What Diver Rescue Personnel Need to Know

Dangers that rescue personnel may face in and around flood water, still water, moving water, swift water, whitewater and low water.

Recently, the vast majority of the continental United States has been experiencing drought like conditions. Last year we were experiencing flooding due to high snow pack levels in the Rockies. We had low lying areas that were flooded for nearly six weeks. Stream and river flows continued at higher than normal flows for extended periods of time.

In the Colorado River basin, rescue personnel train for high water conditions. These conditions pose many challenges, including high risk swift water, massive and powerful hydraulic forces and bank erosion, which ultimately lead to downed trees.

On the contrary, with low water volumes, additional dangers arise to include limb entrapments and entanglement issues. When experiencing high water, many obstructions are covered up, with low water many of those obstructions appear and cause greater danger to recreational rafters and rescue personnel.

On all rescue operations, we employ a low to high risk rescue technique and sequence. The typical rescue sequence is: Talk, Reach, Throw, Row, Go and lastly Helo.

So let’s talk about what we should do as rescuers. Awareness and Prevention are key when approaching low water foot entrapments.

We have to be aware that in low water environments the potential for entrapment increases dramatically. Then we should consider where most entrapment issues occur: near the shore on both sides of the river and also in and around islands that often appear during periods of low water.

So what should we do to prevent foot entrapment? We should NEVER stand up in water that is over ankle deep, especially in moving water. We teach our personnel to NEVER stand until feet are firmly planted on the shore. You should swim into the shore, typically using a crawl stroke. We then recommend using the dog crawl method to the shore until you are firmly planted before standing. (Dog crawl- hands and knees, using all four)

We also teach the “safe eddy rule.” The safe eddy rule states: do not attempt to stand until you have reached a safe eddy. Even then, we still observe the ankle deep guideline.

So you now have a victim that has a foot entrapped. What can we do? Ultimately, the safest and most effective way to free the victim would be to pull the foot out the way it went in. Our PSDS saiche weight system and an effective PSDS net extraction system. These systems allow rescue personnel to place the extrication line in the water to the entrapped area for potential foot extrication. Before you can deploy PSDS saiche weight system or PSDS net system, you must first deploy a stabilization line. This offers your victim something to brace against and to ultimately help maintain their airway. Without an airway it is now a recovery. Please note, there are other more complex systems available.

Another factor that needs to be considered when deploying a system that is designed to drop through the water column is the speed of the water. Simply stated, with greater water speed you will need to use a greater amount of weight in order to get your system to the bottom near the entrapped area.

The moral of the story is, just because the water is lower and maybe slower it does not mean it is any safer. An additional moral would be that teams should practice for all conditions low and high water and recognize and assess the risk associated with both.

For more information on the ERDI Swift Water Level one course, visit https://www.tdisdi.com/erdi/ or contact your local ERDI Dive Center.

Bo Tibbetts is a regular contributor to the ERDI articles as well as assists with the development of ERDI standards. Bo owns and operates Public Safety Dive Services Academy.

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If you would like more information about ERDI, please contact:

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Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
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Importance of the Back-Up Diver

One of the basic team member roles that is sometimes taken for granted is the back-up diver, who should be present at every team deployment that results in a diver entering the water. What led me to make that statement was a recollection of a conversation I had with a founding member of a county dive team a few years ago. In the course of that conversation, my friend mentioned that he himself was the most experienced and strongest member of the team and as such, often was the first team diver to enter the water. While I agreed with his statement about his skills, I took the position that a lesser-experienced team member should be the first in the water – -the diver down – – to start the mission and that someone such as himself should perhaps be the back-up diver in place. Let’s take a brief look at the back-up diver and the role’s importance to the team mission.

Without getting into a discussion about NFPA guidelines or OSHA compliance or exemption, it is pretty much standard operating procedure for any team that whenever a team has a member in the water, a back-up diver is fully suited along with a back-up tender fully prepared ready to go. In fact, some ERDI teams will go a step further and have a third diver waiting in the wings, partially geared up, should that diver be needed. Recalling the conversation mentioned earlier, it is in this role, the back-up diver, that we would want our strongest member to be. Let’s face it, if the back-up diver enters the water, that team member is now, truly, a rescue diver. His primary role is now activated and he will certainly have his hands full with making a variety of decisions. This mission’s goal now goes from performing a PSD dive to one of potentially dealing with a panicked diver who is out of air, disoriented or even worse. A dive accident is certainly the last thing we need at this point. Remember goal #1 is that everyone gets to go home on their own accord. So with all that in mind, it makes sense to have your strongest and most experienced diver as the back-up diver to insure that this mission change does not turn into a nightmare for the team. And certainly the primary diver is, at a minimum, assured that if a problem does require the deployment of the back-up diver, that team member is the best suited for the job.

