VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Often when we think of firefighters, smoke and flames come to mind. However, they are often the first responders to different types of accidents including ones in the water.
The Virginia Beach Fire Department is practicing with new equipment called “Rapid Diver” kits. The practice is similar to S.C.U.B.A. but the tank is smaller, meaning less time underwater; however, firefighters say it can be ready to go quickly.
On Monday, they trained at Oak Grove Lake in Chesapeake, along with divers from the Chesapeake Police Department.
Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach Fire Department trains on scuba diving to save lives
“We have two more Virginia Beach fire crews who are going to go down and work the preplaced target, to search that to give them some training on what it’s like to be in no visibility or low visibility situation underwater,” explained Detective Tracy Anderson.
Firefighters would be on the rescue side when it comes to diving. As Anderson explained, police officers who also dive are more of a search and recovery team.
“We are the criminal investigators for any crime scene that would end up in the water,” Anderson said.
News 3 reporter Angela Bohon was there for some of the training last week at Lynnhaven Dive Center as well as Oak Grove Lake Park, and she caught up with Captain Craig Brown of the Virginia Beach Fire Department moments after they took his first dive of the day.
Watch previous coverage: Virginia Beach Fire Department trains on scuba diving to save lives
“You’d think it’d be a little colder than it is, but with that 2/3-millimeter wetsuit, it’s not too bad actually,” said Brown. “It’s just for that quick five to seven minutes. That’s what these are made for is that quick rescue.”
Captain Jon Rigolo says ten of the Rapid Diver systems will be distributed evenly among Rescue Companies 1 and 2, starting in January.
Firefighters doing this training already have open water S.C.U.B.A. certifications.
“We have a tremendous amount of water here,” said Rigolo. “We’ve had a few calls in recent years where vehicles have gone in the water, and we’ve been able to go in the water and search those vehicles, but we’ve been doing it on breath holds.” He added, “By having the Rapid Dive capabilities now, we’ll be able to put divers underwater, go search that vehicle safely and efficiently.”
Captain Rigolo says VBFD is the first fire department on the south side of Hampton Roads to have this gear.
