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Firefighter as Diver- How it looks in yours place.
I work in 4th FF Station in Cracow.Most of our FF Stations got some specialisations and got stuff to do specific work.My Station spec is water/enviromental prot.So we got boats,divers,and diver stuff and all stuff need to do underwater work located at 2 spec cars(heavy and light-fast action cars).There is 12 divers total on my station,about 4 people at shift atm.(3 shifts for 24/48h).I am a diver to.Most part of our divers job is searching of dead/drowned bodies,unfortunately.Its heavy,hard,hard work.Of course in any time I can be send to dive and just after to do my normal firefighting work,what isnt very safety because can be leading to health injures(divers illness).
So I got question.How it looks in your places/Stations/country?Do you got different people to do that kind of jobs,how it works and so on.Btw I dont any more payment for doing diver job :p(my month payment is about ~700$ after 8years)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Veach on
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As a recreational diver and a fire fighter, I would say that you shouldn't be diving if you are tired or exhausted from other work. You officers should recognize the dangers of sending a tired person to do a rescue, especially an underwater one where any mistake can be your last. Does your department have a rehabilitation program? I would place this under that category. If you just worked a full shift or fought a working structure fire, the last thing you need to do is spend 45 minutes underwater. That is asking for disaster. It potentially makes you a victim and not a rescuer. I would say that your officers need to setup a plan where additional personal can be called to dive or allow you time to rest before being put in the water. That would be safer than throwing you in when you may not be up to the task at hand. Don't be afraid to speak up and say that either. Sometimes, we assume officers know we are tired when maybe they don't. Speak up and let them know you aren't ready to go in the water if that's the case. Help you officers out.
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Permalink Reply by SteveDeCeuster on
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Hello Maciej,
First, I take it that you are in Poland. Your Pay? Is it 700 eur's per month? Many Paid depts in the U.S receive a stipend ( extra money) to dive . And since it is an additional duty. If your tired, It's tough luck. It's your job. I can understand that if it's just recovery, you can bring in additional manpower, if your crew has just been to a couple of structure fires and can't work safely.
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Permalink Reply by Maciej Wnek on
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Example:You got alert,car fall to the river and its coming down,drowning,and there is some people stuck in that car.What you services works in that kind of situation.Do you have special people/forces or units to rescue peoples in action on/under water.What about searching and output bodies or cars to surface,ect.
And I know,in current situation diving and then doing heavy work like firefighting is dangerous and can lead to disasters.(it was happen 1 example of that some time ago).
Steve I mean 700 US dolars = about 580 euro per month as my total payment :)
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Permalink Reply by Sarah Tinsley MacKenzie on
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In N.Z we have dive squads for dive work, Firefighers for fire and rescue , medics for medical calls, how ever all firefighters are now being trained with o2 and are often called if a ambulance is already at another call
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Permalink Reply by ashfire on
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In our county here in the US we have volunteer and career dive teams which if a call comes in will respond from the divers station or their fire station where they are on duty, their work or from home. All divers respond to make up enough people to have on scene for back up to divers in the water.
On the southside of the county we have volunteer dive team which own a houseboat that serves as a floating station with boats on a major river. There is a volunteer dive station on the other side of the southern end of the county which has vehicles and boats and will travel to anywhere in the county for a rescue.
The northen end of the county we have a volunteer rescue ems and rescue unit which has a dive unit with boats.
The career side has a team of divers and units in different fire stations to respond on rescue calls along with a fire boat stationed north of the other floating rescue station.
Most of the teams have had to take training for regular diving and fast water rescue because of times where we have had flooding of roads or areas.
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Permalink Reply by Moose on
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My county in New York State has volunteer teams set up for different skills. We have a Hazardous Materials Team, with a trailer that contains our class "A" suits, monitors, tools, air packs, clean up materials and containers, decon showers and a bunch of other stuff. The first person to the county facility hooks up the trailer and responds to the scene, the rest of the team meets them there.
We also have a Search and Rescue team who are trained in low and high angle rappelling, water rescue, ice rescue and wildland search & rescue. They have a hovercraft, snowmobile with rescue sled, a couple of four wheelers with rescue sleds and other equipment stored in trailers in different fire stations.
Each department has the ability and training to do vehicle extrication on their own, and if they do not have the tools then they call for help from a mutual aid department.
We dont have any dive rescue techs in our area that I know of but we also do not have a lot of water, mostly mountains and farmland. We do have a lot of caves though, and i have received training in basic cave rescue and would respond with the cave rescue team in our area if anyone got lost or injured in a cave. But with my level of training I would be an extra pair of hands, setting up equipment and assisting the cave rescue techs on the team.
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