Fatal Dive Accident in Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

[DarkFrog]

A firefighter died on a training exercise yesterday(Friday, March 13th) details still aren't available, but you can read about it at http://www.citizen.com/news2004/March2004/March_13/laconia_03.13.04a.asp. A tragic event for divers and firefighters.

 

[Curly]

I just read about this tragic event yesterday on the Winnipesaukee forum. Seems they were testing some new equipment in the open water area at Weirs where the Mount Washington is moored during the summer. He apparently ventured into the area under the ice and became disoriented. What a shame.

 

[Warren_L]

Very tragic. It could have been preventable, which is the shame of it.

 

[Gary D.]

Very tragic. It could have been preventable, which is the shame of it.

This is in fact very tragic and was without a doubt preventable.

Keep in mind we are going off a news article and not an official investigation which are quite different most of the time.

The questions I have are:
1. Was this training or an equipment test?
One or the other, can't be both. You either go out to test a piece or several pieces of gear or your working on training.

2. Was this an ice or open water dive?
One or the other, can't be both. If they had solid ice within reach of the divers it should have been an ice or modified ice dive period. It sounds like the ice was only 200 feet from the docks and that there was some current. Solution: ICE DIVE with known gear period. As little as 1/4" of ice can trap a diver and prevent a break through.

Sometimes we get caught up in what we are wanting to do and forget to look at the big picture.

It is so tragic to lose anyone let alone one of our own. But very few accidents can be blamed on anything other than us making mistakes.

Unfortunatly most PSD deaths occure during training.

My heart and prayers go out to his crew and family.

Gary D.

 

[pt40fathoms]

Very much a tragedy, my heart goes out to the family and freinds.

Even with the limited information that was available from the news article, it seems clear that they entered open water with ice covered water near by. I've seen this, and have dove in the very same conditions having been carried under the ice by current myself. Gary D. is right, this was an ice dive condition, and a wreck reel fastened to the nearest immovable object near the entry point is how we modify for this condition. Unfortunately it takes a tragedy such as this to remind us that procedures for diving under ice, or in this case very near ice cover, should not be treated lightly. We are conducting an ice diving course next weekend, and this article and tragedy will be used as a teaching aid in memory of a lost hero.

 

[Warren_L]

Exactly my point. Whenever there is ice nearby, you need to exercise good judgement and dive accordingly (or not dive as the case may be). Too often these issues are taken too lightly. With ice nearby, especially during spring thaw, what was open water when you go in can very well not be open water when you go to get out.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Even more basic...

One diver surfaced and the other didn't. He nitices his buddy wasn't there when he surfaced? Why don't divers pay attention to each other during ascents and descents?

It's the very very most basic aspect of diving that aren't taught well, aren't learned or practiced well and will kill you.

 

[Gary D.]

I just read the article again.

My heart has that quivering sinking feeling and my eyes have some watering. We aren't macho at all as some people think. We are just like everyone else here. We just do a different kind of job that something inside tells us to do. We do more training dives than most people do sport dives. We make mistakes, we laugh, we cry, we play and we die just like everyone else. There is nothing macho about it and we aren't better than all the other divers, just trained, hopefully, better.

We go after people time after time. A very few will make it but we still try in hopes that one more will. We train we go, we train we go over and over again. Unfortunately we normally go more than we train. The past two years have been the exception where we have trained more than go.

I just feel like “Where did we screw up?” when a tragic accident like this happens. It wasn't just one PSD that was there, but several. We all make wrong decisions from time to time and hopefully live to correct what we did. But sometimes it will bite back and end tragically like this situation did.

Look at the photo. Granted it is two-dimensional so the distance is debatable. BUT, that THICK ice is way to fricken close for it not to be an ice dive. It wasn’t a matter of who made the decision but with two or more on the dive why was the decision made for it not to be an ice dive.

It just doesn’t seem to be on the shoulders of one but several. If this was in fact a team training why was the decision made and done as a team effort?

Nothing is going to bring him back and the hurts will heal in time. The important thing is that we learn from the mistakes and don’t repeat them.

Today is our shift change. I’ve been on graveyard for the past 2.5 years and I’m going to swing for a change. When I go to briefing today at 3pm there will be 4 divers on for the first 2 hours then 2 of us on until 0100. At least one will be on graveyard today so we will have 3 on from 10pm-1am. We will discuss this prior to hitting the streets today. We are going through ice out and still have ice all over the place.

I’ve got a young but good team that I don’t have to worry about very much. I still do. If they aren’t sure about a dive they either ask questions or don’t do it. We have a lot of leeway on a lot of dives except when it comes to ice. My rules are hard and fast. Break them and you will have your butt severely kicked. It’s a shame that I have to, again, use another PSD death for training.

Gary D.