Water, Ice and Swiftwater Rescue Program

Every department with a lake, a river, a harbour, a storm drain or a winter responds to people in the water, and firefighters have drowned trying to reach them: untethered, without flotation, in moving water with a rope that could not be released, on ice without a suit, in a boat without a kill cord (NIOSH, n.d.-b). Cold water takes away the time people think they have. This program is working when no member is near the water’s edge or on ice without flotation; when every rescue follows the reach-first progression and nobody goes in the water except trained, suited, tethered rescuers with a back-up; when the department’s vessels are registered, equipped and operated by people with the Transport Canada competencies for that vessel on that water; when the department diving program, if there is one, meets the applicable occupational diving regulation in full (J29 Occupational Diving); and when every water and ice response and training evolution ends with a review.

Required at the level the department responds to, which is every department; it answers Profile Worksheet question 18 and the vessel and diving questions (01 Program Profile Worksheet). Sections 5.1 to 5.5 apply to every department. Section 5.6 (boat operations) applies where the department operates any vessel, including an inflatable or an ice rescue boat. Section 5.7 points to the conditional Marine Firefighting Program module for fireboats and vessel fires. Section 5.9 (dive rescue) applies only where the department provides diving, and a department that does not must say so and name who does.

Consistent with 06 Glossary and Acronyms.

• Cold shock. The involuntary gasp and hyperventilation in the first minute of cold water immersion, the first killer in cold water.
• Go rescue. A rescue in which a rescuer enters the water or goes onto the ice; the last option in the progression.
• Kill cord (engine cut-off lanyard). The lanyard that stops a vessel’s engine if the operator leaves the helm.
• Occupational diving. Any dive conducted at a workplace, which includes public safety diving by a fire department under the applicable diving regulation (J29 Occupational Diving).
• PFD. Personal flotation device approved for use in Canada by the label of Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard or Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
• Quick-release harness. A swiftwater PFD harness whose tether releases under load by the wearer’s own hand.
• Reach, throw, row, go. The rescue progression from shore-based to in-water methods.
• Standby diver. A fully equipped diver at the surface ready to enter immediately to assist the working diver.
• Swiftwater. Water moving fast enough to hold a person against an obstruction or sweep them off their feet; a foot entrapment hazard.
• Tender. The person who manages a diver’s line and communication from the surface.
• Psychological safety. The shared belief within a crew that it is safe to speak up, ask, admit error and challenge (Edmondson, 1999)DOI.

The core is generic. The occupational diving rules (team size, medical interval, records) differ by province and territory (J29 Occupational Diving); Transport Canada rules are federal and apply everywhere in Canada.

Deltas from 01 Roles and Responsibilities: this program is owned by the Water and Ice Rescue team (06 Program Improvement Teams); the vessel master or senior operator holds the Transport Canada competencies and is accountable for each voyage; the {{Dive Supervisor}} is designated in writing per the diving regulation and never dives while supervising.

Requirement. The department declares, for each discipline, the level it provides (NFPA 2500, 2022): shore-based (reach, throw, row from the bank, no entry); boat-based (surface water rescue from a vessel); swiftwater (operations: shore-based and shallow-water with swiftwater PPE; technician: in-water swimming rescues, tensioned systems, boat operations in current); ice (operations: tethered, suited surface rescue; technician: extended and sub-surface positions); surf (where applicable); flood (contaminated water, vehicles in water); dive (pointer to 5.9, or “not provided, see mutual aid”). It names mutual aid partners for every level not provided (the Coast Guard and its auxiliary, police dive units, provincial emergency health services, ground search and rescue, neighbouring departments) with contact routes in dispatch. Evidence. The signed declaration; the capability matrix (17.7). Stage. S1.

Requirement. Flotation is worn by every member within the department’s distance of the water’s edge (this program sets 3 m; confirm locally), on any ice, and on any vessel, without exception for rank or task, and the flotation is approved and in service condition.

Minimum method.

