Rescuers coordinate to cut water rescue response times

A coordinated approach between all agencies involved in search, rescue and recovery operations in Galway City waterways has seen the response time of the emergency services plummet from up to 40 minutes to less than two minutes.

The drastic improvement in responding to water emergencies has led to more people being saved in the critical first hour after they enter the River Corrib, Superintendent Kevin Gately told a Galway City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting.

All services – including the Gardaí, the RNLI, Coastguard and Fire Brigade – were now in constant touch with each other over a secure Tetra radio system once the alarm was raised.

The use of a tool developed by the Marine Institute identifying wind speed and tidal changes improved the ability of emergency services to track a person once in the water.

The RNLI – the volunteer rescue service – now also deployed a mannequin into the water which aims to replicate the movement of the person once they hit the fast-moving current.

As well as saving more people, all of these measures had resulted in the quicker recovery of bodies, giving some comfort to devastated families who at times had to wait for four weeks to reclaim their loved ones.

In a presentation to the JPC, Supt Gately and Mike Swan, manager of the Galway Lifeboat Station of the RNLI, asked for support in erecting two new thermal cameras to improve search and rescue and recovery operations.

One would be located in the Claddagh Basin, the other on Galway Harbour Company headquarters. This would help pinpoint the location of where the person entered the water, which was crucial when trying to ascertain quickly which direction the water would carry them.

Often visitors who reported seeing a person enter the water did not know which part of the river it occurred.

“There’s a golden hour to get a person out and bring them back to life,” remarked Mr Swan.

He explained that it was their experience that once many people hit the extremely cold water of the Corrib they regretted their decision and dearly wanted to be saved.

Supt Gately said the two cameras would cost in the region of €20,000.

Galway City Mayor, Cllr Niall McNelis, told the meeting that the body of his late father-in-law was never recovered from the water in Dublin, which created a huge mental strain on a family.

He called on Galway City Council to immediately publish the water safety audit, which had been completed two years ago. He had secured €5,000 in the city budget to help fund these cameras which he now wanted to be released.

“This is the key part of the jigsaw that will help families,” he pleaded.

Cllr Frank Fahy (FG) said his brother had drowned in the Thames River in the UK in 1983 while he had been rescued. Emergency services had recovered the body of his brother, giving some solace to his family that he could be brought home to be buried.

A motion proposed by Cllr McNelis calling on Galway City Council to allocate €5,000 towards the thermal cameras was seconded by Cllr Peter Keane and passed unanimously. The remaining cost could be funded by a national scheme for CCTV cameras.