1319 hours pagers go off. Dive team respond to Rose Lake boat launch, Male in the water below Watsons Resort.
The team rolls but I dont hear the pager. We do have other things to do in life. But at 1347 hours dispatch calls and tells me to expedite.
1348 Im in service and enroute. Traffic on the freeway was nice to me today as I drove right past our last drowning location. Made it through 10 miles of road construction like academy driver training. At 1402 hours the hail hits hard for around 5 miles. At 1409 hours Im on scene after a 37-mile trip.
One team is already in the water searching in good vis for Rose Lake. 2-3 feet in the 300-acre lake is fantastic. This team has started from the last seen point headed towards the canoe a half a mile away.
My group starts from the canoe and works back. On the canoe are 3 fishing poles, tackle, Lots of ICEHOUSE beer and a couple of grams of pot. He had been drinking beer and smoking pot when he fell out of the canoe. Putting a PFD on board would have taken up beer room so lets not take one.
At 1606 hours we have a find that could cause even the most seasoned PSD to mess his drawers.
Dear old Larry, a male in his 50s, is standing on the bottom in around 8 of water. Yup, just standing theyre looking right at us. Right hand near his belt buckle, left hand holding onto a marine plant, glasses on, eyes wide open with a smile on his face. He looked more natural than we did.
We check the area, take measurements and photos and package him up.
Were back at the boat ramp with old Larry on the dock in a body bag when some idiot is launching a 12 Johnboat. I ask him where his PFD is. I dont need one Im a good swimmer. I look at this idiot and ask him if he was a diver. He says no. I asked him if he thought divers were better swimmers than regular swimmers. He says Yes I think they are. I point to Larrys body and say he was fishing 150 from shore, fell in and couldnt make it to shore because of the cold water. And guess what, Larry is a certified diver. Besides the law says you need one. He leaves with his tail between his legs.
We are debriefing on scene and will do another one at the office when we clear the scene.
A snotty nose kid comes up and asks why he wasnt called to assist. We respond with something like who are you and why would we call you?
Oh, Im the areas RESCUE DIVER. Your what? He proceeds to tell us how he just finished his training down in California and has passed the word around the area he can do the rescue work faster and better than we can. Now we know these people are inner-bread for sure.
We ask what kind of rescue diver he was and he proudly spouted out with PADI Rescue diver. He was taken away from the scene by some of the brass that was there. We never saw him again after the trip into the woods.
6.5 hours later we are done and back at home getting the yucky pooooo stink out of my gear. Looks like we might be getting back to normal after a 2-year slump.
We had the fire rescue truck on stand-by but that location takes them better than 45 minutes to get to so unless we are going to use them we dont have them respond.
Should be up 7 or 8 times tonight. It just never changes.
Gary D.
ps: I almost forgot. Being the high paid team that we are, I made $3.25 on this one. Please don't let the IRS know.
The team rolls but I dont hear the pager. We do have other things to do in life. But at 1347 hours dispatch calls and tells me to expedite.
1348 Im in service and enroute. Traffic on the freeway was nice to me today as I drove right past our last drowning location. Made it through 10 miles of road construction like academy driver training. At 1402 hours the hail hits hard for around 5 miles. At 1409 hours Im on scene after a 37-mile trip.
One team is already in the water searching in good vis for Rose Lake. 2-3 feet in the 300-acre lake is fantastic. This team has started from the last seen point headed towards the canoe a half a mile away.
My group starts from the canoe and works back. On the canoe are 3 fishing poles, tackle, Lots of ICEHOUSE beer and a couple of grams of pot. He had been drinking beer and smoking pot when he fell out of the canoe. Putting a PFD on board would have taken up beer room so lets not take one.
At 1606 hours we have a find that could cause even the most seasoned PSD to mess his drawers.
Dear old Larry, a male in his 50s, is standing on the bottom in around 8 of water. Yup, just standing theyre looking right at us. Right hand near his belt buckle, left hand holding onto a marine plant, glasses on, eyes wide open with a smile on his face. He looked more natural than we did.
We check the area, take measurements and photos and package him up.
Were back at the boat ramp with old Larry on the dock in a body bag when some idiot is launching a 12 Johnboat. I ask him where his PFD is. I dont need one Im a good swimmer. I look at this idiot and ask him if he was a diver. He says no. I asked him if he thought divers were better swimmers than regular swimmers. He says Yes I think they are. I point to Larrys body and say he was fishing 150 from shore, fell in and couldnt make it to shore because of the cold water. And guess what, Larry is a certified diver. Besides the law says you need one. He leaves with his tail between his legs.
We are debriefing on scene and will do another one at the office when we clear the scene.
A snotty nose kid comes up and asks why he wasnt called to assist. We respond with something like who are you and why would we call you?
Oh, Im the areas RESCUE DIVER. Your what? He proceeds to tell us how he just finished his training down in California and has passed the word around the area he can do the rescue work faster and better than we can. Now we know these people are inner-bread for sure.
We ask what kind of rescue diver he was and he proudly spouted out with PADI Rescue diver. He was taken away from the scene by some of the brass that was there. We never saw him again after the trip into the woods.
6.5 hours later we are done and back at home getting the yucky pooooo stink out of my gear. Looks like we might be getting back to normal after a 2-year slump.
We had the fire rescue truck on stand-by but that location takes them better than 45 minutes to get to so unless we are going to use them we dont have them respond.
Should be up 7 or 8 times tonight. It just never changes.
Gary D.
ps: I almost forgot. Being the high paid team that we are, I made $3.25 on this one. Please don't let the IRS know.
