On June 18th, 2014, the Spokane Regional Air Support Unit (SRASU) and Spokane Valley Fire Department (SVFD) conducted joint water rescues training on the Spokane River. SVFD deployed rescue boats, as well as "victims" into the Spokane River during the training.
For the first time, Air 1 deployed their newly obtained water rescue sticks to quickly provide a flotation device to the "victim". These compact sticks were dropped from Air 1 and use a CO2 cartridge to expand into a rescue flotation device once activated by water. This new tool worked great, and is another resource that can now be deployed by the SRASU staff when needed.
