Roles & Responsibilities

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department has established a Swiftwater Rescue Team that comprises officers from the search and rescue unit, dive team, and marine services. Officers go through extensive training and are specially equipped to respond within moments of a swiftwater page to the rivers and streams in Pierce County.

Hazardous Situations

Moving water poses an especially hazardous environment to people playing in and around our rivers and to responders who must respond to those in trouble. When rising floodwaters strand people in their homes or when motorists attempt to drive across flooded roads the hazards are extreme. Every year in the United States, hundreds of people die from drowning and many of those are due to flooding of rivers and creeks. Every fall, Pierce County rivers have the potential to flood and have flooded with devastating results several times in the last 10 years. The Swiftwater Rescue Team has 26 trained officers and in the last five years they have responded to dozens of lifesaving incidents, recovered a number of bodies and have removed many vehicles from the rivers of our county.

Team Members

The Sheriff's Department has trained firefighters and volunteers to the same standard as our deputies and when a call goes out for a swiftwater rescue the response system includes local fire departments as well as deputies. Divers, search and rescue coordinators, boat operators and fire fighters all work together to give the fastest and most effective rescue response possible to those in need. The team has been called on several occasions to assist other jurisdictions.