Sibley, Iowa — The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office has added to their arsenal of lifesaving equipment with the addition of a device designed for water rescue situations.
Sheriff Doug Weber says the ARM-LOC device is designed to slide onto a victim’s forearm, at which point a lanyard is pulled that causes a CO2 cartridge inside the ARM-LOC to inflate the device, which allows the victim to be pulled from the water with the use of the attached rope without the need for the victim to actually hold onto a rope during the rescue process. He says the device can also help the victim float if it’s pulled in close to the chest. Weber says it can be deployed in seconds, and is completely reusable. The Sheriff says the device can be especially useful in rescuing panicked victims without putting rescuers at risk.
Weber says that, while the ARM-LOC is designed for water rescues, it can also be used to help extricate someone who is becoming trapped in grain, as well as any situation where the person in need of rescue is out of reach of potential rescuers.
He says he thinks it would be particularly helpful in rescues from frozen bodies of water.
Weber says that, due to the cost of the units, his office currently has only one, but he hopes to equip each of his deputies patrol vehicles with one of these devices as time goes by, since they are most often the first rescuers able to reach a scene.
