Falls Swift Water Rescue Team takes first plunge into the rapids
Jul. 27—For years, Niagara Falls firefighters have responded, together with New York State Park Police, to calls for help from the brink of the Falls to the Niagara River gorge.
But it wasn't until a dramatic rescue, just above the brink of the American falls in November 2019, that city firefighters realized they were making two potentially fatal mistakes.
"We always did it with the wrong equipment," said Falls Fire Capt. Jason Cafarella. "And with zero training."
On that cold and blustery day more than four years ago, Falls fire department brass watched from the river shoreline as three city firefighters waded into the rapids, above the brink, to rescue a man who had gone into the fast-rushing waters. Now retired Fire Department Capt. Gerald Frazier remembered stepping into the swirling waters of the rapids that day and immediately noticing two things.
"I was very surprised how fast the water was," Frazier said. "And how slippery (the river floor) was."
After the rescue, the department chiefs knew that they had to change the way they prepared for swift water emergencies.
"So how we were taught, it was absolutely the wrong way," Cafarella said.
In September and October, the first eight of what will be a new 16-member NFFD Swift Water Rescue Team made their way to Oriskany, N.Y. for four days of specialized swift water training. The training was courtesy of a donation from Basil Ford, which also allowed the department to purchase more specialized rescue equipment and protective suits.
"It's an amazing facility," Cafarella said. "There's a difficult physical fitness exam you have to pass to even take the training. It was more intense than I think anybody anticipated. It was physically demanding and very humbling. It taught me to fear the water and to respect it."
Falls Fire Chief Gary Pochatko said as soon as additional funding becomes available, eight more firefighters will receive the same training. The chief said the more firefighters who are trained and prepared the better the department will be able to respond to rescues in and around the falls.
"The occurrences are rare," Pochatko said. "But that's what we have to be prepared for. We have to have enough (firefighters) to go into the water. It would be nice to have the whole (department) trained. We need as many as possible."
The chief said the department has been working to acquire the necessary equipment to outfit the new unit, as well as room to store it. Two weeks ago, the initial eight members of the team broke out their equipment for their first training exercises in the rapids off of Goat Island.
"We're at the infancy of this whole thing," Pochatko said. "This first group (of trainees) is setting the tone."
Cafarella, who will be the first commanding officer of the rescue team, said the training last fall, and the recent exercises in the rapids, reinforced how ill-prepared the Falls firefighters were.
"Most of what we were doing wrong was with our equipment," Cafarella said. "The (protective) suits were we using, for example, made it very hard to work in the water."
The fire captain said the specialized training at the Oriskany facility also showed the Falls firefighters "lots of different ways to get people out of the water."
"The weight of the person (being rescued), the power of the (river) current (generally about 35 mph), all factor into the rescue," Cafarella said. "Being able to practice and get comfortable in the water is so important."
One other factor is unique to rescues here, Cafarella said. While most swift water rescues happen in rivers or as a result of flash floods, those waters don't end up at the brink of a massive waterfall.
"So you have to learn to avoid, work with the limitations of having a big waterfall at the end of the swift water," Cafarella said. "We're working on ways to deal with rescues close to the brink."
Just like the rescue that led to the creation of the new NFFD rescue team.
