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Community Planning and
Response
to Flood Events
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship Travels
Andy Reynolds
April-June 2013
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Contents 1. Contents
2. The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
3. Introduction
4. Aims
5. My Fellowship
6. USA
7. Canada
8. Key Lessons
9. Dissemination
10. Acknowledgements
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The Winston Churchill
Memorial Trust
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust is the national memorial and living
tribute to Sir Winston Churchill. The Memorial Trust was established following
Sir Winston Churchill’s death in 1965. Many thousands of people have given
generously so that a living memorial to the great man could benefit future
generations of British people.
The trust awards travelling fellowships to British citizens from all walks of life
to travel overseas, and to bring back knowledge and best practice for the
benefit of others in their UK professions and communities. The purpose of a
Winston Churchill Fellowship is to widen an individual’s experience in such a
way that he or she grows in confidence, knowledge, authority, and ambition. It
is also to enable people to bring benefit to others in the UK through sharing
the results of their travel experience. Successful candidates can travel
overseas for between four and eight weeks.
Each year the Trust awards around one hundred fellowships over 10 different
categories; some of the categories are the same in each year, others are new.
It is a great personal honour to have been granted a Winston Churchill
Travelling Fellowship for 2013 in the Communities that Work category, and to
have been given this chance of a lifetime, and hopefully make a real difference
to UK communities.
For further information on the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, please go to:
www.wcmt.org.uk
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Introduction Personal
For the past 17 years I have served as an operational firefighter in Cornwall Fire and
Rescue Service (CFRS). During that time, I have attended an ever increasing number of
flood incidents and rescues from moving water, a trend which seems to have risen
exponentially over the last decade.
CFRS developed a specialist swiftwater and flood capability to respond to these types of
calls in 2001, and I have served as a technician on that team for the past 12 years.
In 2003, I trained as a swiftwater rescue instructor and have been involved in training
crews from Cornwall and as a consultant trainer to London, North Yorkshire, and Surrey
Fire services in swiftwater and flood rescue.
Fire deaths in 2010-2011 accounted for 388 lives. In a similar time period there were in
excess of 200 recorded fatalities on inland waterways, rivers and ponds, which are the
types of locations fire services are called to. Although there is no separate recording of UK
flood related deaths, they certainly contribute to that total.
Prior to the tragic drowning of Sub Officer Paul Metcalfe of Manchester Fire Brigade in
1999 whilst attempting rescue a young boy from a pond, swiftwater rescue equipment and
training in the UK fire service was virtually non-existent.
In the intervening years investment in suitable training and equipment has led to
monumental leaps forward in safety, capacity, training standards, and national co-
ordination.
Most, if not all, of swiftwater and flood techniques and approach were imported from the
United States. At that time they were around ten years ahead of the UK in the
development of strategies, training, and equipment for these types of rescues.
The stated aims for my fellowship are listed below, but in essence; I wanted to ensure my
skills and knowledge were in line with current thinking and best practice; to discover what
advancements had taken place in the intervening years in North America; and to see if
adopting any of these would benefit Cornwall and the rest of the United Kingdom.
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Aims
The focus of my trip was to gain an insight into how flood planning and emergency
response has been formulated in the aftermath of recent large scale incidents. This would
be achieved by studying the following:
• Investigating the importance of the role of powered boat crew at large scale flooding
events.
• Protocol for integration of teams from different agencies both in training, and in
operational events.
• Discovering how individual communities plan and respond locally to flood events.
• Gaining an overview of equipment, technological, and engineering solutions.
• Learning US and Canadian rescue procedures from acknowledged world experts.
• Discovering the role of weather and flood forecasting in North American planning
models.
• Observation of how experience and best practice is shared.
• Creating links to continue the sharing of information between our countries.
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My fellowship My travels took me to both the USA and Canada. On the whole, the visits centred on key
figures within the swiftwater and flood rescue field in areas as follows:
Cal Fire, Magalia, California.
