MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — The Madeira Beach Fire Department recently received the first rip current simulator in Pinellas County to train firefighters and the community on how to respond safely to the swimming hazard, according to Fire Chief Clint Belk.
“Being on the Gulf Coast, it’s obviously a welcome tool,” he said. “It gives us another aspect of the lifes-aving part of the job.”
Chief Belk said the city received the $13,000 device a few weeks ago and was reimbursed through a grant from the Florida Department of Children and Families. The rip current simulator allows firefighters to experience the dangerous ocean conditions in a controlled swimming pool environment.
“In a riptide situation, you never want to swim against the riptide,” said Deputy Chief John Mortellite. “You want to swim with it or out of it parallel to the shore.”
Madeira Beach firefighters respond to between 4-to-6 rip current rescue calls per month during the summer, according to Chief Belk. A man who was caught in a rip current drowned in the Gulf last year.
“A gentleman was taken out by a rip current and fell off of his raft. He tried to fight the rip current from what we could gather,” said Belk. “He did not make it, unfortunately.”
Deputy Chief Mortellite said the simulator works by sucking water in through the bottom of the machine and pushing it back out through the top.
“They’re capable of moving 3,000 gallons of water per minute each,” he said. “So this absolutely will create a rip tide effect of probably close to six miles an hour.”
Mortellite said rip currents in the Gulf typically have a top speed of about three miles an hour. Lieutenant Mike Wasilewski was training with the simulator in the Elks Lodge pool on Tuesday.
“It’s very dangerous to go practice on a real rip tide,” he said. “So having something like this in a controlled environment is much better.”
Madeira Beach is part of the Gulf Beaches Training Group and will share the simulator to train other members which include Pinellas County, Suncoast, Treasure Island, St. Pete Beach and Gulfport. Chief Belk said he wants to hold training classes for the community too.
“Right now we’re in the infancy of it,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure that we’re proficient in it before we start hosting trainings.”