City firefighters train for water rescues at municipal Pool

Published on August 29, 2025

From children playing in the shallow section to lap swimmers perfecting their strokes, Dwight H. Hunter Pool draws neighbors every day seeking relief from the Florida heat. For the past two weeks, the municipal pool also has served as the training site for Gainesville Fire Rescue (GFR) firefighters to practice water rescues.

Using a car prop to simulate a submerged vehicle, the first responders took turns locating and freeing an underwater “victim,” swimming out with a rope to retrieve them or reeling them to safety from shore.

“We want to quickly and efficiently get someone out of a submerged vehicle–from the time we hit the parking brake on the fire truck,” said Capt. Herb Ennis who served as a safety instructor in the water alongside a firefighter acting as a trapped driver or passenger.

In all, 185 firefighters completed the training. During the exercise, an initial rescuer enters the water wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus or airpack, which provides air at shallow depths, and brings the victim to the surface. With a tap of the head, the rescuer signals the next responder to enter the water. Handing off the victim enables the first rescuer to resume the underwater search while teammates on shore reel in the second responder and victim.

“It’s really important for us to stay sharp in all of the skills that we’re required to use on a fairly regular basis, this being one of them,” said GFR District Chief of the Training Division Don Campbell. “There are certain procedures and very specific techniques that we use to maintain our safety, and foremost, the safety of our citizens.”

GFR does have a technical rescue team with specialized skills in swift-water rescue. Its members have been deployed after hurricanes or flooding to assist in search and rescue operations. Still, Campbell said it’s vital to public safety that every first responder be trained in water rescue.

“We have crews throughout the city, so when a call comes in that someone is stranded in water or any other type of distress, we want our closest unit to get there as soon as possible and for those members to have the skills required to bring our citizens to safety,” he said.

GFR alternates submerged vehicle training with swimming and drowning rescue drills each year. For Chandler Luellen, a city firefighter of 15 months, the training was his first time using an airpack. “After this training, I feel 110 percent prepared,” he said.

Campbell reminds neighbors that roadway safety is everyone’s responsibility and advises always wearing a seat belt and never attempting to drive through standing or moving water.