Los Angeles County Fire Department, California.
Nancy Rigg, Campaigner and filmmaker, Camarillo, California.
Ventura County Fire Department, Camarillo, California.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, Camarillo, California.
San Francisco Fire Department, California.
TEEX, College Station. Texas.
STARflight, Austin, Texas.
Austin Fire Department, Texas.
Jim Lavalley, Rescue Canada, Chilliwack, British Columbia.
North Vancouver Fire Department, Vancouver.
Coquitlam Search and Rescue, British Columbia.
North Shore Emergency Management Office, North Vancouver.
National Association of Search and Rescue conference, Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina.
Hilton Head Island Fire department, South Carolina.
Charlotte Fire Department and NCHART, North Carolina.
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California Cal Fire is dedicated to the fire protection and stewardship of over 31 million acres of
California's privately-owned wild lands. In addition, the Department provides varied
emergency services in 36 of the State's 58 counties via contracts with local governments,
essentially providing the Fire service.
I had been invited to spend six days with Captain Sean Norman of Cal fire, and participate
in a series of swiftwater and flood rescue workshops in, on, and around the Feather River
near the Cal Fire training centre at Magalia, California. The delegates came from all over
California with very different levels of experience and previous training.
Captain Norman and his team of instructors had a formidable amount of water rescue
experience attending over forty calls a year to rescue people from the Feather River,
including large scale flood events encompassing hundreds of acres of flat valley floor.
The staffing of the water rescue truck in Butte County was handled quite differently to how
it is commonly handled within the UK. Despite the station being continuously staffed, the
specialist unit was supported by trained volunteers, not necessarily the crew on duty at the
time of any call. Although this ensured a response from fully trained staff, it could
potentially be at the expense of being able to mobilise the vehicle immediately.
However, the level of training and ability to deploy given to first responding crews was
much higher than the majority of UK fire services. This allowed those first on scene much
more likely to be able to make a successful rescue with the latitude to take action.
The workshops took place up canyon on the Feather River. Classes covered a range of
entrapment scenarios; vehicle in the water, river boarding as a rescue platform, and non-
powered boat operations. This gathering of crews who faced very different risk profiles
allowed for a very effective distribution of knowledge and experience. There was a strong
emphasis on sharing that wealth rather than attempting to ‘centralise’ knowledge.
An entire day was devoted to helicopter operations using two Cal Fire helicopters and two
National Guard air frames. It was interesting to see the advantages or challenges of the
different aircraft. Extensive briefings are needed when four craft are operating in close
proximity during rescue evolutions. For the first time, I saw pretty much the whole array of
airborne rescue techniques used from the different ships, and it both reinforced some, and
challenged other, preconceived ideas. One thing that was very apparent was how
extremely easy it was to identify the crews who worked together normally, as the amount
of pilot-crew chief communication to achieve the objectives was usually very minimal.
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Los Angeles County Fire Department
The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) serves unincorporated
parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to
have the county provide fire and EMS services. The county fire department has
its headquarters in the unincorporated portion of East Los Angeles, a separate
department entirely, while the Los Angeles City Fire Department serves the
city of Los Angeles.
With a staff of well over 4,500 covering an area of 2,305 square miles, LA
County is a vast operation. It was something of a surprise to find they only had
two permanent swiftwater rescue stations (provided by the two Urban Search
and Rescue stations) unless rain was expected, at which time they would crew
a further five. This approach was possible because, by and large, extreme
weather was easily and well predicted and the trigger mechanisms used to
deploy more assets had been honed over time. This response was backed up
by four air frames from LACoFD's own helicopter operations in addition to the
six that the neighbouring department LAFD fly.
My host, Captain Bryan Wells, took me on a tour to see some of the 470 miles
of flood relief channels that bisect Los Angeles running straight through urban
areas. These are built to carry flood water to the Pacific Ocean as quickly as
possible, far in excess of speeds encountered in any natural river.
