HOUSTON (CW39) – Tuesday morning at the T.C. Jester Pool, Houston Fire members were sharpening their skills in the water for water related rescues. With hurricane season right around the corner, they want to be prepared for whatever mother nature throws there way.

Rescues in high waters can occur not only in the case of hurricanes, but also in flash flooding events, and vehicular crashes that send a car overboard from a small bridge, or off road into a lake or bayou.

“The idea came from a few incidents that happen across the nation, and the rollover simulator is similar to the one used by offshore drilling rigs (T-HUET). The most notable incident happened at Fort Hood in 2016, and 9 members of the Army’s First Calvary lost their lives.”, said Beau Mareno with Houston Fire Dept.

“A second incident happened in North Carolina during hurricane Florence”, Beau added.

He states, “The simulator was designed and built by Houston firefighters, and as far as we know it’s the only one of its kind. This is training that has never been done by Houston firefighters, and we are excited to be leading the charge.”

If you are ever in a situation where you need to get out of a submerged vehicle, Beau tells us to just remember POGO!

Genuinely curious, CW39 Houston Meteorologist Carrigan Chauvin wanted to be certain that if a situation arose that required her to get out of a submerged car, she could get out!

She took on the challenge and seamlessly remembered POGO, the acronym that Beau mentioned, and used that information to escape.

WATCH BELOW as she unclips the seat belt, opens the door, and swims to safety.

P-Pop your seatbelt

O-Open your door/window

G-Get

O-Out

Information like this can be live saving in these situations. Not only are the members of HFD training their own members to be safe and prepared so that they continue to help others, but they are also sharing the information about ways that we can keep ourselves safe so that emergencies do not arise.