And another BEEP BEEP BEEP

[Gary D.]

The pager reads: 01: REPORT OF VEHICLE IN THE WATER IN BAYVIEW UNK IF OCCUPIED PATROL ENRT 6:12AM 5/23/06

It turned out to be unoccupied.

I’m sure glad because I didn’t get the page until around 0800 when I woke up. I didn’t get home until 0200 and slept right through the page.

That sucks.

Gary D.

 

[DennisW]

Gary,

Sometimes, you can get so tired that nearly nothing will wake you. You should probably be asleep anyway. I'm not sure how good we are when we are that tired. Doing a rescue or recovery could be pretty dangerous at that point.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Please don't take this wrong, but realistically with the time needed for a call to be made to dispatch, the response time required to get to (usually) remote aquatic locations and the need for 2-3 people on scene before anyone gets wet, are there ever any rescues, or are PSD's almost always going to be doing recoveries? It seems to be that aside from the occasional cold water drowning scenario, it's almost by default going to be too late to effect a rescue.

My reason for asking is a comment made by one of our local divers who is also a deputy sheriff in a wide ranging county who is more or less resigned to having to do certain life threatening activities without timely backup or support. His thoughts are that he is not sure if he arrived a few minutes after some one went down that he could wait 20, 30 or more minutes for other team members to arrive. He sees the need to potentially risk his life as going along with the job and is not real sure he could live with himself for essentially condmening the victim to die while sitting around and waiting.

The opposing view seems to be that attempting a solo rescue a few minutes after the accident would be a "cowboy" thing to do and would be very unprofessional in addition to being contrary to protocol and by implication dangerous.

What are other teams thoughts on this...other than being grateful after the fact that a vehicle was unoccupied?

 

[Gary D.]

Don’t fret DA we get asked this a lot.

With our divers scattered out throughout the area, some on duty already, a lot of our department being past team members and a big percentage of EMS people trained or having knowledge in rope work we can get wet quick. We strive to get wet in under three minutes from our arrival time.

One example that happened several years ago was in the dreaded Fernan Lake. We were all at home and/or in bed. A witness watched the accident and hit 911 on the cell phone.

We all had to get up and moving. I had about a 15-mile trip around a nasty narrow road. We got on scene and the only remaining victim was removed from the vehicle. He was transported to the hospital and arrived 42 minutes after getting wet.

Many of our calls get the victims to the hospital in less time than that and some much longer.

We train hard at getting there and wet fast and efficient. It has sure worked well over the years. If we only save one it will make it all worth while.

Now to just get all the ER Docs on the same sheet of music.

Gary D.

 

[suthnbelle]

Gary, from the time you get on scene how long does it take for you to set up your dive gear, get it on and start your search? Depending on the circumstance of course.

Thanks
Mel

 

[Gary D.]

Gary, from the time you get on scene how long does it take for you to set up your dive gear, get it on and start your search? Depending on the circumstance of course.

Thanks
Mel

From the time we arrive on scene until we hit the water is under three minutes. Double that for going under the ice. The FNG's are working on that.

Gary D.