• PFDs: Canadian-approved by label (Transport Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard or Fisheries and Oceans Canada) to the standards in the Small Vessel Regulations schedule (Small Vessel Regulations [CA], 2026); selected by task (shore and vessel work; swiftwater rescue PFDs with a quick-release harness, whose Canadian approval status is checked per model); inflatable PFDs only where the approval permits the activity and never for members under the age and weight limits in the approval; sized to the member; one per seat on every vessel plus spares; a ripped, faded or damaged PFD is not approved and is removed.
• Ice rescue and immersion suits: to an immersion suit standard (ISO 15027-1:2026; CAN/CGSB-65.16-2005; CAN/CGSB-65.21-95) with inherent flotation, worn with Canadian-approved flotation on a vessel; leak tested, zippers and seals inspected, annual pressure test for dry suits per the manufacturer.
• Helmets for water rescue (not structural helmets); thermal protection; gloves; footwear with ankle support and no laces that trap; knife accessible on the PFD; whistle and light.
• Decontamination of all water PPE after contaminated water under Decontamination and Contamination Control Program.
• Inspection: pre-use by the wearer; monthly by the custodian; inflatables serviced annually (cylinder, indicator, bladder) per the manufacturer; records (17.5).

Evidence. Inventory and inspection records; drill observation of the flotation rule. Stage. S1.

Requirement. Every member and every officer plans water and ice operations around what cold water does to a person.

Minimum method. Training teaches the sequence taught in Canadian cold-water survival instruction: cold shock in the first minute, loss of meaningful movement within about ten minutes, and unconsciousness from hypothermia within about an hour (the one-ten-one principle), so that search duration, victim viability and rescuer exposure decisions are made on that basis. Rescuers are rotated and rehabbed under Firefighter Rehabilitation Program and Heat, Cold and Weather Program; wet rescuers are re-warmed before re-tasking; victims are handled gently and horizontally to limit rescue collapse, with warming begun at once; medical care follows the department’s medical protocols. Evidence. Training content; rehab records at water incidents. Stage. S1.

Requirement. The progression is talk, reach, throw, row, go, in that order, at every water incident (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-3, as a topic check). Minimum method. Every apparatus that responds near water carries throw bags, a reach pole and flotation; every member throws a bag accurately to 15 m in training twice a year; a “go” rescue is made only by a trained, suited, tethered rescuer with a back-up rescuer ready and a shore team on the line; nobody wades or swims to a victim in moving water at operations level. The ice and swiftwater procedures build on this base. Evidence. Throw-bag drill records; the procedure. Stage. S1.

Requirement. Discipline-specific procedures (SWP - Ice Rescue, SWP - Swiftwater Rescue) with separate training.

Ice: rescuer in an ice rescue suit, tethered with a quick-release harness and belayed from shore by a shore team; flotation to the victim first; a sled, board or inflatable platform to distribute weight; one rescuer on the ice at a time unless the procedure says otherwise; a back-up rescuer suited; shore team with throw bags; a plan for the rescuer going through.

Swiftwater: helmets and swiftwater PFDs; upstream spotter and downstream safety with throw bags before anyone works at the edge; no tethered swimmer without a quick-release harness and a belay that can be released; no rope stretched across the channel at surface level; foot entrapment avoided by never standing in moving water above the knee; tensioned diagonal and boat-on-tether systems at technician level only; low-head dams, strainers and culverts treated as no-entry hazards; flood water treated as contaminated.

Evidence. The procedures; pre-season refreshers; drill observation. Stage. S1 at the declared level.

Requirement. Every department vessel, from an inflatable to a fireboat, is a non-pleasure vessel under federal law (Transport Canada, n.d.-d, TP 14070) and is registered, equipped, crewed and operated accordingly. Procedure: SWP - Boat Operations.

Minimum method.