Pacoima Wash, Los Angeles.
Most contain little or no water during the dry season, and as you can see from
the picture below, collect debris and significant undergrowth between floods,
with homeless people often taking refuge in these areas.
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When the rains do fall, this leads to a set of rescue scenarios not encountered
everywhere with very fast moving water running through areas that many local
people ordinarily use for transit, recreation, or even accommodation.
LACoFD have developed their swiftwater program to deal with their very
specific risk, and have had some notable and high profile successes. Utilising a
stretch of flood relief channel for their water and air operations training
produces a very realistic training environment. Helicopter crews have a
particularly tough scenario having to pluck a casualty from the water between
two points, simulating the very real obstructions, power lines, and bridges,
which are ever present on the flood channel network.
Pre-planning at an operational level was what appeared to me to be the real
difference in the US approach; large scale mapping of flood risks with access
and egress points marked, risks identified, water speeds, power lines and
pylons all noted and carried on responding appliances and aircraft, all helped
to make a very slick response. This mapping also made it simple for dispatch
centres to anticipate the direction and speed of any casualties and deploy
crews to crossing points along the route.
I had the opportunity to attend a swiftwater boat and personal watercraft
(PWC) course run by Captain Wells and his fellow instructors. This provided a
massive insight into how useful powered craft can be even in forceful flows and
confused, high volume whitewater. Personal water/rescue craft were a
powerfully versatile platform in the river, and there did not appear to be any of
the negative ‘toy’ attitudes to them. Indeed everywhere I went they were used
operationally.
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Ventura County Fire Department, California
I paid a short but informative visit to Ventura County Fire department
arranged by a contact and friend Captain Mel Lovo. The vehicle and trailer set-
up at Station 54 was by now becoming familiar, seemingly adopted by many
departments to suit their local response, but often the appliance might have a
role in state or even in a federal flood response.
The crewing was the closest to home I had experienced up to that point, with
most of the staff at the station volunteering for the swiftwater and ocean
rescue, and a further cadre of trained personnel available. Much of the
equipment was familiar; however, I did notice that all of the swiftwater trucks
I had seen carried a line deployment device allowing them to deploy a thin line
across a larger stretch of water than could be spanned with a thrown line,
opening up many more rescue options.
Again, in common with many of the places I visited, other technical rescue
disciplines were dealt with by the same crew, and in this case, by the same
vehicle. The station was also the base for a fire appliance, ladder truck, and a
vast urban search and rescue appliance.
Nancy Rigg, Campaigner and filmmaker, Ventura County, California
In 1980, days after moving to Los Angeles, Nancy Riggs’ fiancé Earl Higgins
drowned after rescuing a twelve year old boy from the Los Angeles river in a
flood. He was 29.
Nancy, through various means and years of dogged persistence, encouraged
fire departments in the US to implement swiftwater programs. Although people
like Jim Segerstrom, Slim Ray and others are rightfully seen as the founding
fathers of swiftwater rescue, it is Nancy, often a lone voice, who forced a
change of approach by government departments allowing those skills to be
utilised and taught to others.
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We discussed at length the difficulties in changing attitudes, especially during
the long dry spells between flood years. Talking with Nancy also challenged my
thoughts on the widespread use of video clips in training, often taken directly
from the internet with little thought given to those featured or their fate. We
talked about one well known video which ended up on the web against the will
of the victims’ family; I certainly vowed to take greater care in my selection of
training material and their origins.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, California
Ventura county sheriff has had an air unit since 1971, and the department has
grown to encompass four helicopters with one in maintenance, and three
available as the operational norm. It is unique in being jointly funded and
staffed by both the Fire and Sheriff’s departments. Equipped and trained to fly
in firefighting, law enforcement, EMS, scuba, and swiftwater and rescue
missions, it was to be my first taste of how joint working really works in the
US. Although the crews naturally had expertise relating to their professional
background, over time they were all able to operate on any mission.
