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SWIFT WATER RESCUE
804.290.4388

To schedule a certification course at your business or agency

Water can look calm, serene and peaceful one moment and turn into a death trap the next.
Flash floods, rivers with heavy currents, flooded roads and overflowing small country creeks can instantly become more than most people can navigate. It only takes a few inches of moving water to carry a car or a person away.

Regardless of whether you live near the water or in the mountains, as a first responder, recreational water specialist, outfitter or river guide, you need this training!

Armour College offers two different classifications of Water Emergencies Training to fit your particular needs.

First Responder
Recreational Business/User

The curriculum for both categories is based on need, use and overall training necessity.

Classes are offered on campus-on-line and on site of your business or agency.

For the First Responder, we offer three levels including, Awareness, Operations and Technician.

For the Recreational Business, User, we offer two levels including, Awareness (1 Day) and Basic Operational Rescue.( 2 Day)

Awareness
This class provides practical and useful information. The primary focus of this water rescue course is to provide the student with the ability to recognize and avoid hazards and to develop the skills necessary to self-rescue. This course is a must for any organization or individual with exposure to moving water.

Topics include:

  • Hydrology
  • Reading water
  • Hazard Identification
  • Self-Rescue Techniques
  • Basic rescue skills
  • Communications

Operations
This class is designed for first responders and emergency rescue personnel who will be conducting primary hand-on assistance with swift water rescues.
The primary focus of this course will be hazard recognition and avoidance, self-rescue skills and operational duties necessary to set up and assist with in-water rescues. Generally this position is land based however because this class includes real life scenarios and in water practical-hands-on training it does require the student to be able to swim.

Topics include:

  • Reading water
  • Recognizing and avoiding hazards
  • Quick rescue techniques
  • Shore based operations
  • Communications

Technician for Professionals
This course is for the professional swift-water rescue first responder and is compliant to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) standards 1006 and 1670.
If your agency provides water rescue services, vehicle extrication in moving water, this course is a must.
This three day comprehensive rescue class has a combination of class and hands-on scenario based training in the water which gives students a chance to develop skills and problem solving responses in real time.
Techniques will include reading and evaluating water, potential hazards, quick rescue techniques and extractions from debris, vehicles and boats.
Because the majority of this course is based in the water, the student must be a proficient swimmer.

Topics in the Technician include:

  • Hydrology
  • Rescue Organization
  • Communication
  • Entrapment/Extrication
  • Stranded swimmers
  • Self-Rescue Techniques
  • Mechanical Advantage
  • Tension Diagonals

Note: We offer the recreational employee/user a hybrid one and two day course applicable to their needs and uses.
The one day awareness and response class is land based and requires no water interactions or hands-on skill training. This eight hour training will cover many aspects of reading water, recognizing and avoiding hazards, self-rescue, communications and basic emergency response.

In the two day Recreational/User course, the second day will include water based skills, situational training on the second day.