by Father Shane Lynch
With much gratitude for the efforts of Herkimer County Legislator Patrick Russell and Herkimer County Emergency Services Director Robert Vandawalker, the Old Forge Fire Department dive team is pleased to announce the arrival of new dive equipment.
The Old Forge Dive Team is comprised of eight active members, including dive master and instructor Don Haehl, who dives regularly to maintain skills and equipment operational status.
Over the past couple of years the dive team has been striving to improve skill sets and update equipment in their efforts to be better prepared in the event of a water emergency.
The dive equipment was acquired through grant funds, with the assistance of Legislator Russell, who spoke with Robert Vandawalker about the needs of the dive team—the only rescue dive team in Herkimer County.
“I asked if there were any grants available through the Homeland Security Funding, and I was very pleased that Bob worked diligently and quickly to secure the funding,” Russell said.
The equipment will greatly advance the safety and effectiveness of our divers.
The new dive gear will be added to other updated gear recently purchased through local fundraising and departmental funds.
The team is very appreciative of the efforts that made this possible as it will allow us to equip additional divers with matching equipment, equipment that, due to its specialized design, is very expensive.
The recent acquisition includes: new regulators designed for cold water environments, full-face diving masks with diver-to-diver and diver-to-boat communications, new dive computers for recording dive activities and monitoring diving conditions and air supply, as well as another dry suit with thermal liner that allows divers to operate in extreme cold temperature situations.
This equipment will replace current wet suits, standard diving regulators and basic instrumentation that is a number of years old and not conducive to rescue and cold water diving.
Even in the height of the summer, water temperatures in our lakes—in as little as 10 to 15 feet of water—can be in the low 60s to upper 50s. And at water depths of 25 to 50 feet the temperature can drop from the 50s into the 30s.
Based on the length of exposure and the age of the person, these temperatures can cause mild to extreme hypothermia in a matter of minutes.
Given those conditions, on a call out this new equipment will allow our divers to be safer, more effective and allow them to dive for longer periods of time in the cold water.
Like all emergency services personnel, we train for the worst and hope for the best.
We hope never to have to use this equipment because a member of our community or a visitor has encountered trouble in our waters.
In the event that the worst should happen, this equipment allows us to be much more prepared for the task that will lie before us.
Because of our water temperatures, statistics show us that time is of the essence and the younger a victim is in a cold water event, the greater the chances of survival when that time is cut to it shortest.
Additional equipment upgrades and improvements will continue to be looked at as funding becomes available.
The dive team is most grateful for the support of Legislator Russell and emergency services director Robert Vandawalker, as well as the membership of the Old Forge Fire Department, Ambulance Corp, the OFFD Ladies Auxiliary, and our community.