Chief Bernier and his team used one of our 15-foot LifeRamps through this past winter and provided us with valuable feedback on product performance and future design enhancements. They invited our Director of Engineering, Benoit Corbeil, and me to view one of their last ice training sessions of the season. They were also agreeable to video recording of the event.
This video, which you can now view here, would then be used by our engineers and for product demonstrations. We have worked with two very talented videographers, Thomas Philip, and Zach Schryver of Broken Elevator Productions in the past and we asked them to support our video efforts.
The date of April 8th 2021 was picked, a perfect area on the shores of the Ottawa River was selected and work with Chief Bernier and his team was confirmed. We were going to see the last day of ice training with our product.
Good news and bad news….
The good news was unseasonably mild and sunny conditions were being enjoyed all over Eastern Canada. The bad news was unseasonably mild and sunny conditions were being enjoyed all over Eastern Canada and therefore there was NO MORE ICE!
Nonetheless, the team of Pincourt Fire Fighters worked our products through a variety of open water scenarios. Our LifeRamp proved its adaptability and versatility, able to perform in this unforeseen weather without a hitch. They attached two 15-foot LifeRamps together and pushed it out from shore and allowed a victim to grab the raft and be retrieved to shore. This victim of course was one of their colleagues, safely guarded from the cold water by a dry floatation suit and tethered to a line held by someone on shore. The same victim found himself drifting farther from shore into the fast-moving Ottawa River. Two fire fighters rapidly paddled the LifeRamp out into the fast water, pulled their colleague onto the rescue surface and paddled safely back to the river’s edge. The final scenario recreated a situation where people would be stranded on dry land due to flooding. They would need to be extracted back to safety. A heavy line was drawn between shore and a small island. A fore and aft line was attached to the LifeRamp along with pulleys on the heavy line strung to the island. The LifeRamp was then used as a ferry to move the stranded people safely back to dry land.
Thomas and Zach from Broken Elevators had cameras on shore, on the LifeRamp and even used a camera mounted on a drone. We were able to capture useful footage that became the basis of a short video we produced to support our product marketing efforts.
We will have to wait until next winter to get those ice-rescue scenarios captured on video. We will be sure to do so while ice still sits on the waterways around Montreal. We were very fortunate though to have a great day to be on the shores of the Ottawa River, with highly trained and skilled first responders using a product we have designed for a variety of rescue situations. The sun and water made for a great backdrop for our video. Here is hoping we have a snowy, cold day next winter to video the ice rescues we had originally envisioned.
Thanks to Biernat Fire Service and Chief Yannick Bernier of the Pincourt Fire Department for working with us. Thanks also to Zach and Thomas for their work shooting and editing this beautiful and informative video about our LifeRamp.
As they say…. “enjoy the show!”