State, local first-responders conduct mock drowning at Breakheart

SAUGUS – A team of 11 lifeguards from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) were joined by Saugus Fire and State Police divers as well as American Ambulance personnel for the annual mock drowning exercise at Breakheart Reservation.”This has kind of evolved on its own,” said DCR Capt. Mike Nelson. He said having fire, police and EMS personnel on-site for the exercise allowed them to familiarize themselves with the reservation and will hopefully “minimize any delay in response.”The event began with three sharp whistle blasts at 9 a.m. Tuesday.The first exercise simulated an “active drowning” scenario in which one of lifeguards swam out just beyond the designated swimming area and floated limp on top of the water.”Everyone out of the water!” shouted one lifeguard as five of his fellow lifeguards, donning red shirts and bathing suits, sprinted into Pearce Lake.”It’s a cool morning to go swimming,” said David Ledoux of American Ambulance.Second year lifeguard Liam Coleman added that at 63 degrees, the water temperature was “colder than the average pool.”After reaching the “victim” in mere seconds, the lifeguards carefully placed him on a backboard in the water and stabilized his head. They then began CPR, administering air every 30 compressions.”Just keep going, you’ve got a job to do,” said Ledoux as the lifeguards assisted paramedics in transferring the victim onto a stretcher.”The DCR makes sure these lifeguards are trained well,” said Park Supervisor Anthony Guthro.Although an official time was not available, Guthro said that he was impressed with how quickly his lifeguards responded even in a mock scenario.”It wasn’t that long, it was bang bang,” he said.State Rep. Donald Wong (R-Saugus) also congratulated the lifeguards on a job well done.”You did a great job, I was getting excited,” he said.In addition, Guthro explained that each lifeguard has the lung capacity to dive to the bottom of the eight-foot lake to perform grid searches.These searches involve the lifeguards forming a horizontal line and then taking turns diving to the bottom, taking three strokes forward and one stroke backward before surfacing.However, Guthro emphasized that the State Police Dive Team would still be called as they are equipped with breathing apparatuses for prolonged searches.”You want to have a dive team here,” he said.The second and third phases were called “last seen drowning victims” and were treated more as recoveries rather than rescues. The first one involved two firefighters taking a motorized rescue raft into the middle of the lake to recover a dummy that lifeguards had sunk before the exercise began. The dummy, nicknamed “Chad,” was approximately the size of an adolescent and was quickly recovered using a probe.Fire Dept. Capt. Arthur Sinclair pointed out that teenagers have been the most common victims in years past as they frequently have parties at the lake. During the parties, he said that they will either hit their heads on an underwater rock or literally forget how to swim as a result of extreme intoxication.Sinclair explained that a drowning victim will initially yell and thrash in an attempt to get someone’s attention. However, after five minutes, a person will stop yelling and flailing. Sinclair said that they go into a survival mode and all their remaining energy is streamlined into keeping their mouths above water.”They’re going to wear themselves out,” he said.Sinclair added that in the event a victim was alive, but trapped underwater, the Fire Dept. would not be able to assist that person any further as it lacks the equipment needed for underwater entrapment. Therefore, Sinclair’s firefighters would need to defer to the expertise of the State Police Dive Team.Fortunately, Sinclair said that those types of occurrences do not happen often.If this were to happen, State Trooper/Dive Master Malloy explained that obstructions can be removed much faster underwater as their weight is less than it would be on land