• Registration in the Small Vessel Register for non-pleasure vessels and marked as required.
• Vessel class and safety equipment to the Small Vessel Regulations workboat requirements for vessels of 15 gross tonnage or less (Small Vessel Regulations [CA], 2026, Part 5): PFDs for everyone aboard, lifebuoy and heaving line, bailer or pump, paddles or anchor, sound signal, navigation lights, fire extinguisher, first aid, distress signals in date, and radio as the voyage requires; the inventory on each vessel (17.4).
• Operator competency by vessel and voyage class (Marine Personnel Regulations [CA], 2026, Part 2; Transport Canada, n.d.-d, TP 14070 Table 4-1): a workboat of 5 gross tonnage or less and 8 m or less on sheltered waters needs a pleasure craft operator card (PCOC) plus small non-pleasure vessel basic safety (MED A3) or marine emergency duties basic safety training; a workboat of 5 gross tonnage or less that is over 8 m, or any such vessel on near-coastal class 2 or class 1 voyages, needs small vessel operator proficiency (SVOP) plus MED A3; vessels over 5 gross tonnage need a limited master or master certificate; everyone aboard receives onboard familiarization (s. 205); marine VHF is operated by holders of the restricted operator certificate with maritime commercial endorsement (ROC-M). The regulations prevail over the table; the department confirms its vessels’ class and waters with the local Transport Canada centre, which lists community-owned search and rescue vessels as a case to discuss. A proposed replacement of the SVOP by a new operator certificate has been reported for 2026 and is unconfirmed.
• Operations rules: pre-launch checklist and log (Form - Vessel Pre-Launch Checklist and Log) every launch; kill cord worn by the operator whenever the engine runs; passenger and load limits by the capacity plate; weather, sea state, wind, darkness, ice and fuel limits written as go and no-go criteria; night and low-visibility rules; towing, capsize, person-overboard and engine-failure drills; shore contact and check-in schedule; no approach to low-head dams, weirs or strainers from upstream.
• Maintenance: outboard and hull service per the manufacturer under fleet’s service level; fireboats under the marine chapter of the in-service vehicle standard (NFPA 1910, 2024) and the Marine Firefighting Program module.

Evidence. The vessel register; equipment inventories; operator competency matrix (17.6); pre-launch logs; maintenance records. Stage. S1.

Where the department operates a fireboat or responds to vessel fires, the conditional Marine Firefighting Program module governs vessel design and maintenance, land-based marine firefighter qualifications (NFPA 1010, 2024) and shipboard operations. This program governs the water rescue, PFD and operator competency elements that apply to those vessels too.

Requirement. Pump operators and crews drafting from lakes, rivers, ponds and dry hydrants follow water-edge rules, because a draft site has the same water-edge hazards as a rescue. Minimum method. PFDs on every member at the waterside; a size-up of the bank (stability, slope, slipperiness, access and egress), the water (current, depth change, cold), and the approach (apparatus sliding, tipping or bogging near the edge, with wheel chocks and a spotter); strainers and floating strainers to keep debris out of the pump and lift kept within the limit the pump’s rating and the operator’s training set; watch for air leaks and lost prime; biological hazards (pathogens, wildlife) and hygiene after; lighting, hearing protection and a communication plan for pump noise and spray; rotation and relief on long operations and a plan for source depletion and relocation. Evidence. The drafting content in the pump operator procedure; drill observation. Stage. S1.

Requirement. Public safety diving by a fire department is occupational diving: every Canadian jurisdiction applies its diving rules to dives at work, and relief for an emergency rescue dive is narrow where it exists at all, such as a generic dive plan in place of a site-specific one (J29 Occupational Diving). A department that provides it runs a full diving program; a department that does not declares so and names its partner.

Minimum method (where provided).

• A dive program manual with: written designation of a diving supervisor for every dive site, who does not dive while supervising; the minimum team the applicable regulation sets (commonly four: supervisor, tender, standby diver and diver, with a smaller SCUBA minimum, commonly three, where the regulation allows it; J29 Occupational Diving); the standby diver dressed, equipped, checked and ready at the surface before the working diver enters; a generic written dive plan covering the department’s foreseeable operations with the content list the regulation requires, relied on in an emergency in place of a site-specific plan where the regulation allows it, and a site-specific plan for every planned dive and training dive; a pre-dive briefing every time; SCUBA restrictions and codes of practice; contaminated-water precautions and decontamination; no solo diving ever.
• Medical fitness: a diving medical examination within the provincial interval (commonly 24 months) and a certificate of fitness for every diver; the department’s physician aware of the diving program.
• Competency: divers to the CSA occupational diving competency standard (CSA Z275.4-22) and the public safety diving job performance requirements (NFPA 1006, 2021, dive chapter); intermediate first aid and oxygen therapy for every team member.
• Equipment: daily examination before use; gauges tested within the regulated interval (commonly 12 months); cylinders requalified under the transportation of dangerous goods cylinder standard (CSA B339-25); breathing air to the compressed breathing air standard (CSA Z275.2-20) with air quality tests on record; the dive operation plan template (17.8).
• Records: diver logbooks and supervisor records retained for the period the applicable regulation sets (two to five years in most jurisdictions) and longer for any incident.

