I wrote this a year ago for something else. I edited it a little at the bottom but this kind of describes our job.
Gary D.
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Marginal Duties: (These duties include, but are not limited to the following.)
Diving and Water Rescue/Recovery as it applies to law enforcement.
The Kootenai County Dive Rescue/Recovery Team is responsible for all water related accidents or incidents where one or more victims sink after failing to remain on the surface of the water. The team conducts underwater accident and criminal investigations. The team makes recoveries of a wide variety of items both small and large. As an example, those items can range from a piece of jewelry to a cruise boat.
To become a PSD (Public Safety Diver) the certification requirements are much higher than a civilian SCUBA diver. The PSD is closer to a Commercial or Military Diver than it is to Civilian Sport Diving. PSD certifications, unlike civilian certifications, must be renewed annually to every three years. Some of these certifications can be done as a team while others are done at the PSDs own expense and on personal time. Physical fitness must also be tested annually to ensure a high degree of fitness. To maintain a proper level of fitness requires a lot of personal time.
The PSD is at much greater risk for an accident than the Civilian, Commercial or Military Diver. Several PSDs die every year in accidents that were work related. The percentage of deaths and injuries for the PSD is much greater than SAWT (Special Weapons and Tactics) or other teams of a similar nature. This is not just speculation but from published national statistics.
One of the many reasons for so many accidents is the nature of the dive itself. In most every type of diving there is a saying that insures a great deal of safety. It is simply to, Plan your dive and dive your plan. This is impossible to do as a PSD. One cant plan on when, where or how a rescue will occur and they never happen during ideal conditions. Like many other teams the PSD is on call and with a pager 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in all weather conditions.
There are times where we have gotten up from a Christmas dinner, leave a movie theater in mid movie, leave a loaded grocery cart in the isle or even leave a childs ball game or school play to respond to a call to possibly save a life while risking ours.
Quite often we are at home in bed sound asleep. The pager goes off directing us to a location with a brief description of the accident. Within two to three minutes we are up, dressed and out the door to the patrol car. Within seconds we are driving to the location with lights and siren while trying to get a diving game plan going in your head. All this while still insuring the publics safety.
We get on scene of the dive and have to be briefed on what has happened. While that briefing is going on we are in the process of getting into our dive gear. We have to have a better knowledge of our equipment than any other style of diving. We cant stop and think about what goes where it has to be instinctive. In other styles of diving this could prove fatal for the diver.
Once that briefing has given us the information we need and a second diver is on scene we hit the water and begin a search for a possible victim(s). All this has taken place in three minutes or less from our time of arrival on scene.
Most of our rescues occur at night. Using artificial lights we proceed into the depths of an environment that is much more hostile than Outer Space. Incase you didnt know, man has walked on the moon several times while man has never been to the deepest depths of the ocean. An attempt was made way back in the 60s to reach the bottom of the ocean but didnt quite do it. Even with all the modern technology of todays society it hasnt been accomplished.
Once on the bottom we have to locate a target, which in many cases is a motor vehicle. Chances of it being damaged with sharp jagged metal are a real possibility because to get to where it is involves an accident.
Getting into a vehicle, with all the extra diving gear we are wearing creates other hazards. Entanglement, getting cut, getting trapped from an unstable vehicle moving off a steep bank and chemicals in the water are among a few of the hazards. All this needs to be done in low to zero visibility.
Once inside a submerged vehicle one or more victims might need to be removed and returned to the surface. If we are within the Golden Hour (for us its two hours) where we have a chance at saving a persons life the trip to the surface is quick and direct, which puts the diver at great risk for Decompression Sickness, more commonly known as the Bends. If there is more than one victim and multiple trips have to be made, each trip compounds the danger the diver is exposed to. Each trip the diver makes should involve at least a 3-minute Safety Stop at 15 feet to off gas some of the dissolved nitrogen the body has absorbed during the dive. During a rescue the Safety Stop is not done as it cuts into the precious Golden Hour the victim has.
Rescue diving breaks almost every safety rule there is for sport diving. So a strong more rigorous training schedule is needed to ensure the divers safety. The PSD must have a greater knowledge of their equipment and how it functions more than any other type of diving. The lack of knowledge and training leads to fatal accidents with this assignment. The PSD must also be versed and knowledgeable in water related medical problems and how to treat and handle the situations
Recovery Diving for the PSD is quite different from Rescue Diving.
Speed is normally not an issue so there is time to plan a dive tailored to the job at hand. The style of diving we will use depends on visibility and the size of the item we are looking for. Should it require us to search close to the bottom or even into the muddy bottom fish hooks and fishing line are a real life-threatening problem. Some modern day fishing lines are very strong and cant be cut with a knife. Getting tangled up in them can be a serious problem for the diver and these lines are in common use today.