The Sheriff’s department also coordinates seven voluntary search and rescue
teams, including a dive team. As they may well be the first on scene during a
water based search or rescue along with certain sheriffs and deputies, they
receive swiftwater rescue training, and I was invited by Sergeant Carl
Patterson to attend one of those training weekends on the river Kern.
It was interesting to see how, and what training was delivered to the search
team volunteers with a typically varied spread of age, fitness, and love of the
water. The pace and content was nicely matched to both the delegates
progress, as well as to the skills they actually needed for their role. Again and
again, misconceptions about safety in the US had been dispelled on my trip,
and observing the instructors scouting a safe line to put swimmers down by
delivering a thorough safety brief, but still accepting that some risk still
existed, was very refreshing.
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Texas
TEEX, College Station, Texas.
A state extension training agency, Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service
(TEEX), is a member of the Texas A&M University system. On their sites near
College Station, Texas, they can deliver any kind of firefighting, rescue, urban
search and rescue, technical rescue and swiftwater rescue you could think of in
realistic and challenging environments.
Almost all state and federal USAR and flood rescue assets are located at and
sponsored by fire departments, which makes Texas Task Force 1 different
because TEEX sponsor and administer it, drawing from 80 different
organisations to make up the most deployed USAR team in the country.
My TEEX visit was the first time I came across the use of National Guard
helicopters and crew paired with Texas Task Force 1 and STARFlight team
members on the business end of the hoist for flood rescue and evacuation.
STARFlight, Austin, Texas
STARFlight (Shock Trauma Air Rescue), is a unique public safety air rescue
program in that it is part of first line EMS response, but is also capable of land
and water rescue, law enforcement, and fire suppression. It serves Travis
County and 19 other counties within central Texas. Central Texas sits in the
highest flash flood prone area in the US, and holds the highest recorded flood
deaths of any state. Indeed, two lives were lost in San Antonio on the day I
flew out, so an airborne flood rescue platform has a big part to play when the
rains come.
I spent two days with Casey Ping, the program director. Although I was
personally interested in helicopter swiftwater techniques, I hadn’t envisaged a
great deal of transferability to the UK, though that was changing rapidly as I
saw more and more multi-agency operations.
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During my visit I had the chance to observe both land and water-based rescue
training with two helicopter crews. To say it was slick would be something of
an understatement. For the first time, I saw ‘dynamic hoisting’ in practice.
Instead of a helicopter hovering over the target and then beginning to hoist up
and down from that position, if terrain lent itself, the rescuer would begin the
lower on the final approach, and the copter would fly forward once the hoist
package was clear of the water/land, thereby minimising the time in hover.
This made for a noticeably quicker rescue and much reduced rotor
downdraught.
The constant strive to improve and innovate is apparent throughout the entire
STARFlight team, resulting in pioneering hoist techniques. When nothing
suitable was commercially available, the design and production of equipment
was created specifically for them. All operational and training rescues are
recorded to a camera on the hoist, and on mobile cameras on some of the
crew. The resulting video is reviewed by a STARFlight committee to ensure
consistency and to look for improvements.
Austin Fire Department, Texas.
Austin’s swiftwater rescue response from central station was crewed along a
similar vein to a UK model; the crew carried their personal equipment with
them and if a rescue call came in they would all respond in the rescue vehicle
or whatever engine they were assigned to that day, potentially delivering 12
trained personnel to an incident very quickly.
Several relatively uncommon operational procedures that were common to
Texas Task Force 1, the Fire Department, and STARFlight became apparent,
the first being the use of a mask and snorkel for swiftwater swimmers. On no
other topic did I receive a more varied response than the question, “What type
of outboard is best for operating in floods?” Austin FD, Texas TF1, and
STARFlight all operated a propeller driven engine, but with no prop guard. I
knew Casey’s thoughts on this were ‘if you were a boat operator you don't run
casualties’ and they invested in training to ensure that this was true.
