Public Safty Diving

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:48 pm

I am in the last few steps of joining our local Sheriff's URT Under Water Recovery Team,

I guess they will start me out on Surface suport and move me in to diving as my traineing with them progress

I know my Dive Budy Jay aka lostinbrownsmead is a diver on this team.

I was wondering if any one else in the club was on a team or thinking of joining one

Or if you do not want to join a team what is keeping you from doin so?

For me this is something I have wanted to do ever sence I started diving,
I relise this could be hard work and even a little hard to handle at times

But I also think it is a grate way to give back to my comunity doing some thing I love Diving

not to metion the extra traineing I will recive from the Team cant help but make me a better and safer diver

I will have to keep you posted on my progress as this comeing Saturday is my first day of traineing with the team

learning search pattarns and such
I am realy looking foward to it.

Sparky

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:58 pm

What is involved in this?

Minimum certification?

Skill demonstration?

Is there an application process?

Curious, Curious...

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:08 pm

Tom

I cant speak for the Team in your area but here in Castop County
there is not a requirement much past open water otner then a willingness to serve on the team and respond to call outs

not knowing what that dive may bring.until you arive on site and recive your predive breaf,

they teach you what you need to know to do the dives

There is ofcorse the Applaction prosess fill out the forms and submit them
and you would need to be willing to submit to a backround check

our local team has a review board that evaluates each new person wishing to join the teeam

Diving can be any thing diving in a nice clear pool of water to doing a search in less then 0 vis feeling your way along the bottom in the muck and the ooze

I will need to take a first aid class and get my CPR cert
there is a couple classes they have you take as well

the team here requires you be abule to atend once monthly meetings and once monthly Dive Traineing missions

there may be a little more but thats about it for know

Sparky

Sasquatch · Post by **Sasquatch** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:30 pm

A big 'ol "Good For You" for stepping up and using your skills as a diver to help your community. I've heard from Public Service Divers that it can be a very challenging job especially the recoveries. Yup, the recoveries can be mighty tough.

You'll be a great asset, I'm sure. Let us know how the training goes, Sparky.

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:41 am

Spark - my father was a deputy & recovery diver with Pima County SO in Southern Arizona for MANY years (yes, there are places they need divers in Arizona). Much of what they did was in wells, lakes, and cow-ponds. Usually in zero visibility (sometimes so bad he said he didn't know when his mask was fogged up) by feeling their way around.

He thought about it simply as a job or unit he was assigned to. 99% of the time, you're there to recover a body or to recover evidence that relates to a serious crime. I'm sure he'd be willing to talk to you about it if you were interested. You need to be able to turn your personal emotions off and be somewhat "cold" to it... you can't personalize or internalize what you see... just know you're doing a good job. I'm sure the other guys you know there will tell you the same thing.

Do they use full-face masks? My dad's unit started using full-face masks when the department could first afford them years ago... that changed everything.

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 5:29 pm

Well Today was my first day of traineing with the Clastop Conty Sheriff's
Department Under Water Recovery Team ( URT ) I had a real good time trying out the new gear and the fact that you can talk to the serface while your diving is realy cool

I learnd to remove and replace a full face mask took me like half a dozen times to get it but I just kept with it, that is a lot harder then I thought it would be
Did a couple diferant search Paterns I learnd to do the Half Moon and the shore line search. I am sore head to toe funny how if you change one little thing in your diving it can make such a large differance

am looking foward to more traineing with the guys on the team they are a grate bunch and some of the most deadacated divers I have ever meet

I managed to find 2 out of 4 clay pigions that one of the team members through in for us to locate

it is realy strange swimming while on a teather you have to keep the lline tight all the time and after you move out from shore a little ways that rope starts to get heavey My arms are soooo Sore and my legs still burn a little and we stoped diving almost 4 hours ago

how much do you want to bet I sleep good tonight?

I am fighting the erge to take a knap now and its not even dinner time

well that about it on my end team traines the 3dr saturday of the month so I will post more after the next traineing sesion

I wish I could convey how much I have learnd today, so far I would have to say it is as much fun as it is hard work

there is so much to learn I hope I dont let them down

see you soon
Sparky

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 5:47 pm

sparky wrote: there is so much to learn I hope I dont let them down

Sparky

Congratulations, Sparky!

You have embarked on an extremely worthwhile endeavor and you are to be commended.

Search and recovery divers are needed everywhere, but it most definitely is NOT for everybody. It requires a great commitment as well as a strong stomach.....you never know what you will find....and if you find what you are looking for the ending is inevitably a sad one.

I remember one dive back in the 1980s in a boggy brown shallow lake north of what is now Mill Creek. A little girl was missing and the search dogs kept coming back to that lake no matter where they were started from.

Several of us entered the lake....each of us wanting to find her but at the same time praying that we wouldn't. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face because of the tannin in the water and we searched by feel. She was ultimately found by a pair of other divers that day....thank God not by me and my buddy. There's a big difference between searching for an adult and searching for a child.

May God give you few tragic cases to search for, but success in your endeavor when he calls upon you to do it.

- John

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:53 pm

I just wanted to add a thank you to you guys for your kind words of
encoruagement it means a lot to me, it is nice to have the respect of your fellow divers but that is not why I started this thread
nor is it why I joind the team I joind the team because I think this is a job that must be done and I also think every one should give back to there comunity I thought it would be grate to give back and still do some thing i love at the same time

I thought by starting this thread it wqould be a good place for me to keep you updated on my progress as I become more in volved in the team

I would also like to point out that just as there is no I in team
I am not the only URT member on this board

Jay Murphy aka Lostinbrownsmead and my normal dive budy is also A
member of the Clastop Couthy Sheriff's URT

I am hopeing through this thread to be able to share some of the Techniques and ideas we as a team use, you never know when you may wish you knew some thing tought by the team.

thanks againe for all the kind words

Sparky

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 7:06 pm

Thanks Sparky for sharing your experience... I (and I'm sure a bunch of others) are interested, and even more so because we know you!