Evidence. The manual; designations; medicals; plans and briefings; logbooks; air tests. Stage. Conditional; a department cannot be at Stage 1 with a diving program that does not meet the regulation.

(a) Work-as-done. Before any discipline procedure is written or changed, the learning team describes with the crews: what the first-arriving engine actually does when a child is in the river and the parents are on the bank; where the PFDs really are on each apparatus and how long they take to get on over structural gear; how the ice rescue crew decides one rescuer or two; how a boat is launched at each ramp at night in winter, with the people who usually do it; who really holds the tether and whether the quick release has ever been pulled under load in training; what drafting at the department’s dry hydrants looks like in March; and the near misses nobody reported because the victim was saved.

(b) Capacity and margins. This work goes right because crews drill the progression until reach-first is automatic, because suits and PFDs are ready, because operators know their boat and their water, and because shore teams are briefed before anyone goes near the edge. The margin erodes with a visible, struggling victim and bystanders already in the water; with structural gear worn to a water call; with cold, dark and current; with daytime volunteer response; with a boat operator who has not run the vessel since the autumn; with long searches that drift into recovery without anyone saying so; and with the certainty that “we have always just gone in”. The program protects the margin by making the progression and the flotation rule absolute, by requiring the back-up and the shore team before a “go” rescue, by writing go and no-go limits for vessels, by pre-season refreshers in the water, and by naming the recovery decision as a decision.

(c) Just culture. A member who went in untethered because the victim was going under was answering the strongest pull in rescue; the review asks what would have made holding back and throwing possible, not who to discipline. The learning firewall applies to every debrief, learning team, near-miss report and review. Conduct concerns go to a separate process run by different people (Incident Investigation and Learning Program; The Human Factor, 2026a).

(d) Psychological safety. Anyone can stop a water or ice operation by saying the hazard and the action: “Stop, nobody on the ice until the suit is on.” The officer acknowledges, holds, and reviews later. Members are expected to question a boat launch in weather, an untethered entry, a search that has become a recovery, or a dive without a standby; officers answer with the reason or change the plan. Leaders show it is safe by wearing their PFD at the edge every time, by thanking the stop call in the debrief, and by reporting their own near misses. A member’s concern about this program (a PFD that does not fit, a boat with a flat battery, an ice suit that leaks, a dive plan that feels thin) goes to the company officer, the water team lead, the vessel master, the dive supervisor, the JOHSC consultant or the near-miss system and gets an answer within 15 days (section 12).

(e) Learning link. Every water and ice response, every vessel voyage with an incident, every dive and every training evolution in the water gets a Tier 1 After-Action Review. Any member immersion that was not planned, any tether that would not release, any capsize, ejection or person overboard, any diver emergency, and any near miss with potential for death goes to Tier 2 Post-Incident Analysis. A death or critical injury is Tier 3 Independent Learning Review (The Human Factor, 2026a). Crew AAR questions: What did we try before anyone went in, and in what order? Who had flotation on, and when did they put it on? What would have made it easier to say the victim was no longer viable? Full method: Incident Investigation and Learning Program and Manual 02 - The Three Tiers and Event Triage.

• SWP - Ice Rescue
• SWP - Swiftwater Rescue
• SWP - Boat Operations
• Shore-based water rescue content (progression, throw bags, flotation rule) is written into the three procedures and the awareness training
• Drafting from open water: the water-edge rules in section 5.8, carried into the pump operator procedures of Apparatus, Driving and Roadway Operations Program
• Dive operations: the dive program manual (department-specific, built on 17.8)

• Form - Vessel Pre-Launch Checklist and Log
• Water rescue size-up and risk card (17.1); ice rescue checklist (17.2); boat pre-launch checklist and log summary (17.3); vessel safety equipment inventory (17.4); PFD and ice suit inspection record (17.5); operator competency matrix (17.6); capability matrix (17.7); dive operation plan template (17.8); training and competency sign-off (17.9); quarterly indicator worksheet (17.10)
• Retention: vessel logs for the life of the vessel plus the period in 05 Document Control and Records; diver logbooks and supervisor records for the period the applicable diving regulation sets (J29 Occupational Diving) and longer for any incident; PFD and suit records for the life of the item; training records for the member’s service plus the period in the records note.