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South Carolina, USA National Association of Search and Rescue conference, Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina.
I attended several useful lectures at the NASAR conference covering risk
assessment, vehicles in the water, and flood response in Australia, as well as
attending the swiftwater track meeting. We naturally tend to look across the
Atlantic for lessons, but Australia has had some devastating flood events over
recent years, and it was clear their planning, response, and especially review
have been comprehensive and robust.
Hilton Head Island Fire department, South Carolina.
Hilton Head Island has no significant threat from moving water or floods, and
so my sole aim in visiting was to talk to Battalion Chief Ben Waller, who has
been involved in swiftwater rescue for many years and is a regular contributor
to forums and technical rescue publications.
Charlotte Fire Department and NCHART, North Carolina.
My host Battalion Chief Tim Rogers is world-renowned flood expert who has
lectured around the world on the subject, including at the Houses of
Parliament. Much of the UK national flood operational concept and classification
of teams were based on Tim’s work in North Carolina and FEMA. I spent four
days in Charlotte, though I suspect four weeks wouldn't have been enough.
NCHART
North Carolina Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team is a rescue team consisting of
North Carolina National Guard and Highway patrol air assets with North
Carolina Emergency management and local emergency services. A stringent
prerequisite and selection process ensures only the best candidates serve on
the team.
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The air crew controlled the helicopter and hoist with an emergency services
rescuer (predominantly drawn from fire departments) on the end of the hoist,
with another team member acting as an assistant to the crew chief. With
experienced pilots and crew delivering swiftwater experts into rescue
situations, the end result was an incredibly professional operation. Although
the NCHART model has since been emulated in other states, it had no model to
base itself, and I think as a consequence is continuing to innovate and develop
new techniques. During the training days I attended, it was planned to trial an
evolution switching the rescuer from the end of the hoist to a fixed short haul
rope while still airborne. This was a direct response to experiences in floods
where a suitable landing zone does not always involve available land and re-rig
equipment.
This also highlighted once again the huge amount of personal dedication from
both the founders and leaders of NCHART to bring and keep all these separate
entities together, and keeps it all moving forward with everyone’s agreement.
The NCHART program has since been emulated in many other US states.
Charlotte Fire Department
The city of Charlotte is no stranger to flooding, and the emergency planning
and response appeared very polished, with many aspects fully integrated in
ways not seen everywhere. I got the distinct impression that the Fire
Department, city, and Mecklenburg County in which it sits had evolved over
time to be in an enviable position of having a first class integrated flood
warning plan and response structure.
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Operational plans existed for all flood prone areas detailing access and launch
points for various bad and worst case scenarios. These were held
electronically, but also printed on A3 waterproof paper for true wet weather
resilience. First responders were trained, equipped, and authorised to a level
that they could undertake some immediate rescues; the thinking being that it
will always be the first on scene who can make a real difference often before a
situation deteriorates while awaiting the arrival of specialist back up.
Once again the increasing realisation that flood and recreational swiftwater
rescues are not necessarily always the same thing was discussed. The victim
profile is different, and consequently the effectiveness of varying techniques
will reflect this. Dependent on risk encountered, a greater training emphasis on
techniques that are more likely to be required, and an honest look at likely
casualties’ ability driving a more realistic approach.
Differing opinions on how to power boats were not uncommon, the type of
boat was almost always a zodiac(s) between 4m and 5m, but no-one I spoke
with was quite so emphatic in their belief that a pump jet drive was the best
form of propulsion.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Flood Information and Notification System (FINS)
uses a network of rain and stream gauges which send automatic alerts to
emergency responders, and in some cases, to individuals cell phones. The
alerts show where rainfall is heaviest and where streams are most likely to top
their banks. This allows resources to either be pushed in or pulled out of areas
ahead of time. This also enables local fire crews to effect the barricading of
routes liable to flood in a timely manner.