Thanks also for your characteristic humility and deflection of the congrats. I know you didn't start the thread to toot your own horn! All the same we still want to give you a slap on the back.

That being said, Congrats to you and the others, way to go, keep it up, and very cool that you're giving it the effort!

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:50 pm

:wav:

For thouse of you that are watching this thread here is the latest news

I was just informed today that every thing checked out and I am now a full member of the

Clastop County Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue under Water Recovery Team. ( URT ) .

I would supose now the fun and the hard part will begain I was speaking with Deputy Mcoy our team leader and he tells me there is a little more paper work to do and I will be reading a book about public saftey diving

I will keep you up to date on this prosess in the hopes that some of you may find it usefull or at least informative amybe I can talk Jay aka Lostinborwnsmead in to adding his 2 boubles worth from time to time

see you guys soon

Sparky

Pinkpadigal · Post by **Pinkpadigal** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 6:45 pm

:smt038 :smt038 :smt038 :smt038

Cera · Post by **Cera** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:27 pm

I hope you enjoy it! GOOD JOB!

Sasquatch · Post by **Sasquatch** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:43 pm

Way to go, Sparky!

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 7:59 am

Hearty CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

- John

lostnbrownsmead · Post by **lostnbrownsmead** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:15 pm

Congratulations Sparky on getting on the team

I knew you would. Where did you dive at? Coffenbury? or Cullabey? Did they have the picnic? How was the vis? did they throw the clay pigeons in the weeds oh fun.

Now you can have fun with us when we have an evidence recovery dive and we have to stick our hands and arms into the muck and sweep, then kick one fin stroke then do it again for eight + hours all the while you find unhappy crabs that bite you because you disturbed there knap. Also when you disturb the muck the lights go out and your tender asks you how much air do you have and you cant read your gages because of all the silt you steered up. Granted we didnt dive all 8 hrs but when we are not diving we were tending the diver in the water or standing by to dive. what fun and I volunteered for THIS!!!

I have found Public safety diving to be very different from our normal recreational diving. Such as we are usually right on the bottom (stirring up the muck). We dont dive with a buddy. We are tethered to a tender on shore or boat, who we have constant comms with via full face mask with microphone. There is only one diver in the water at a time (unless we have more than one team searching different areas). The standby diver is on the shore in his gear ready to go. also a 90% diver is also standing by with his drysuit/wetsuit on and his gear readily available. There is a Safety Supervisor overlooking the scene. We also limit our dives to no deeper than 60 feet (Most of the dives are 15-20 ft) Also the visibility is usually 1-2-3-maybe 5 ft at most. The training has been very challenging. I got to be lowered out of a Coast Guard helicopter to take a training dive. $\:D/$ Raised and lowered out of the pond at the base of Youngs river falls via high line (What a way to start a dive). Practice search patterns at Seaside (found a stolen F350 truck) and find clay pigeons at coffinbury lake. Also we did a training trip to Hood Canal at the sheriffs expense, YEA!!! The only recoveries I have participated have been for vehicles and potential evidence, but the team has been called out for several other recoveries.
Jay

DiverDown · Post by **DiverDown** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:59 pm

Congratulations Sparky

You will have to tell us more at the HC trip...

lostnbrownsmead · Post by **lostnbrownsmead** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:47 pm

Hey Sparky I finally posted some of the URT dive pictures in the Photo Gallery.

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:06 pm

lostnbrownsmead wrote:Hey Sparky I finally posted some of the URT dive pictures in the Photo Gallery.

cool I will check them out thanks jay

Diver Down I will tell you more about it at the HC trip sure I think this is some thing you would enjoy maybe you should contact your local Dive URT and see if they are looking for divers

its not easy by any means but knowing you as I do I think this would be right up your air line
Sparky

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:06 am

Trainning For Satrday 11-18-06

I know I am a little late in posting this pdate but I had been a little busey around here

Not a hole lot to tell from the trainning mision this month
we meet at the S.A.R.Buildiing ( Search and Rescue Building )
thats where we meet in the event of a call out and for each trainning mision,

we checked over the gear and loaded it in to the Dive Team Van, Ill have to get a pic of it for you guys one of these days .

we headed over to Caulabe Lake for or day of trainning
seeing as how we were a little short handed this time around Ken ( Our Team Leader ) Decided it would be a good time to pratice our line drills
so we spent the rrest of the afternoon doing search pattarns while teathered and on dry land no one got wet

the rain even gave us a little brake and we had a nice sunny afternoon.
We praticed a few diferant types of search patterns and went over a few of our recovery S.O.Ps

after that we went bck to the Dive Van and went through the differant compartmants and made sure every thing was stored in the propper place and this was also a good time for me to learn my way around the Van

You would be suprised how much dive gear you can hold in a old Ambulance

After this was all done we headed backto the S.A.R. Building
or as we call it the Dive Shack

during our deberife meeting Ken told us our trainning schudeal for the next few months
we are suposed to be haveing a couple classes come up here soon tought by our verry own GratefullDiver,

I had sugested to Ken that the team have Bob come to give us his Gas Management seminar
And while Ken and Bob work out the detailes of that Ken found out that Bob can teach our Dan O2 class as well

so it looks like Bob will be teaching that class for us and maybe one or two of the other teams in the area as well

I learnded alot this time in our trainning mision and look foward to next months trainning as well

I will keep you updated.

Sparky

bnboly · Post by **bnboly** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:48 am

Way to go Sparky! That is definitely a worthwhile endevor!