SACRAMENTO, California — The start of the busy season for volunteers with Sacramento's Drowning Accident Rescue Team has begun, and the emergency crew expects to be out every weekend until Labor Day.
"Drowning isn't like in the movies," Cole Glenwright of DART said. "It's not gonna be a loud big event. It could be them silently slipping below, and by the time you're realizing they need your help and are running down to get them, it could be too late."
On Memorial Day, the DART team was out on Tiscornia Beach raising awareness about safety and encouraging people to wear life-jackets.
"Today is all about public education - [a] kind of preventative medicine in a sense," Cole Glenwright of DART said. "We'd rather spend our time teaching kids how to wear a life jacket, put them on properly, to make sure they fit rather than responding to just rescues or recoveries."
What to know before heading out into the river during the summer
"The river topography is varied," Glenwright said. "You could be at a flat beach. This [beach] is a little different than what you're used to generally. This is a very flat beach that comes out and has a quick drop off."
Glenwright also said people need to be aware of the water's cold temperatures.
"If you fall off a boat here the cold temperature could put you in a state of shock and prevent you from using those swimming skills," Glenwright said.
Glenwright also recommends to know the self rescue position.
"If you're in a life-jacket, you'll be floating on the surface. What you want to do next is do what we call the self rescue position, which is your legs out in front of you floating downstream, your head up so you can see what's in front of you, and your arms up to the sides," Glenwright said.
Children under 13 are required to wear a life-jacket.