Crucially, all managers were trained in its use, and as this was such a localised
service, their local knowledge and experience of previous flooding along with
the interpretation of FINS alerts really did make a proactive response possible.
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Canada Jim Lavalley, Rescue Canada, British Columbia.
Jim Lavally has been involved in the swiftwater rescue world since the 1970’s.
He is the founder and president of Rescue Canada, one of the largest rescue
training organisations in Canada. As owner and designer of Force 6 Safety
Products, he has produced the highly regarded Force 6 line of rescue personal
flotation vests and other innovative solutions. His ‘Higgins and Langley Lifetime
Achievement’ award had just been announced prior to our meeting.
We discussed many topics and something that I had noticed a little in the UK,
which had come up several times in the US, was the swiftwater versus flood
rescue debate. Namely, most of our techniques come from kayaking and
rafting; river based activities where participants usually have some form of
buoyancy, thermal protection, and a degree of familiarity within the
environment. As flood rescue experience increases every year, reviewing the
relevance and effectiveness of some of what is taught and adjusting focus to
the actual risk faced is not a bad thing.
We discussed a recent fatality of a SAR volunteer whilst attempting a vehicle
recovery from a river and the lessons that all agencies could draw from it. In
particular, developing safe systems of work for crews to ensure the tragedy is
never repeated.
North Vancouver Fire Department, Vancouver.
Assistant Fire Chief Curtis Bremner of North Vancouver FD had arranged for
me to meet with two of his technical rescue instructors on a training visit at
Station 2. North Vancouver FD has 120 firefighters running out of five stations
plus a training centre, and its swiftwater risk was inextricably linked to another
discipline, working at height.
With little reported flood risk, yet rescues from several nearby canyons running
into double figures annually, the department identified that all of their high
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angle canyon rope rescues actually had a swiftwater component, too. All of the
crews were trained to first responder level, with an aspiration to train everyone
to a technician level over time. They operated a system where a runner and
leader from the first attending engine would deploy to stabilise a situation with
a larger rescue/recovery response following on. On a tour of the local canyons
I saw, first hand, the difficulty of finding and rescuing a casualty or missing
person.
Coquitlam Search and Rescue, British Columbia.
Volunteer search and rescue teams play a vital part in Canadian public safety
and outside of main urban areas sometimes provide the sole technical rescue
service. SAR volunteers in British Columbia respond to over 1000 searches a
year.
Coquitlam’s search and rescue team covers an area of over 1700km² bounded
by rivers and lakes, and with frequent calls to missing water users, moving
water is frequently a factor in many of the searches they are called to conduct.
Volunteers cover basic swiftwater training as part of their 80 hours basic
training and progress onto more advanced (technician) training over time. The
team also operates a ‘Polaris Rib’ with a jet drive outboard, for transportation
and search missions.
North Shore Emergency Management Office, North Vancouver.
Dorit Mason, the Director of the North Shore Emergency Management office,
took some time from her busy day to show me around the emergency
operation centre and radio room, and to talk with me about the community
involvement in flood planning, education, and response.
Volunteering is part of the social fabric of Canada and volunteers play an
important part not only at a large scale incident or disaster, but also in the day
to day emergency management response. Trained volunteers provide support
in a number of roles from support services and management (staffing
reception centres), to the provision of emergency communications with
amateur radio networks.
This level of volunteer integration at all levels was a revelation to me and I
learnt a huge amount about types of volunteering and how to manage their
19
desire for goodwill and to help in a positive way. Social media was an area with
a huge potential to assist in emergencies, with an equally large potential to
muster large groups of well meaning people in hazardous areas. The North
Shore EM office has a team of volunteers dedicated to monitor media sites and
attempt to channel energies in a safe direction. Like the CERT programme in
the US, there is a potential for this kind of approach in the community flood
groups forming the UK.
