Sacramento fire crews training for water rescues ahead of atmospheric river
SACRAMENTO – Sacramento firefighters are switching things up from their regular day-to-day, going from battling blazes to doing underwater rescues.
The boat team is gearing up for potential flooding and folks needing to be pulled to safety.
Ahead of this latest storm arriving Thursday, crews are preparing for factors like the murkiness of the water – which can create additional challenges.
"If someone goes down, it can be a lot harder to see them," said Capt. Danson Drummer. "We do our best to find someone within an hour, otherwise we're going to start turning to a recovery and we start using sonar on top of the water to find bodies."
Drummer says they made about 50 rescues during the January storm.
For the next few days, Drummer's advice is simple:
"At times like this, don't go near any of the rivers, don't go near the lakes. It's not summertime," Drummer said.
But for the unhoused who live along the river, that advice may be difficult to follow.
It also doesn't help that the calm before the storm may be deceiving.
"Even if you think you're in a nice spot when you go to bed, all of a sudden it can swell – and before you know it, you're surrounded by water," Drummer said.