Swift Water Rescue Team (S.W.R.T.)

S.W.R.T in 2006 The Sutter County Sheriff’s Office started the Swift Water Rescue Team in response to a growing need to provide water rescue in our area. The 1997 flood magnified this need and funds were obtained to purchase additional equipment to make the team fully functional.

Sutter County has several large bodies of moving water including, the Sacramento, Feather and Bear Rivers, the Sutter Bypass, and numerous canals and small tributary streams. As water rescue responders, the team has been called upon to respond to these county waterways to provide assistance in numerous incidents. The team has been called to respond to incidents where boats have become stranded or capsized, assist in removing flood victims, or those that have been overcome and stranded trying to utilize a flooded roadway.

S.W.R.T Helicopter Rescue The SWRT is a group of highly trained individuals who risk their own personal safety in an attempt to rescue others. Training is comprised of both water work, use of safety equipment, and an injection of special aids such as in combination with the CHP helicopter.

During a training exercise at Camp Far West Lake, the Sutter County Sheriff's Swift Water Rescue Team practiced a helicopter rescue technique where a team member is suspended on a rope beneath a California Highway Patrol Helicopter that lowers the team member to the person to be rescued. The rescue is then lifted out of the water and brought to dry land.