Portage divers a team of support 07/20/2009
After Searching for a sunken float that simulates
a victim, Streetsboro firefighter Don Bobek surfaces as soon
as he finds his target.
By Matt Fredmonsky
Record-Courier staff writer
It’s pitch black. Lt. Dave Moore of the Kent Fire
Department can’t see a thing and his oxygen is limited.
And, like so many other times, he has been loaded with
lead weights and plunged to the bottom of a murky body of
water. But as the commander of the Portage County Water
Rescue Team, Moore sets the example for its 60 members and
continues sticking his hands into the muck searching for
evidence or, in some cases, a body.
That familiar scene is one Moore has repeated during six
calls this year — including last week’s evidence recovery at
a Streetsboro golf course — and on a total 19 calls in 2008
with the county’s dive team.
“That’s where our work is done, in the muck at the
bottom,” Moore said. “It’s all black water. It goes lights
out ... so the divers go by feel.”
Recently, the dive team expanded its size with 12 new
members. The team originally consisted of personnel from
five departments, but now 13 police, fire and medical
agencies throughout the county are involved with the team’s
operations.
The agencies throughout the county that support the team
with members, equipment and other aid are: Kent fire and
police departments; the Mantua-Shalersville fire department;
Streetsboro fire; Ravenna Township fire; Charlestown fire;
Brimfield police; Atwater fire, Deerfield fire; Aurora fire;
the Portage County Sheriff’s Office and Robinson Memorial
Hospital.
A tremendous amount of manpower and equipment is used
every time the dive team responds. On an average call,
between 15 and 20 divers and assist personnel respond.
“Which is phenomenal for a county team,” Moore said. “We
definitely appreciate all the support from our individual
departments and department heads, the trustees of the
townships and the managers of the cities.
“We bring a lot of manpower to the scene,” he said. “We
get a lot of things done very safely.”
Earlier this year, the dive team helped rescue two
kayakers on the Cuyahoga River in Kent and responded to West
Branch State Park to search for an Akron man who drowned.
Last year, of the team’s 19 responses seven involved
vehicles in the water. Three of those were close calls with
people getting out of their vehicle just before it sank
beneath the surface, Moore said.
The Michael J. Kirwan Reservoir at West Branch is
notorious for tree stumps and root systems that create a
hazardous risk for team members. To aid the divers, when
searching under water they conduct their sweeps at the end
of a rope equipped with a hard radio line.
“Communication keeps the diver focused,” Moore said.
“Stress levels go down. Communication is invaluable when
we’re looking for a body because I haven’t met a diver yet
who likes looking for a body under water.”
The equipment and manpower comes at a cost. The price tag
to outfit a diver today from head to toe is roughly $7,000.
A diver’s equipment includes a full face mask, a vulcanized
rubber dry suit, a 3,000 pound air tank, lead weights,
buoyancy compensators and communication lines.
And the equipment does have a life cycle. Currently,
member safety administrators are trying to prioritize the
needs of the team and determine possible funding methods.
Portage County Sheriff David Doak said the regional
effort can make funding such an operation a little easier.
“It’s another one of those things individual agencies can
no longer support on their own,” Doak said. “So it’s a very
valuable resource when people put that kind of effort
together. It’s a lot of team work, but when we collaborate
with them it makes life a lot easier.”
The water rescue team trains once a month in a variety of
scenarios, including cold-water dives, night operations and
vehicle recoveries. Training exercises, like the real-world
responses, include the member law enforcement agencies.
“Having the law enforcement component is invaluable
especially in evidence recovery,” Moore said. “Any time we
have a body recovery that’s always a crime scene until
proven otherwise.”
