stationary location to retrieve a victim and ferry to an opposite shore, and techniques to capture inbound victims in moving water.
“Teaching people,” he said, “how to teach.”
“Rare triple dip La Nina expected to occur for first time this century”
New South Wales is about half the size of Alaska and with 8.2 million residents is the most populated of Australia’s six states.
“A massive area,” Calhoun said. “And they are just dealing with one situation after the next after the next after the next.”
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission in 2022 certified 5,155 students through the water-rescue program whose curriculum was authored by Calhoun. The commission’s water-rescue program, Calhoun said, is the largest of its kind in the United States.
