The rain expected this week is just the beginning of what could be a wet and rainy spring and there is always the potential for flash flooding.

In that moment, when someone is trapped in water, the Tulsa Fire Department’s specialized rescue unit responds.

At Tulsa Fire Station #4, just south of downtown Tulsa, you’ll find a boat right next to a fire truck.

The specialized rescue unit with TFD is based at that station.

They have extensive training including swift water rescue, confined spaces rescue, and high angle rescue.

Tulsa Firefighter Jason Smart tells KRMG that many people underestimate the power and force of water.

“What you can’t see below the surface are sticks, rocks, open sewer holes, anything like that that you could fall in, lose your footing and become trapped underneath.  If the water is moving fast, it can pin you underneath or into something and those are the things that they really don’t show- people getting tangled in trees, trapped under cars,” says Smart.

He explains the members of the rescue unit train year round for different rescue scenarios.

“You know in order to practice swift water rescue, you have to have swift water so we try to do that training at times of the year when we some place where we can go and get in to swift water,” says Smart.

Each member of the rescue unit had to complete 240 hours of training before joining the unit.

This is the same unit that responds to calls of people that are trapped on sand bars in the Arkansas River.

The unit also spends an extensive amount of time training with the equipment.

The Tulsa Fire Department has a number of RDCs, or rapid deployment crafts, (think banana boats with motors) positioned across town for rapid response.