Loop test. A volunteer firefighter reports on Monday that the station’s inflatable was launched on Saturday with a dead battery and no kill cord fitted. By Friday the vessel is out of service until fixed, the item is in the register with the vessel master as owner, and the firefighter has heard back. Within 30 days the pre-launch checklist is reissued with battery and kill cord as hard stops, every vessel in the department has been checked against it, operators have been briefed with a change notice, and the quarterly update reports it closed with the vessel readiness indicator attached.

Checklist: Checklist - Water, Ice and Marine Operations. The five questions first:

1. Show me the declaration by discipline and the mutual aid route for diving and for anything else you do not provide.
2. Show me a PFD from this apparatus and its last inspection, and tell me where the crew puts it on.
3. Pick a vessel: show me its registration, its equipment inventory, its last pre-launch log and the operator’s certificates.
4. Show me this season’s ice and swiftwater refresher records and who was in the water.
5. If you dive: show me the supervisor designation, the last dive plan and briefing, the divers’ medicals and the last air test. And when did a member last refuse to go in, and what happened to them?

Accreditation crosswalk. The declarations, capability matrix and annual appraisal evidence the technical rescue criterion for swift water and submersion risks, and the marine criterion where the department operates fireboats; the vessel maintenance records evidence the apparatus maintenance criterion; the hazard reporting and corrective action records evidence the occupational health and safety criterion (CPSE, 2019, criteria 5G.1, 5G.2, 5J.1, 5J.2, 6D.1, 11A.2, 11A.3).

Generic patterns from water and ice fatality investigations (NIOSH, n.d.-b) and Canadian inquest themes (05 Design Principles and Lessons Learned) this program answers:

• Rescuer drowning during training and operations: no PFD, untethered entry, swiftwater foot entrapment, a tether without a quick release. Controlled by 5.2, 5.4, 5.5.
• Boat capsizing and ejection: no kill cord, overloading, an inexperienced operator, a low-head dam approached from upstream. Controlled by 5.6.
• Ice rescue: the rescuer not suited, several rescuers on thin ice, no belay. Controlled by 5.5.
• Dive: solo diving, no standby diver, entanglement, poor visibility, inadequate medical screening, equipment not examined daily. Controlled by 5.9.
• Hypothermia and cold shock underestimated; long searches without rehab. Controlled by 5.3.
• Contaminated flood water exposures without decontamination. Controlled by 5.2 and Decontamination and Contamination Control Program.
• Task outside trained scope (water, ice and flood are the recurring Canadian examples). Controlled by 5.1 and the refresher indicators.

Stage 1 minimum. The declaration by discipline with mutual aid routes (5.1); the flotation rule and approved PFDs on every apparatus that responds near water (5.2); cold water content in training (5.3); the progression and throw-bag drills (5.4); ice and swiftwater procedures and pre-season refreshers at the declared level (5.5); every vessel registered, equipped, logged and operated by certified operators (5.6); drafting water-edge rules (5.8); the dive program meeting the regulation or a written “not provided” with a partner (5.9); one learning-team session on the first two minutes at a water call; the accountability loop (12).

Cost note. People: program manager and team about four hours a month; pre-season refreshers (one day per discipline per year for the team); operator certification time (PCOC and MED A3 are short courses; SVOP is several days). Money: approved PFDs for every member who responds near water and spares for vessels (low three figures each); ice rescue suits for the ice team (high three to low four figures each; confirm locally); swiftwater PFDs and helmets; throw bags on every apparatus; vessel safety equipment and annual service; operator courses; a dive program is a five-figure annual commitment in medicals, air testing, equipment service and training and many departments rightly leave it to a police or volunteer dive unit.

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.

Full form: Form - Vessel Pre-Launch Checklist and Log. Hard stops: operator certified for this vessel and water; kill cord fitted and worn; PFD on everyone; fuel, battery and bilge checked; radio tested; go criteria met (weather, wind, sea state, visibility, ice, daylight); shore contact and check-in set; person-overboard and engine-failure plan briefed.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH]. (n.d.-b). Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program [Program website and investigation reports]. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/firefighters/fffipp/index.html

Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development [MLITSD]. (n.d.). Firefighter guidance notes (Section 21 Advisory Committee; individual notes revised to 2026). https://www.ontario.ca/document/firefighter-guidance-notes

Transport Canada. (n.d.-d). Small commercial vessel safety guide (TP 14070). https://tc.canada.ca/en/marine-transportation/publications/tp-14070-small-commercial-vessel-safety-guide-2010