The City of South Burlington is home to 13.1 square miles of water including part of the Winooski River and Lake Champlain. The area of lake covered by SBFD stretches from the shoreline of Red Rocks Park, out to the New York State Line and includes Juniper Island.
Every summer each shift trains on the lake using Marine 1 which gets deployed from Red Rocks Beach. Boat operations, self-rescue, and victim removal techniques are all practiced and refined during training. All new personnel must complete their swim test at this time as well.
Whenever we are dispatched to a water rescue, the entire shift responds due to the amount of personnel needed to staff Marine 1 and Ambulance 1 as well as maintain shoreline support.
Water rescue is one of the most dangerous technical rescue disciplines our crews are trained in due to the unpredictability of water conditions. We need “all hands on deck” when responding to incidents on or near the water.
Keep an eye on our staff training on the water this summer!
