Crews complete water rescue training off Gaviota Coast

The sound of helicopter blades could be heard along U.S. Highway 101 near Gaviota State Beach Wednesday afternoon.

Santa Barbara County Fire, along with assistance from the United States Coast Guard, carried out their quarterly ocean rescue training at Gaviota. Two helicopters and several specialized dive team members were practicing for the next big rescue.

“This is a quarterly exercise that we have to do,” Santa Barbara County Fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni said. “Part of the exercise was simulating a malfunction with our helicopter and that’s when the Coast Guard came in to assist with the retrieval of the victims.”

This multi-agency coordination was put to use in Montecito in the hours following the mudslide on January 9, 2018. While the conditions were much different for today’s training many of the same flight crew members participated.

“These are situations we consider high risk, low frequency,” said Santa Barbara County Fire Department’s Daniel Bertucelli. “Training for these calls is so important because we don’t get to practice these calls every often.”

Wednesday’s ocean training lasted a few hours ending in the early afternoon. Crews say everything was successful.