how often do you get a dive call/ how often do you train

[scubaranger]

Ok I wish I could put this in survey form but here goes. My question is to all PSD police or fire rescue paid or volunteer.

1) How often do you have a dive call?

2) How often do you train or what is required of your training to stay current?

3) How often do you dive on a recreational aspect.

 

[scubaranger]

I've been a PSD for only a year and I've been a diver for just a little longer then that. You got to start some where. To answer my question.


1) so far this year I've had two dive calls both I was the safety diver. One was a stolen car the next was a no dive due to at the last minute found out their was no one in the water.

2)this year I've done one training dive. what is required is a minimum of 12 dives, six of those can be recreational.

3) I logged 30 dives last year and I hope to match that or more this year.

 

[Gary D.]

This is a tough one to answer just because of the nature of our work.

We train 2 days a month 10 months out of the year. Some training days are just a dive or two and others can be to many to be fun. Some of our certifications have to be redone every three years. I think I’m all done with the re-certification process.

Some of us dive more than others on the team. Two of us do quite a bit of commercial work as well as a lot of sport dives. Some don’t dive unless we nudge them a little.

As far as call-outs go it’s hard to say. We have had years with over 200 calls where we got wet on most of them. We have had years with 100 calls and only gotten wet a few times and we have had years with little or no calls. The past two years have been very quiet but we are making up for lost ground. The most calls I can remember in one day, 8 and we got wet on all of them.

Just a hard business to predict what might happen. We have other local teams that haven had a call in the entire 28 years that I have been on this team. There are also a couple of close counties that we cover because they don’t have a team at all. We have been flown to surrounding states to do recoveries in conditions their local team wasn’t qualified to do.

A few years ago there was an incident where some boys died in a surrounding county. The county officials didn’t call us thinking they could do the rescue with available equipment and 50 year old technology. We had time to respond and do the rescue and be half way home before those boys sunk below the surface and died. They have sense be trained on available surrounding services and they use us.

In this business is a good year is a year with out any calls.

Gary D.

 

[AquaDog]

I've been a PSD for over 4 years. I'm in SW FLorida. On our team, we train once a month, every month for 10-12 hours a day. Sometimes, training is just classroom sessions or a combo of both. We train both wet AND drysuits.
We average 35-45 call-outs a year. Throw in about 15-20 false alarms where we respond but dont get wet.
We're required to go through the National Assoc. of Police Diving two-week course in Miami for our Police Diver certification. Some of us are also PADI Divemasters.
Recreationally, I dive about 40-50 dives a year.
We also do alot of demos for civilian groups and LEO public relations events.

Thats the jist of it, bro. Stay safe.

Ok I wish I could put this in survey form but here goes. My question is to all PSD police or fire rescue paid or volunteer.

1) How often do you have a dive call?

2) How often do you train or what is required of your training to stay current?

3) How often do you dive on a recreational aspect.

 

[Greg D.]

Hard question to answer but I belive we have an average of around 40 call outs every year, with about 70% of those being water related.

We train every month at least one day and Dive rescue Intl. DR-1 is the course our divers take, I am taking mine the First weekend i n June.

I try to make at least 4 or five rec dives a month.

 

[Gary D.]

I forgot to mention we have to pass a PT test twice a year.

For the department it is voluntary. For the Divers and SRU teams it’s mandatory we pass it in the spring and again in the fall.

Everyone is on the same level. No consideration for age.

Gary D.

 

[indypddiver]

I would also be very interested in amount of training days / calls per year. We have been battling the administration to add training days for a while now.

Here in Indianapolis (the PD) we train once a month, but sometimes ask for additional days and get them. We dive strictly dry suit/aga masks due to the very cold water (about 40+ degrees in the middle of the summer) and because the vast majority of the water we dive in is very nasty stuff. We had 133 calls two years ago and 220 last year (due to flash floods). Not all of the calls ended up being working dives of course. Some are simply false alarms or dry suit only type stuff. We have had 20+ already this month, including three bodies, a dozen cars and an evidence search or two. Busy for us, probably not busy compared to alot of places.

We also have to take a yearly physical and pass a fitness test once a year. To get on the team, you have to be an experienced open water diver, pass the hiring process and then successfully pass a 28-day training class that is spread over 3 months. You are then on probation for a year, etc.

 

[Boater Dan]

Boy, I am almost embarrassed to reply to this thread. Between rescues, evidence searches, and standbys, we probably get 8 to 12 calls per year. We are a volunteer fire department team and are situated right along a major river. We try and plan to do a practice dives per month during the warmer months, but they tend to be interupted by other activities. We really have no published standards for training or physical requirements, and I am compiling information to begin a more formalized program. I am always looking for SOG's, SOP's, and procedures to use as a tool for building a reasonable criteria.

I have stated that we are currently looking for better, upgraded training. We have a number of very good, calm, experienced divers, but we are lacking in the formal training. As is usual with a volunteer team out of a fire department, funding and time are always an issue. I had spoken to BigJetDriver regarding trying to see about the training that IANTD is doing for Public Safety Divers and am awaiting information. I am hopeful it will be a program we can afford and put in place for this summer.

Dive safe!

Dan

PS - I managed to do a whole 3 recreational dives last year!

 

[bridgediver]

Dan, you're not the only one with "challenges". Our team is undergoing major upgrades in all aspects of equipment. training, commitment etc. We normally get about 15-20 call outs a year. The team understands the importance of a monthly training day but are still having priblems implementing this (lack of motivation, leadership or whatever). I'm probably the only diver that does my own diving (approx 60-70 year) but am the newest member of the team so don't have much clout among the senior members even though I've probably have more dives than most of them

mark

 

[scubaranger]

thanks for all your replys. whatever it is PSD or rec diving stay safe and remeber their always love ones to go back home to.