With the summer heat here, many are heading to the beaches, rivers and lakes across North and South Carolina.
According to National Weather Service, there are roughly eight rip current drownings a year reported in the Carolinas. North Carolina has experienced four so far this year. Deaths are also common during the summer in North Carolina's lakes and rivers.
Because of this, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety held a water rescue exercise in Raleigh aimed at giving the future generation a head start on how to save a life.
What You Need To Know
Officials say body heat is lost 25 times faster in still water than in air at the same temperature
Self-preservation is vital to surviving in the water
Drowning deaths are reported regularly in lakes and rivers in North Carolina
A handful of North Carolina students took part in the training at Lake Wheeler.
“This is giving us training to do that [save a life],” said intern Marcus Davis.
Tuesday, the students were instructed to strap on their safety gear, load up their boats and paddle out. Then they were told to overturn their rafts.
‘’They are teaching us how to command the raft, how to place people in the raft so that the weight evens out,” said Davis.
N.C. DPS said the various exercises imitate a real-life situation.
Davis said he is up for the challenge. “You only live once, you got to live life,” he said.
This is his first time learning how to do a water rescue, Davis said, and it was a fun experience he will never forget.
The 19-year-old said the water rescue training has given him life-long skills, such as teamwork and active listening.
“That will help us get jobs in the future,” he explained.
The aviation unit also joined the exercise to demonstrate a helicopter rescue hoist training, which teaches people how to safely perform aerial rescues using a hoisting device.