Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by tom on August 22, 2007 at 1:15pm

We do our training on the local lakes with the sheriff's dive team.
In the winter, we rescue more animals than people.
For recreational diving, the Great Lakes have some cool wrecks. I dove a wooden hulled ore carrier two years ago. Fun dive. Visibility sucked, but once you got close to the wreck it was amazing. The hull was still fairly intact with the load spread about the wreck.
Last October I dove in Key West. That was fun but too short.
Have not hit the local lakes in awhile. No other divers in our dept. unfortunately.

Permalink Reply by Lisa on August 28, 2007 at 2:26am

Our State Police have divers. Our Sheriffs department has deputies that are divers. There are a lot of departments up here that have Dive Rescue/Recovery teams as part of the department. I hear ya about how diving in Key West was too short. We went to Cozumel, Mexico a few years back and it was amazing. The water of the St. Lawrence is pretty clear most of the time thanks to the Zebra Mussells, but it has it's bad days. There are several large cargo ships sunk up here. Sometimes it's a little tricky diving some of the wrecks because they are in Canadian water. As long as we don't drop an anchor, we don't have to check in with customs. We usually just tie off to the floating marker on the water surface and they don't bother us.
So do you have Ice Rescue people or is it you and the Sheriffs dept that go get the animals? We don't get too many calls like that. What we get is the snowmobilers that like to race on the St. Lawrence. The river freezes for the most part, but high current areas don't and you may find an open patch of water somewhere that you wouldn't expect it. They run down the river and end up falling into these open spots. The worst of it is that they are usually teenagers. Last winter we lost 2 in one spot at the same time. The current usually ends up pulling them away from the hole and under the solid ice. Sometimes we get lucky and find the body, but more often we don't. I think that is one of the most stressfull things our guys deal with. Sometimes the families don't understand why we don't just keep looking until we find them. We exhaust our people eventually. It must be harder for you not having many to begin with!
Take care and stay safe.-Lisa

Permalink Reply by Bo Tibbetts on October 17, 2007 at 6:08pm

I want to first say what a great site. Its truely people like you that make the site so great and to this great nation....

In response to Lifeguard Systems. They are a first class training agency and instructors. The motto "Everyone goes home safe" is the bases for what they do. Anything less, is completely unacceptable. Public Safety Dive Supply host training events in Grand Junction, CO. Our students rave about the quality of instruction and continue to come back for more.

I would like to extend the offer to the men and women of firefighter nation a 10% discount on any of the trainings that we offer, Just make sure you mention it at the time of reservation. Limitations and exclusions may apply. www.publicsafetydivesupply.com
Sincerely,

Bo Tibbetts

Attachments:

• Ice dive Public Safety Dive Supply.pdf, 310 KB
• Surface Ice 1.pdf, 144 KB
• HDI brochure.pdf, 277 KB

Permalink Reply by bryan huggins on November 18, 2007 at 3:03am

we usualy train on inland lakes and sometimes in lake michigan we do a lot of animal rescues in winter and sometimes get a vehicle or to. i have been called out for drownings to deer stuck out in the ice and a few vehicles in water only two divers on my home department but we dive with neighboring department on there team sherriff dept has team also but they hardley ever invite us to train with them anymore. we also have firefighters certified in ice surface rescue

Permalink Reply by DAVE on December 18, 2007 at 11:44pm

Hello, my team does alot of our training in Lake Michigan. We're on the lake and cover all the inland bodies of water. MABAS Div 4 covers the county. Div 4 and Div 5 have meshed, so we cover both counties on an initial Dive Rescue Box Alarm. With the need for more divers, we call for other divisions to supply personnel.

You asked about training. We train in many "usual" bodies of water, but also try to mix things up by going into water we don't usually enter. As far as Lake Michigan, we train in our harbor (we have 2) as well as off the piers, etc. We'll do boat based search patterns on occasion.

Permalink Reply by CHRIS on October 25, 2008 at 10:38am

We have a local rock quarry that has been closed for many years. A few firemen purchased the site and it is now a place for local divers. It has training platforms and easy entry docks. I believe it is around 2.5 acres with a max depth of around 50 ft. Their website is www.dive-stop.com. It is located in New Melle, MO. Approximately 30 minutes west of downtown St. Louis , Mo. I also go to Mermet Springs, which is near Paducah Ky. It is a phenomenal place to train. They have the Boeing 727 which was used in the movie U.S. Marshals. It is sunk from 15' to 50' and you can swim through it. They have many other sunken items, training platforms at many depths, a nav course and a max depth of around 130.' Their website is www.mermetsprings.com. I highly recommend this to anyone traveling through the midwest. I also have a good friend who owns a scuba shop here in Missouri. They offer any type of training and sell all sorts of gear. Look them up at www.y-kiki.com.