Dive Rescue Team

Every dive rescue is approached with the goal of saving lives and maintaining the safety of the divers. Not so long ago, the only means of recovering drowning victims was by dragging the harbour with ropes and heavy metal drags. Several days could pass before this type of recovery was successful. With the advent of SCUBA gear and trained divers, this task can often be accomplished in minutes with a real possibility of rescuing the victim.

The Dive Team is an important component of the Marine Response Unit and an essential link in efforts to ensure a complete marine rescue and recovery service. Five fully qualified divers, together with specially-trained surface support personnel, have monthly drills covering a wide range of demanding underwater tasks.

Recent enhancements in the team's equipment and training capabilities have resulted in a safer, more proficient responding team. All divers wear "dry suits" and AGA full-face masks to limit the risks of diving in contaminated waters. The team also uses an underwater communications system. This allows a surface team member to better control the divers' movements and to constantly monitor their status and condition. A back-up "pony bottle", with its own separate regulator, is carried by each diver in the rare event of a main system failure.

Each diver holds professional qualifications as Backwater Search and Recovery Public Safety Divers, certified by one of the most prominent dive rescue-training groups in North America. Between 8 and 12 training days are held per year to practice team skills, searching techniques and the use of team equipment. Divers become accustomed to diving in "zero visibility" water with underwater hazards and unusual bottom terrain. Safety is constantly stressed and practiced.

As there are many factors involved in water accidents--time in or under the water, the water's temperature, the age and health of the victim, traumatic injury, technical difficulties involved in the rescue operation--sometimes saving a life is not possible. Returning a victim's body to grieving family and friends is part of the dive team's public service and can help to deal with the loss of a loved one. One of the most traumatic and emotional aspects of a drowning is how quickly it happens.

Underwater search and recovery is inherently dangerous. Diving in zero visibility water with a wide range of hazards makes absolute coordination between the divers and surface support personnel a necessity. With training and hazard assessment, many of the risks can be reduced.

With this degree of dedication and preparation, and a little luck thrown in, the lives of water accident victims can be saved.