According to the National Weather Service, an average of 19 individuals die every year in Florida as a result of rip currents.
Madeira Beach Fire Department Deputy Chief John Mortellite believes that preparation and education can have an invaluable impact. The agency, which is part of the Gulf Beaches Training Group, received Pinellas County’s first rip current simulator a few weeks ago. Testing began shortly after.
Rip currents are “channelized currents of water flowing away from shore at surf beaches,” according to the United States Lifesaving Association.
Mortellite explained that the goal is to instruct personnel as well as members of other fire departments in Pinellas County, Treasure Island, St. Pete Beach and Gulfport.
Manufactured by aquatics technology company Slipstream, the equipment was acquired through a Florida Department of Children and Families grant.
“The devices are more or less like, for the lack of a better term, a jet ski engine,” Mortellite explained. “They suck water in through the bottom and power it out through the top along the surface creating the current.”
Mortellite and his team are developing a session to teach recognition within a classroom setting. Students will then go to a pool “in a controlled environment” and experience what it feels like to be in a rip current.
Additionally, they will learn techniques for efficiently rescuing people.
“Rip currents are common out here along the beaches,” he said, “and it can be dangerous for our personnel to get caught in them while rescuing people.”
Currently, the Madeira Beach Fire Department has two devices and four battery packs. They are portable and about three and half to four feet in height. Since acquiring the technology, the team has been utilizing pools at the St. Pete Beach Community Center and the Holiday Isles Elks Lodge #1912 in Madeira Beach.
The agency also plans to collaborate with beachside condo associations to educate civilians, Mortellite added.
“Typically along the Gulf beaches, rip currents can get up to about three miles an hour,” he said. “On rare occasions, they get a little bit faster, but not usually around our beaches. These devices are capable of creating a current in a pool at least three miles an hour. I think I tracked ours up to close to six miles an hour.”
The equipment will educate fire personnel and civilians about how to safely get out of a rip current, Mortellite said. People can learn “how to stay alert and calm,” as well as how to swim parallel to the beach.
“Our beaches have suffered several drownings over the past couple of years,” he explained. “A few of them have been attributed to individuals being caught in the rip currents.”
Mortellite added that the Madeira Beach Fire Department gets at least one call a month regarding a rip current incident. In some seasons, call volume can be even higher.
The initiative complements other safety measures, such as signs on beaches warning people about rip currents.
“Right now, we’re just doing some initial training internally,” he said. “We hope to have it ready to go out to the public within a month.”
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