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Key Learning This report highlights some of the ‘bigger’ findings from my travels that have
the potential to bring real benefit to the UK, although it barely scratches the
surface of the actual amount of knowledge that I acquired. Those hundreds of
pearls of wisdom have, and will continue to, be disseminated and passed
forward for the remainder of my career:
• Flood and swiftwater trained air assets properly integrated into a flood
rescue response, are a huge advantage to evacuation and rescue
operations.
• Mixed crewing of assets, predominantly air frames, to ensure full
utilisation of skill sets is a strong advantage in a number of aspects
whether that is Military and Fire, law enforcement and EMS, or any other
combination. It delivered budgetary savings, resilience, and a better
service to the public.
• In the same way Fire safety, and increasingly road safety, advice became
a core part of Fire service duties over the last decade, so too, would flood
awareness benefit from the same integrated approach and input from
rescue professionals.
• Neighbourhood and community volunteer training programs can play a
big part in any large scale emergency or disaster response. Flood
affected communities throughout the UK have organised themselves into
community flood groups already, and yet there is a real opportunity to
emulate the some of the North American approaches here.
• In the US the personal watercraft is universally seen as a powerful and
effective flood and water rescue tool without the largely negative
connotations it seems to carry within the UK rescue community.
• Regional joint training of the many responders prior to an event allowed
sufficient time to iron out any procedural or operational compatibility
issues and crucially, communication differences.
• States and counties who looked at flood responders in their entirety had
definitely enhanced the safety of everyone involved. For example; pre-
deployment safety training for military personnel.
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Dissemination
From here on….
I began passing on the many smaller operational points that I have picked up
on my fellowship travels to colleagues and professional partners within a week
of my return and that will continue. The following points are areas I am
working towards:
• Regional training exercises and workshops.
• Flood awareness safety campaign, specifically targeting driving through
floodwaters.
• Safety training for flood groups/communities.
• Identifying other flood responders who do not have sufficient safety
training.
• Longer term goals including looking at the potential capability already
available within UK emergency and military air assets.
• Continuing to maintain and foster contacts made to facilitate the sharing
of ideas.
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Acknowledgements Without the help of the following people, and many others not on the list, the
trip would not have been possible or certainly not as successful as it was and I
owe them all my heartfelt thanks;
Nancy Rigg.
Casey Ping: Programme Manager, Travis County Star Flight, Austin, Texas.
Tim Rogers- Battalion Chief, Charlotte Fire Department, North Carolina.
Bryan Wells: Captain, Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Larry Collins: Battalion Chief, Los Angeles County Fire Department.
A special thanks to Nancy, Casey, Larry, Tim and Bryan, they have all helped
Churchill Fellows before me and will probably be asked for their assistance
from fellows of the future.
Sean Norman: Captain, Cal Fire, Butte County.
Jim Mathias: Battalion Chief, Cal Fire.
Carl Patterson: Sergeant, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.
Mel Lovo: Captain, Ventura County Fire Department.
Patrick Phillips: Clinical supervisor, Travis County Star Flight, Austin, Texas.
Jim Lavalley: Director Rescue Canada and Force 6.
Curtis Bremner: Assistant Chief, North Vancouver Fire Department.
Dorit Mason: Director, North Shore Emergency Management Office
Captains Phil Miller & Brian Ferguson: Prince William County Fire department.
Ben Waller: Battalion Chief, Hilton Head Island Fire Department.
Ian Nuttall: 2012 WCMT Fellow
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Gary Cross: 2006 WCMT Fellow
Shannon Crofton: Sydney Southern Region SES Flood Rescue Officer.
My employers Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service and especially Group Manager
Mark Hewitt and Orange Watch St.Austell Fire Station.
My wife Julie and children Isobel and Jack for their understanding and patience
while I was away for so long.
Contact details
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to discuss anything in this
report or fellowship travels.
07815 077479
I kept a blog during my travels:
http://andyreynoldstravelsinamerica.blogspot.co.uk/
