It's nice to be filled up.

[Gary D.]

Well it’s official.

Our team member that quit the department for greener pastures is back on board and as of now back on the team. I issued him his gear after briefing today.

H got his old suit, weight belt, knife, fins, UK 800R light, Mini C back up light, 75’ throw bag, 2 tanks and ice picks.

But he got a new Stern’s 100mph PFD, Pro-Tec helmet, titanium hood, Cressi full face, dry gloves, a Zeagle Tech and a full pump bottle of Silicon Lube.

Stuff on order that he still needs issued, because I’m out of, are a second knife, shears, tank beacon, 200’ rope bag, Stern’s float coat, PFD light, harness, Pelican and “H” floats, Gorilla bag and what ever else we can come up with.

At least he’s ready to respond if we get a call.

This is the first time in a long we have been up to full staffing. Five ready to go, two FNG’s that can go with supervision and three learning the ropes from the dry side for now.

We still have our five from outside agencies. Two are ready to go for most calls and the three we are working with. Those three will be a while yet but they are coming along.

Having seven ready to go is a luxury. At least we can handle two calls at once should the need arise again.

Gary D.

 

[leam]

Congrats! Hopefully some of the pressure will be off as the new folks transition into to carrying some of the load.

Outside of "minimum qualifications", how long does it normally take for a new person to become a capable diver?

ciao!

leam

 

[Gary D.]

About 2-years, give or take a few months and we can quit playing mother hen and hopefully let them go.

A lot depends on actual call load. The more calls we get the faster they come up to speed. Training is great but nothing prepares them better than the real thing.

It would be nice if we could just add a mega dose of stress to the training. But nothing beats real; you just can’t fake a fluid oozing human teetering on the edge of life and death.

Gary D.

 

[ReefGuy]

I've been on the team since November, and I think I'm getting close to ready to get in the water on a call (supervised). We are strictly recovery, though. Still dealing with the oozing, but not the teetering.

 

[Gary D.]

The FNG's will go through the recovery only mode until we are comfortable they can handle themselves. Then they gradually move into rescue. They may be the first on scene and first suited up but may still be held back on the initial dive until we are sure they are ready. There will be plenty to keep them busy.

It's tough enough getting up out of a dead sleep in the middle of the night when that pager goes off. Kiss the other half (a very important step). Get up, dressed head for the car, figure out what's up and where you’re going. Then drive as fast as you can safely while your trying to put the dive together in your head. Try to figure out what equipment is needed for that situation and how it's going to get there.

Get on scene still in somewhat of a daze with all the crap that's going on. While getting suited up you are either being briefed, conducting a briefing or doing witness interviews. Then as other emergency personal show up designate who initially does what. By then a second or third diver is on scene so we can hit the water.

Now on the way down you have time to think about the dive. Look for any evidence while you double-check your gear. Hook up the remaining buckles and snaps, make sure the hoses are all connected and settle into the trip down. Think about what’s ahead and how you’re going to react.

If it’s a vehicle, get a plate and grab the victim, if you can grab two if there is more than one. Now head for the surface keeping control of yourself and the victim(s).

At the surface brief the topside crew. If you have all the victims either you or a second diver goes back and look for more. Don’t ever count on getting them all on the first trip. The adrenaline was at its peak on that first dive. Let it settle down, Xaler, clear the area and collect more evidence.

It is very hard to teach what I just posted as it takes a combination of training, proper practice, exposure to the real thing and mind set.

So it can take a while. The nice thing about LEO’s and Fire Personal is they are already used to doing a big part of these things. It’s incorporating diving into the scenario where the work is needed.

Please don’t take this as a slam to any occupation. But if you take LEO’s, Fire Personal and other emergency service people who are used to reacting quickly to a crisis without supervision, They are much easier to train than the general population.

Even so it can take years to get it down and no two dives are the same.

Gary D.

 

[PWCPD Diver]

Man you are lucky. We've had two vacancies for a while and they haven't filled them yet.

 

[Gary D.]

Man you are lucky. We've had two vacancies for a while and they haven't filled them yet.

We just got lucky to the point we now have a couple in the wings waiting for a slot. With the major turn over we have had in the department we were in a world of hurts. We still are but the team is gaining strength.

It almost looked like we were going to go into the summer with only 5 of us and that would have been a disaster looking for a place to happen.

Gary D.

 

[PWCPD Diver]

We have 6 on the team but one can't dive so that makes us a 5 man team. Then if you have two guys on line searches, jack stays etc.. you have to have one on standby as safety diver., then you need a line handler for each diver, and someone to run the board and the communications box...whewww! It will be nice to get two more bodies!

Do you guys have an MOU between departments to use each other for staffing issues?

 

[BabyDuck]

response self edited because it was really pretty dirty...

 

[Gary D.]

response self edited because it was really pretty dirty...

:huh: Lost me on this one :huh:

Gary D.