The Rowan County Dive Team recently took steps to ensure members stay safe in a variety of water rescue and recovery scenarios. Four more divers on the team are now dry suit certified.
Rowan County Emergency Management Director, Jarred Moore, is a member of the Rowan County Dive Team. Moore said dry suits are a better fit for diving in very cold and contaminated waters due to its exclusion of water within the suit.
“Maybe some recent flood water or anything that would have put contaminants in the water, maybe a vehicle recovery,” said Moore. “Say a vehicle has gone into a creek or a vehicle has gone into the lake and they need some help with recovering the vehicle. Maybe a tow company needs help hooking chains to the vehicle.”
Moore said dry suit diving is more dangerous than regular suit diving due to the way the air functions in the suit. Ideally, air within the suit travels up and out of an exhaust port placed near the shoulder. However, the diving team is prepared for less-than-ideal circumstances.
“The air in your suit is kind of like an air bubble floating around. It could float to your feet which would then want to make you, of course, go to the surface feet first,” said Moore.
The team currently consists of 12 members, six of whom are dry suit certified. Moore said they are always trying to better themselves as a team so they can better serve the community.
“We have four members going for a dry suit dive weekend in the spring, and we’re always training and trying to add certifications,” said Moore. “We have a weekend in December where a group of us are going to get full face certified, which is just a different kind of mask to be worn underwater.”
Fire department members from Morehead, Farmers, Hays Crossing, and Route 377 make up the team which not only serves Rowan County, but surrounding counties who do not have their own dive teams or those that could use an extra hand.
“Even if the county does have a dive team, it’s nice to have a second dive team there to assist. Because as divers get tired, or they start getting cold, it’s nice to have a fresh team to pick up where that team left off. It gives that other group some time to rehab.”
According to Moore, the diving team operates on an on-call basis. They may be called out only three to five times in a year, or three to five times in a month.