There are other considerations about the back-up diver that enter into the discussion. Not every team enjoys the luxury of having a fully-staffed team available at all times, for all calls. Often times in our capacity as a team member we are called upon to perform a variety of tasks simply due to manpower shortages. Unfortunately, some duties go unfulfilled. By having your back-up diver standing by with a dedicated back-up tender, you can utilize that tender to fill other roles, such as taking notes of the dive or sketching a map of the scene. It must be pointed out, however, that should the back-up diver be deployed, the back-up tender’s complete focus is on his diver. And it cannot go without saying that the primary tender should not be tending the back-up diver when deployed, the focus of the primary tender still needs to be on his diver.

From time to time, an incident commander will have to make tough decisions without having the proper resources. Many times in these cases, it will be the SOG that guides the IC as well as risk vs. benefit for that particular call. Let’s hope that not having a back-up diver is not one of the decisions made!

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If you would like more information about ERDI, please contact:

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Tel: 888.778.9073 | 207.729.4201
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Profile of a Wreck Diver

Mark Powell is one of the UK’s best known technical diving instructors. He has been involved in diving since the mid 1980s, has been teaching since 1993, and holds the rank of technical instructor-trainer for TDI.

Mark’s true passion is wreck diving and it is his exploration of deeper wrecks that led him into technical diving. Mark has served on the National Executive of the SAA, as well as being its technical diving advisor. He currently represents TDI/SDI at British Safety Diving group meetings and he is also a member of the BSI committees defining standards for diver training and diving equipment.

He also writes a monthly column in Sports Diver, which covers all aspects of technical diving. Mark is the author of the best-selling book Deco for Divers, which allows the average diver to fully understand the principles behind this fascinating and critical aspect of diving.

From left to right: Mark Powell and Stephen Phillips

When did you start diving and how soon after that did you make your first wreck dive?
I started diving in 1988 while I was studying at Sussex University. I had done a try-dive when I was 10 and was hooked from that point but, at that time, you couldn’t learn to dive until you were 18. That was a long eight years.

When I went to university, I chose Sussex partly because it was on the coast and the first thing I did was join the university diving club. The club ran a trip to Cornwall every Easter where we did our open water training dives. My fifth dive during that trip was my first wreck dive and it was on the wreck of a four
masted barque called the Bay of Panama. The ship had run aground in 1891 and the wreckage was in 9m (30ft) of water. Although it was well broken up, I was amazed at how much wreckage was left and how much marine life there was on the wreck.

What was it that appealed to you about ship wrecks?
Every wreck is different. Each wreck has its own history and personality and the marine life on the wreck changes each time you dive it, so that you can dive the same wreck multiple times but see something different on every dive. Also, I have a huge interest in history and in particular naval history. There are a number of maritime museums but diving a wreck is like exploring a real life museum.

I have dived on HMS Audacious, one of the first dreadnaught class battleships, which played a key part in the build up to the First World War. I have also dived on HMS Hermes, the world’s first custom-built aircraft carrier, as well as HMS M2, a submarine aircraft carrier. Each of these represents a unique part of history and by diving them I can get closer to them than in any museum.

Based on what you just said and living where you do –  you have proximity to many WW1 WWII casualties – are ships sunk in conflict your favorite type of wreck?
Absolutely, along the coast of the UK we have a huge range of wrecks including sailing ships, early steam powered ships, U-boats, First and Second World War wrecks as well as more modern cargo ships. My favorite wrecks are definitely those from the First and Second World War. The history attached to each wreck and the story behind the sinking adds so much more to each dive. I consider each dive on one of these wrecks to be paying our respects to the sailors who died during their service.

