Firefighter who survived half hour underwater leaves rehab center

Firefighter who survived half hour underwater leaves rehab center CINCINNATI (AP) - A firefighter who fell into a river during a training exercise and spent nearly 30 minutes underwater survived because the river's cold temperatures slowed his body function and minimized damage to his vital organs, doctors said. Chris Gabbard, 32, left a rehabilitation center Friday about 30 pounds lighter but without any apparent brain damage. "I'd like to thank everybody for coming out today and seeing me off," Gabbard said at a short news conference at the Drake Center, where he spent a month working with therapists. Gabbard and about 12 members of the Hamilton Fire Department were conducting an annual training exercise April 17 on the Great Miami River when one of their boats overturned. John Hansbauer, 35, received injuries to his legs and spine, and Gabbard spent between 20 and 30 minutes underwater, fire officials said. Initially treated at a hospital in Hamilton, Gabbard had a body temperature of 80 degrees - about 19 degrees below normal. A pacemaker kept his heart beating during a subsequent helicopter flight to University Hospital in Cincinnati. "I think one of the things that worked in Chris' favor was the water was cold," said Dr. Joseph Segal, part of the Drake medical team that worked with Gabbard. "So there was some hypothermia initially and that slows everything down. We know that with brain injuries there's less damage long term if there's hypothermia." Gabbard, surrounded by his wife and two small children as he left the rehab center, then hopped onto a Hamilton fire truck that was waiting to take him back to the station. "He had his head out the window, smiling and waving at everyone," said firefighter Joe Stamper. "It was so great to see him like that." With a broad smile, Gabbard entered the fire station and hung up his jacket and helmet, a symbolic gesture signaling the end of his shift - something he'd been waiting to do since the accident. "That felt good," he said. It's not clear when Gabbard and Hansbauer will return to duty. Both will continue physical therapy at their homes. Hamilton Fire Chief Joe Schutte said the department's investigation into the accident should wrap up in the next two to three weeks. ____________________ Man Overboard Survives Nearly 30 Minutes Underwater Thursday, June 14, 2007 CINCINNATI (AP) - An Ohio firefighter who went overboard during a training exercise on the Great Miami River spent nearly 30 minutes underwater - but he survived, thanks to the river's cold temperatures that slowed his body functions and minimized damage to vital organs. Chris Gabbard, 32, left a rehabilitation center June 1, about 30 pounds lighter but without any apparent brain damage. Gabbard and about 12 other members of the Hamilton Fire Department were conducting an annual training exercise April 17 on the river, when their boat overturned. After spending between 20 and 30 minutes underwater, Gabbard was taken to a hospital in Hamilton, with a body temperature of 80 degrees. A pacemaker kept his heart beating during a subsequent helicopter trip to University Hospital in Cincinnati. "There was some hypothermia initially, and that slows everything down," explained Dr. Joseph Segal, a member of the Drake medical team that worked on Gabbard. "We know that with brain injuries, there's less damage long-term if there's hypothermia." Gabbard was released from the hospital and is continuing physical therapy at home. ______________________________ River's 'boil' gets the blame Hamilton releases report on training-exercise accident BY JANICE MORSE | JMORSE@ENQUIRER.COM HAMILTON -- The "boil" of the Great Miami River's low-level dam is "a drowning machine," investigators say. Anyone or anything that ventures too close gets pulled in - and rarely gets out. The water churns its prey around and around. And that is how water - usually a firefighter's strongest ally - turned against Hamilton firefighters during an April training drill, pulling one firefighter under water for nearly 25 minutes, seriously injuring another and imperiling two others. City fire officials on Tuesday released a detailed, but preliminary, internal investigation of the near-deadly April 17 accident and the factors that contributed to it. Their report also recommends changes in water-rescue training procedures and points out that disaster was averted because lots of people responded correctly on a day when lots of other things went wrong. "It's a domino effect of reasons" why the accident happened, said Deputy Chief Steve Dawson. The Neilan Boulevard low-level dam was constructed in the late 1980s to make the water deep enough for recreational boating and fishing. Since then, there has been a risk of boaters getting trapped in the boil. Firefighters have been taught to use a "two-boat tether" technique to rescue them. To learn how, firefighters practice by taking two inflated boats connected with a line close to the boil to rescue a simulated "victim." More than 1,000 times in past years, firefighters have done that drill without incident. On just three occasions, one boat was pulled into the "backwash" of the boil, but the second boat was able to maneuver the primary boat to safety. But on April 17, the outcome was different. The primary boat got too close to the boil. That likely happened because moving water plays tricks on people's ability to judge distances, Dawson said. The second boat was tethered too closely to the first one - and therefore couldn't complete a turn to help pull its partner boat out of danger. The result: The water upended the second boat, throwing firefighters John Hansbauer and Chris Gabbard into the raging water. Firefighters watching from shore tossed a rope to those who were trapped in the first boat, Dan Bagley and Dan Baumann. They pulled themselves to safety, hand-over-hand. Hansbauer was flushed out of the boil and was able to swim toward safety, still wearing his life jacket. But Gabbard fared far worse. His buddies saw him "re-circulating" in the boil, as the water ripped off his T-shirt, helmet and even his life jacket, leaving him in just his pants. Horrified colleagues scrambled to save Gabbard. They succeeded partly because Gabbard had become entangled in a rope that was still connected to the primary boat, which was still floating. They attached a line from an ambulance to the boat, and managed to pull Gabbard out along the way. If not for that tangled rope, "we would have been doing a body recovery," not a rescue, Dawson said. "Some call it luck. Others call it the hand of God. But that was the start of the miracle." Gabbard, 32, survived without brain damage and is expected to return to full duty despite his prolonged period underwater. All the department can do now is to try to prevent a recurrence - and see whether engineers can do anything to make the low-level dam safer, Chief Joe Schutte said. River-rescue training will resume, Schutte said. The final internal report could take up to a year to complete. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources also are investigating. ______________________________ Recommendations from a seven-member committee of Hamilton Fire Department officials include: Retraining the entire department on swift-water rescue techniques prior to going into the water again, including proper and consistent identification of the "boil line," or the point a boat should not cross. During two-boat operations, the primary boat must remain a distance of one boat length from the boil line. Tether distances will be no less than 100 feet. Everyone during training should continue wearing life jackets even while watching from ashore. This will allow firefighters to be ready to respond to problems. Ensuring that a "safety officer" is designated to oversee training exercises.