Management of Water and Flood Incidents (MWFI)
The Management of Water and Flood Incidents course is designed to meet the need for incident commanders at water and flood incidents to have the underpinning knowledge and skills to successfully manage such operations. Whilst it is not envisaged that such managers will need to have the same level of technical knowledge and skills as specialist water rescue teams, it is imperative that managers have a level of specific knowledge to be able to manage the event plus sufficient personal skills and experience to safely operate in the ‘warm’ zone at these incidents.
Contact hours
24 hours (4 days) if the candidates already hold in-date Rescue 3 Swiftwater and Flood First Responder (SFR) or above, without in-water elements.
30 hours (5 days) if the candidates also require Swiftwater and Flood First Responder (SFR) or above, including in-water elements.
Prerequisites:
- Must be a confident swimmer
- Minimum age: 18
Course content includes
- Rescue 3 philosophy
- Training standards
- Hydrology and water hazards
- Floodwater dynamics and hazards
- Flood theory
- Personal equipment
- Technical and team equipment
- Incident size-up
- Incident management and site control
- Medical and decontamination considerations
- Considerations for night/poor visibility operations
- Management of river and flood searches
- Communications
- Swiftwater swimming techniques
- Strainer swim
- Conditional rescues – talk, reach, throw
- Shallow water techniques
- Casualty management
- People and equipment entrapments
- Guidance and best practice documents
- Management of rescues from vehicles in water
- Weir risk assessment
- Pre-planning for water incidents
- Welfare considerations
- Management of powered boat operations
- Weather and flood warning information
- Local emergency flood plans
- Multi-agency command and control considerations
- Team typing and deployment of national assets
- Flood management exercise
- Inflated fire hose (if used by agency)
Course standard, learning outcomes and key teaching points
Rescue 3 Europe course standards, learning outcomes and key teaching points
The course standards, learning outcomes and key teaching points are provided as pre- and post-course reference for people involved in the delivery of Rescue 3 courses (eg Rescue 3 training providers, instructors and students). They are not to be used for any other purpose without the express written permission of Rescue 3 Europe.
Defra level:
Module 5 – Water & Flood Incident Management – Water-related operational and tactical incident command
View all Rescue 3 Europe Defra module courses
Qualification valid for:
3 years
Taught by:
- Management of Water and Flood Incidents Instructor (MWFII)
- Management of Water and Flood Incidents Instructor (MWFII) and Swiftwater and Flood Rescue First Responder Instructor (SFRI) (or above) if teaching with SFR-level in-water elements.
Recertification options
Instructor to student ratios
Student manual
The Water and Flood Incident Manager Handbook is supplied to students on the Rescue 3 MWFI course. Additional copies are also available to purchase online.
Water and Flood Incident Manager Handbook Form Downloads are also available for incident managers to use.
Instructor resources
Instructor resources for Rescue 3 courses can be accessed here.
