Fast Current Recovery Question

[Bwilkerson205]

How are other PSD teams handling fast current's and drowning's. We have a couple places that are fast current year around for canoeing and when a drowning occurs its hard for our team to make a recovery. We find our victims in snags underwater and in positions to where re-float may be compromised by the degree of entanglement.

Trying to get a diver to fully submerge in these currents cause a bit of complications. We also pose the question to tether with a quick release or to set pulley system for haul back.

The number 1 answer I always get is..... "Don't Dive it" However, sometimes that is not an option for us as previously stated because its like this year around and the victim is entangled.

We have tried other methods as in dragging (bar with hooks) However, it causes more entanglement than help.

We have noticed that current is slower under the surface than actual on the surface.

 

[james croft]

Often the current will slow near the bottom as well as when you dive near the banks due to friction loss caused by the current encountering the bottom. Normally I won't dive in current when it is 2 knots or more.

Somewhere I have a PSD current chart. I don't have the chart handy but you can calculater current rate by measuring a 100 foot distance on the river bank. Throw a floating object and see how long it takes to travel 100 feet. Use the chart to calculate knots. If it is 2 knots or more, or even less depending on your divers skill level don't dive it until conditions improve.

You say not diving is not an option as conditions are that way year-round but it is an option for you as safety of the diver takes precedence over the recovery of a body. It is especially emperative if there are strainers in the river that can trap a diver.

I appreciate your desire to do a recovery but safety of the diver comes first. I have been called to an accident where a friend of mine was pinned in a strainer and it took over an hour to get the body. It required the use of pike poles and removal of tree limbs. Any diver who had made an effort to retrieve her would have also been killed. Come up with policies in regards to this and stick to them so when an incident occurs so you will not feel pressure to do something unsafe. That is whet gets PSD divers in trouble.

 

[Bwilkerson205]

Thanks for your quick reply James. I agree with you 100% on safety 1st without questioning. I am more along the lines of trying to find ways to try to make a recovery when diving operation are not an option. If we don't attempt to come up with a solution to try to SAFELY make a recovery, our victims could remain there for quite some time, possibly multiple months.

I am saddened to hear about your friend and our team sends our condolences. You did answer a big part of the question:

* Pike poles and the removal of the tree limbs. We have been able to cut the limbs before and it worked perfect.

Again thank you for your reply.

 

[Jared0425]

Seeing that you are from TN, I would imagine mountain rivers with little to no vis, hard to access sites, and not being able to prevent a tragedy from happening.

There is an isolated river by me called the black river. It is very shallow and fast in the summer and fall, but winter the river gets deep as it reaches peak flood stage with no vis and with debris crashing around you in a hard access site, we trained to handle the situation as best as we can. During flood stage, the river is 15-20ft above normal water, making it very difficult to rescue. During these stages we have idiots go out and find themselves in trouble because of the dam. The dam has claimed a few lives in the 2 decades up here. We warn them that if they do go to the dam, if they fail, we will not risk our lives saving them or recovering them. Its a hard thing to say a distraught family member, one life lost is better than 2. Butch Hedricks will be teaching us on how to deal with swift water (to a point).

 

[Bwilkerson205]

Jared you are correct.... I would lean more to the no visibility when diving in Tennessee. I have Spoken to Andrea Zafers at Lifeguard systems which is also part of Butch Hendricks Team about there course in swiftwater diving. Please give me some feed back from that course when you get the chance. I look forward to attending that course specialty in the near future. Seems you guys have the same problems as us. I will say again SAFETY is number 1. Many people don't understand these areas until they are meet with these situation. I just really would like to "table top" exercise and critique our approach as much as possible before deploying into a bad situation. Thanks for your feed back. I look forward to learning more from you and James in the near posts.

Jared if you guys get any call outs in this area you speak of, please share your story of success or challenges.