The St. Johnsville Fire Department

Fire Department Dive Training at Green Lake.

Firefighter Tom Oare -- Asst. Chief Dean Countryman
Firefighter Tom Oare -- Firefighter Bill Ryan
Chief Jamie Carter -- Chief Jamie Carter

Due to the increased usage of the New York State Barge Canal and the Mohawk River for recreational purposes as well as the opening of Beardslee Reservoir to the public, the St. Johnsville Fire Department decided to implement a Dive Rescue and Recovery Unit. This unit was started in April of 2001 and within 3 months, was fully functional in all aspects of dive related rescue and recovery. This unit now services all of Montgomery County, a large portion of Herkimer County and may possibly be used in parts of Fulton County in the near future.

The Fire Department decided that due to the fact that they would be operating outside of their normal fire districts with this service, that the Dive Unit would be funded by the Fire Department along with donations from private individuals and organizations only, no taxpayer money is used in the operations and outfitting of this unit. To date the cost of outfitting this Dive Rescue Team has been approximately $20,000.00.

The Dive Rescue Unit Divers utilize Viking shell type dry suits at a cost of approximately $2,200.00 each, DACOR HUB BC's at a cost of approximately $1,000.00 each as well as AGA and EXO full face masks at a cost of approximately $1,500.00 each. These masks are outfitted with underwater intercom systems that allow the divers to communicate with their surface personnel. This brings the cost to outfit 1 Rescue Diver to $4,700.00. In a dive situation we utilize from 2 to 6 divers at one time, needless to say the cost to operate this unit is very high.

We train to dive in all situations including night diving, low visibility diving, current diving, confined space diving and ice diving. In 2001 this unit logged 58 training dives, 3 recovery incidents and 5 assistance related incidents.

The Fire Department would like to thank everyone who made this venture possible. Chief Carter.

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01 24 2004