- OSU Fire Service Training provides 2025 Oklahoma Swiftwater Rescue Conference & Competition
(OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 5, 2025) — Water rescues occur nearly every day in Oklahoma, where flash flooding is a recurring hazard and one of the deadliest severe weather threats. According to the National Weather Service, flash floods claim more than 100 lives annually in the United States and often place first responders themselves at significant risk.
Between 2000 and 2018, at least 300 rescuers lost their lives in U.S. water rescue operations, many in swiftwater environments.
That reality is what brought first responders from across the nation and around the world to Oklahoma City, where Oklahoma State University’s College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology’s Fire Service Training program recently hosted the 2025 Oklahoma Swiftwater Rescue Conference & Competition…