New Dive Team

[NCFireMedic]

My fire department has formed a new dive team (in addition to swift water rescue). Every firefighter is at least a certified Padi Open Water Diver. Some of us (myself included), are Advanced Open Water, Drysuit, and Search and Recovery (all taught through PADI). A few more have been certified with the PADI "Rescue Diver" course... Well the higher ups seem to think that this is sufficient to take on the responsibility of Public Saftey Diving, and no effort has been given toward taking an approved PSD course. As a matter of fact a RD1 class was held in the next city over, but nobody showed any interest in taking it. Nobody on the department, or the team for that matter are certified PSD's- everyone has varied levels of the recreational certifications.

Does not NFPA state that recreational certs are insufficient for PSD? 1680 maybe? I want to get my ducks in a row before I make my case that we're moving in the wrong direction by throwing money at Padi.

Presently our "training" consist of going to the lake and swimming around. No real direction, no real skills. They have adapted some stuff from the PADI courses, but that is about it. Most of the divers have been certified for less than two years (I've been for 12 years now- but only dive on vacation), and don't have much experience- and most of those are the ones running the "training". We have a lot of equipment, courtesy of some very good grant writers.

I have considered taking a PSD class on my own, but I won't do it because the department will not reimburse me at this point. Most importantly I have no interest in PSD or diving for that matter, outside of work. However if we are to perform this service I want to be properly trained, credentialled, and equipped.

Any suggestions?

 

[leam]

Yes, where are you located? I live in Charlotte and our Team Coordinator (York Co SC) is generally willing to train with other teams. I think he and maybe some others have been DRI certified before but none of us are current.We're all volunteers with various levels of experience; from PADI OW to OW Instructor.

While I'd love to take a DRI class money prevents it. However, we draw on a large body of experience and our training program is being re-worked to fall in line with DRI and NFPA standards.

http://ycert.org

ciao!

leam

 

[bridgediver]

I cringe everytime I see something like this.

As far as I know there is no regulations down there saying what agency/how you are trained for PSD etc (there is up here though!) but you could also legally squander every penny you have on one roll of the dice - no regulation against that either.

The fact of the matter is PADI/sport diving is NOTHING like PSD.
Did you know that a firefighter is 4 times more likely to die from a water related incident than any other type of incident? Poor training is the prime suspect for most departments.

My advice is to do some research and reading and find out why PSD is so much different than sport and then you will be able to build your case. Unfortunately, right now, you don't know what you don't know.

I'd also advise proper training from a true PSD instructor. Learning from Bob who learned from Jim who learned from the first leader of the team who might have had some training before puts you at a severe disadvantage as new techniques are always better and keep guys safer.

Sorry to be so blunt but this is a common problem out there. If you'd like more info send me your e-mail and I can get you pointed in the right direction.

mark

 

[Gary D.]

I cringe everytime I see something like this.

As far as I know there is no regulations down there saying what agency/how you are trained for PSD etc (there is up here though!) but you could also legally squander every penny you have on one roll of the dice - no regulation against that either.

The fact of the matter is PADI/sport diving is NOTHING like PSD.
Did you know that a firefighter is 4 times more likely to die from a water related incident than any other type of incident? Poor training is the prime suspect for most departments.

My advice is to do some research and reading and find out why PSD is so much different than sport and then you will be able to build your case. Unfortunately, right now, you don't know what you don't know.

I'd also advise proper training from a true PSD instructor. Learning from Bob who learned from Jim who learned from the first leader of the team who might have had some training before puts you at a severe disadvantage as new techniques are always better and keep guys safer.

Sorry to be so blunt but this is a common problem out there. If you'd like more info send me your e-mail and I can get you pointed in the right direction.

mark

That wasn’t blunt Mark, in fact I thought it was very subtle and to the point.

Blunt would be more like; Trying to run and operate a team with sport training is going to get someone killed. It doesn’t matter if it’s PADI, SSI, NAUI, YMCA, NAVY, who ever else or training from Joe Poop the Rag-Man, sport training is not suitable for PSD, period.

The sad part is it isn’t just one that dies in some of the cases. Departments, LEO and Fire alike have lost multiple divers doing the same stupid thing over and over again. And where do most accidents occur? IN FLIPPIN TRAINING. Taking training lightly is a dangerous proposition.

PSD has been moved out of the sport diving category and into the commercial field for a reason. The two don’t mix very well; the styles as well as equipment are very contradictory.

Doing PSD work without the proper training is like playing Russian Roulette. The weapon is a body of water instead of a revolver. Spin the cylinder or get into the water enough and it will eventually get you.

Get the training or don’t dive.

Gary D.

 

[Yotsie]

A good place to start getting your ducks in a row is the International Association of Dive Rescue Specialist www.iadrs.org . They should be able to provide you information to help get the point across to your command staff. Dive Rescue International http://www.diverescueintl.com/ is another well respected PSD training organization as is Life Guard Systems www.teamlgs.com. Then there is another PSD forum made up of members of PSD teams from across the country and Canada at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PSDivers-PublicSafetyDiversForum .

Our team just completed PADI training to Rescue Diver, which consumed six months of training days. I argued, jumped up and down and generally was a pain about concentrating only on PADI training and not doing our bread and butter PSD training. It showed on the first couple of call outs of this year. With the PADI training behind us (four of us are still completing our Dive Master program) we are now on a strict PSD training regiment. The exposure to Recreational Diving courses is great for a diver's foundation, but to be operational, you and your team WILL need training by a creditable organization. During this training, you'll find some things PSD divers do contradicts recreational dive training.

Good Luck!!!

Paul

 

[Resqdivemedic]

Great ideas and suggestions from everyone. PSD is a whole different ballgame from recreational diving. We deal with this quite often in my area. Our team was the first in the state to be fully PSD certified and we are one of the few that continue to be. Not to toot Dive Rescue International's horn but, if you host a Dive Rescue One program and get 15 people to register, they will give you 5 free spots. This may ease the financial burden on your department. Our department footed the bill for five and we put five more in for the bubble. Check out www.diverescueintl.com for more info. Hosting is alot of work but pays off in the end. Good luck and dive safe.

 

[mike_s]

Sending divers into a rescue situation w/o the proper training is like sending someone into a fire that isn't trained for that.

My plumber might know how pipes/hoses work and how to turn a fire hydrant on and off, but that doesn't mean he's trained to put out a fire or rescue someone in a burning building.

Sounds like your "higher ups" are either being narrow minded or "cheap".

 

[ffdiver]

It took 3 years from the reformation of my own team to finnally get the chief and directors to put up a budget to get us all the training and equipment we needed. it was an incredibly tough fight to win against some people who know absolutly nothing about diving, but we won. My advice to you, get as much information as you possibly can before confronting them, they will fight this like nothing else and really look at your team and response area and decide if you need to have a team at all. it might be better for alot of people if a dive team was called from somewhere else and make it a recovery for one victim then putting an entire team of untrained divers at risk for dying. Good luck I hope it all works out.

 

[Gary D.]

Sounds like your "higher ups" are either being narrow minded or "cheap".

Both!

Gary D.

 

[SRQCO]

Look up the National Accademy of Police Divers as well as Dive Rescue International. Both of these agencies are great and they can set up training, at your agency. I have been a PSD for 15 years and the team leader for the past 5. My advise to you is to get your admin to support your team #1. Once you do this it will be easier to get the equipment and training that you need. Train in the envoronment that you will be working in and train as often as possible.