Yotsie
Contributor
Yesterday was the first of our new two a month training days. We finally got our request to expand our training time, so some months it will be two days in a row, this monthy it's bi-weekly.
Yesterday we went to the Delta Mendota Canal for vehicle recovery training. The Delta Mendota is one of two large, cement lined canals that run north to south through the central valley of California. It's 60+' wide and 20' deep. We went out to a location where we had recovered a stolen car just a week before.
Once at the canal, about 20' south of Marshall Road, there are tire tracks on the west bank that end at the edge of the canal. We can't believe we would be that lucky to get a car that soon.
We break out the drag line which we made from a 20' section of heavy chain with 75' of that cheap black/orange "truck rope" attached to each side of the chain. On the "Truck rope" we attached a pencil weight to keep the rope on the bottom along each edge of the canal as we drag. We usually do the drag with the rope attached to a vehicle on each side of the canal, since you usually have to drag for a mile or two before snagging a vehicle. We decided to drag by hand for this one, due to the evidence on that bank that a vehicle was in the water close by.
Twenty feet of dragging caused us to snag the vehicle. We tied the ropes off to support vehicles and I suit up with one of our newer divers. We head down and at 20', there sits a Acura Interga on it's roof. Driver's window is down and I arm sweep the interior (vis is a foot at best) and find it clear of occupant. There is fresh damage to the driver's side.
We return to the surface and wait for the wrecker. We had requested a rig with a boom for this type of recovery. The local wrecker shows up with a flatbed/slide back type rig and reassures us he will be able to handle the job no problem. We get the chains from the wrecker, and head back to the car where I show the new guy how and where to hook up the car, so you only have to do it once.
The wrecker driver does a fantastic job removing the car. Once at the surface, we find the keys in the ignition and the transmission in neutral. We have a unit go by the registered owners house, but no one will answer the door for him. I'm sure they'll report it stolen today or tomorrow.
Good and bad occured during this training day. The good was State Water Resources had the flow cut down to almost a drip (it's usually 6000 to 8000 cubic ft per sec)due to some local flooding recently, the bad was one of our 25 year veterans called his dive and is considering hanging up his fins.
We head back to the hanger (we're housed in the department's aero squadron hanger), clean gear, debrief and call it a day. Part of the team jumped into one of the choppers to fly over the location of our next training day on the 17th. We'll be working a remote portion of the Stanislaus River where we always have to recover white water rafters.
Yesterday we went to the Delta Mendota Canal for vehicle recovery training. The Delta Mendota is one of two large, cement lined canals that run north to south through the central valley of California. It's 60+' wide and 20' deep. We went out to a location where we had recovered a stolen car just a week before.
Once at the canal, about 20' south of Marshall Road, there are tire tracks on the west bank that end at the edge of the canal. We can't believe we would be that lucky to get a car that soon.
We break out the drag line which we made from a 20' section of heavy chain with 75' of that cheap black/orange "truck rope" attached to each side of the chain. On the "Truck rope" we attached a pencil weight to keep the rope on the bottom along each edge of the canal as we drag. We usually do the drag with the rope attached to a vehicle on each side of the canal, since you usually have to drag for a mile or two before snagging a vehicle. We decided to drag by hand for this one, due to the evidence on that bank that a vehicle was in the water close by.
Twenty feet of dragging caused us to snag the vehicle. We tied the ropes off to support vehicles and I suit up with one of our newer divers. We head down and at 20', there sits a Acura Interga on it's roof. Driver's window is down and I arm sweep the interior (vis is a foot at best) and find it clear of occupant. There is fresh damage to the driver's side.
We return to the surface and wait for the wrecker. We had requested a rig with a boom for this type of recovery. The local wrecker shows up with a flatbed/slide back type rig and reassures us he will be able to handle the job no problem. We get the chains from the wrecker, and head back to the car where I show the new guy how and where to hook up the car, so you only have to do it once.
The wrecker driver does a fantastic job removing the car. Once at the surface, we find the keys in the ignition and the transmission in neutral. We have a unit go by the registered owners house, but no one will answer the door for him. I'm sure they'll report it stolen today or tomorrow.
Good and bad occured during this training day. The good was State Water Resources had the flow cut down to almost a drip (it's usually 6000 to 8000 cubic ft per sec)due to some local flooding recently, the bad was one of our 25 year veterans called his dive and is considering hanging up his fins.
We head back to the hanger (we're housed in the department's aero squadron hanger), clean gear, debrief and call it a day. Part of the team jumped into one of the choppers to fly over the location of our next training day on the 17th. We'll be working a remote portion of the Stanislaus River where we always have to recover white water rafters.
