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SACRAMENTO—

Every week, thousands of people use the American River for floating, swimming or fishing.

Around every bend there is something new and exciting.

But, what might be fun one minute can turn deadly another.

“The San Juan rapids at Howe Avenue and Tiscornia Park, which is Discovery Park by many people’s definition, are the three areas where we have the majority of our drownings,” said John Mohamed, a training officer for DART.

Just a couple of weeks ago when I was floating the American River, two teens nearly drowned near the San Juan rapids.

Luckily, several boaters were nearby to help. But it’s these scary scenarios that the Drowning Accident Rescue Team practices for every month.

“We’re only as good as our training. We try to make our training more difficult than the real life scenarios,” Mohabed said.

The team practices swimming in eddies, throwing drag lines to people being swept away in fast moving water, and looking for people drowning.

“Drowning is a silent killer. You can be within two-arm reaches of somebody and not even realize they are drowning,” said Kelly McFarlane with DART.

The signs are easy to spot when you know what to look for.

“And you will see their mouth go below and above the water line … they won’t be able to talk, so you can ask them if you are not sure. Say, ‘Hey are you okay?’ If they can’t even say anything then it’s probably a good idea to do some sort of assistance,” McFarlane said.

The Sacramento Fire Department also practiced their swift water skills at Discovery Park Wednesday. And while they practiced separate from the DART team, they are all practicing the same type of skills so that, if there is a mass emergency, they can get together work together and help save lives.