The Mason City Fire Department conducted a boat training exercise at the Big Blue pit Thursday. Firefighters were working on how to recover a drowning victim from the water. Mason City Fire Lt. Jon Anderson said pulling someone from the water into the department’s inflatable boat is difficult, so that’s what they were practicing. The department got the boat, which has a 25-horsepower engine, about 15 years ago. They do training exercises with it a couple of times a year. If the Fire Department gets a report about a possible drowning, they find out the last point on the water where the person was seen and start from there, Anderson said. Although the department doesn’t have a dive rescue team anymore, it does have an underwater camera, he said. In addition to Big Blue, there are other pits in Mason City where people can drown, according to Anderson. There’s also the Winnebago River.