Residents may have noticed a number of people being pulled from the Kettle River on April 17, but it was all part of a combined training exercise between Grand Forks Search and Rescue and Grand Forks Fire/Rescue.
The exercise was in the different ways to rescue people from rivers in the event of a flash flood or accident. Search and Rescue members showed Grand Forks Fire/Rescue three ways people could be retrieved from fast-flowing waters: rope rescue from shore, lassoed from a bridge by multiple people and pulled ashore, or pulled into a tethered boat as they floated by. The river waters were high, but not too fast, making it ideal training conditions.
The combined training is in the event firefighters needed to pull someone out of a vehicle that fell into a river, as well as help search and rescue during a major flooding disaster.
Photos by Karen McKinley