Go to page 2
_________________________________________________________________________
Gary D.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Marginal Duties: (These duties include, but are not limited to the following.)
Diving and Water Rescue/Recovery as it applies to law enforcement.
The Kootenai County Dive Rescue/Recovery Team is responsible for all water related accidents or incidents where one or more victims sink after failing to remain on the surface of the water. The team conducts underwater accident and criminal investigations. The team makes recoveries of a wide variety of items both small and large. As an example, those items can range from a piece of jewelry to a cruise boat.
To become a PSD (Public Safety Diver) the certification requirements are much higher than a civilian SCUBA diver. The PSD is closer to a Commercial or Military Diver than it is to Civilian Sport Diving. PSD certifications, unlike civilian certifications, must be renewed annually to every three years. Some of these certifications can be done as a team while others are done at the PSDs own expense and on personal time. Physical fitness must also be tested annually to ensure a high degree of fitness. To maintain a proper level of fitness requires a lot of personal time.
The PSD is at much greater risk for an accident than the Civilian, Commercial or Military Diver. Several PSDs die every year in accidents that were work related. The percentage of deaths and injuries for the PSD is much greater than SAWT (Special Weapons and Tactics) or other teams of a similar nature. This is not just speculation but from published national statistics.
One of the many reasons for so many accidents is the nature of the dive itself. In most every type of diving there is a saying that insures a great deal of safety. It is simply to, Plan your dive and dive your plan. This is impossible to do as a PSD. One cant plan on when, where or how a rescue will occur and they never happen during ideal conditions. Like many other teams the PSD is on call and with a pager 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in all weather conditions.
There are times where we have gotten up from a Christmas dinner, leave a movie theater in mid movie, leave a loaded grocery cart in the isle or even leave a childs ball game or school play to respond to a call to possibly save a life while risking ours.
Quite often we are at home in bed sound asleep. The pager goes off directing us to a location with a brief description of the accident. Within two to three minutes we are up, dressed and out the door to the patrol car. Within seconds we are driving to the location with lights and siren while trying to get a diving game plan going in your head. All this while still insuring the publics safety.
We get on scene of the dive and have to be briefed on what has happened. While that briefing is going on we are in the process of getting into our dive gear. We have to have a better knowledge of our equipment than any other style of diving. We cant stop and think about what goes where it has to be instinctive. In other styles of diving this could prove fatal for the diver.
Once that briefing has given us the information we need and a second diver is on scene we hit the water and begin a search for a possible victim(s). All this has taken place in three minutes or less from our time of arrival on scene.
Most of our rescues occur at night. Using artificial lights we proceed into the depths of an environment that is much more hostile than Outer Space. Incase you didnt know, man has walked on the moon several times while man has never been to the deepest depths of the ocean. An attempt was made way back in the 60s to reach the bottom of the ocean but didnt quite do it. Even with all the modern technology of todays society it hasnt been accomplished.
Once on the bottom we have to locate a target, which in many cases is a motor vehicle. Chances of it being damaged with sharp jagged metal are a real possibility because to get to where it is involves an accident.
Getting into a vehicle, with all the extra diving gear we are wearing creates other hazards. Entanglement, getting cut, getting trapped from an unstable vehicle moving off a steep bank and chemicals in the water are among a few of the hazards. All this needs to be done in low to zero visibility.
Once inside a submerged vehicle one or more victims might need to be removed and returned to the surface. If we are within the Golden Hour (for us its two hours) where we have a chance at saving a persons life the trip to the surface is quick and direct, which puts the diver at great risk for Decompression Sickness, more commonly known as the Bends. If there is more than one victim and multiple trips have to be made, each trip compounds the danger the diver is exposed to. Each trip the diver makes should involve at least a 3-minute Safety Stop at 15 feet to off gas some of the dissolved nitrogen the body has absorbed during the dive. During a rescue the Safety Stop is not done as it cuts into the precious Golden Hour the victim has.
Rescue diving breaks almost every safety rule there is for sport diving. So a strong more rigorous training schedule is needed to ensure the divers safety. The PSD must have a greater knowledge of their equipment and how it functions more than any other type of diving. The lack of knowledge and training leads to fatal accidents with this assignment. The PSD must also be versed and knowledgeable in water related medical problems and how to treat and handle the situations
Recovery Diving for the PSD is quite different from Rescue Diving.
Speed is normally not an issue so there is time to plan a dive tailored to the job at hand. The style of diving we will use depends on visibility and the size of the item we are looking for. Should it require us to search close to the bottom or even into the muddy bottom fish hooks and fishing line are a real life-threatening problem. Some modern day fishing lines are very strong and cant be cut with a knife. Getting tangled up in them can be a serious problem for the diver and these lines are in common use today.
Go to page 2
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