Do you have a top-10 of wrecks?
My top 10 wrecks vary depends on what I have dived recently. Some of my favorite wrecks or areas include:

  • Scapa Flow – At the end of the First World War the captured German High Seas Fleet was scuttled by the crews rather than surrendering their ships to the allies.
  • HMS Hermes – The world’s first custom built aircraft carrier. There are very few diveable aircraft carriers in the world but to dive the first is unique. It was sunk off Sri Lanka during WWII by the Japanese.
  • British Sergeant – This tanker was sunk at the same time as HMS Hermes. I have a special interest in this wreck, as I was the first to discover it during our first HMS Hermes expedition.
  • Le Polynesian – This French liner in Malta is a fantastic dive. It is virtually intact and the warm water and clear visibility make it an incredible dive.
  • SS Salsette – A P&O liner off the south coast of the UK. This wreck is almost intact and upright. I have dived it many times over the years and I still get a huge buzz of excitement every time I swim along the intact decks of this beautiful liner.
  • Malin Head – The wrecks of Malin are a wreck divers dream. HMS Audacious was one of the original Dreadnaught battleships, The Empire Heritage was a Second World War wreck, which was carrying a cargo of tanks which are now scattered around the wreck like children’s toys.
  • SS Maine – Although there is nothing particularly historical about this steam cargo ship, I love the open nature of the wreck and the fact that you can explore every inch of her.
  • SS Flying Enterprise – The Flying Enterprise was hit by a storm in 1952 and suffered a severe crack across the weather deck. The attempts to tow her back to port were covered extensively in the media in one of the first real time news stories. Despite this she sank in 80m of water where she makes a fantastic dive.
  • SS Moldavia – Another P&O liner laying 24 miles out into the English Channel.
  • HMS M2 – The M2, along with the M1 and M3, were designed as submarine battleships with 12-inch guns on their deck. After the sinking of her sister ship M1 and the Treaty of Washington, where the size of submarine guns was limited, she was converted to carry a sea plane. The M2 was lost in 1932 during a training exercise and went down with all hands on board. She makes a unique and historic dive and in good visibility can be a stunning dive.
  • HMS Southwold – This British Destroyer was sunk during the siege of Malta where it was involved in escorting convoys of ships trying to bring supplies to the besieged population of Malta. Although split into two parts, each part is almost intact and you can still imagine the sailors on board frantically trying to keep the ship afloat and defend the supply ships from attack.

What’s on your To-Do list?
Truk and Bikini are still on the To-Do list but my main interest is with discovering new and unknown wrecks. There are a couple of wrecks I have found which are still unidentified. Putting a name to those wrecks would be a great satisfaction.

Tell us a little about the expeditions you stage to dive overseas. What is the real challenge of staging this type of trip?
I regularly run trips to some of the most significant wreck diving locations. In the last couple of years, I have starting running trips to Sri Lanka to dive HMS Hermes. Until 2009, Sri Lanka was in the grip of a violent civil war, and so the wreck had been off limits. Only in the last few years has it become accessible to divers. Arranging a trip to locations like this is difficult, especially when you are doing technical diving. Ensuring that all the required cylinders, oxygen, helium, sofnolime and other equipment can be flown out or sourced locally is a huge logistical challenge. It helps if you can find a reliable local operator. This is also important from a safety point of view. I insist that all the relevant safety precautions are
in place and this is much easier when using a reliable operator.

In the UK and the US, we are lucky to have very reliable coastguard services and hyperbaric chambers but when travelling abroad this is not always the case. Planning what to do in the case of a DCI or any other incident is always a big challenge for these types of dives. Unfortunately, paperwork and administration is always a challenge, as each country always has its own rules and regulations.

Do you use special kit for wreck diving or is your kit always the same regardless?
I try and keep my kit as similar as possible at all times. For open circuit diving, I use a standard Hogarthian type setup with single piece harness and wing. When diving CCR, I usually use a Vision Rebreather (APD Inspiration). The only changes I make for wreck diving are that I carry additional torches (flashlights) when going inside a wreck and carry a special wreck reel rather than a standard DSMB reel.

What skills are essential for wreck diving and is cold water harder than warm?
The key skill for wreck diving (and all other diving) is buoyancy control. Sharp edges and silt mean that whether you are inside or outside a wreck, it is essential that you can control your buoyancy and keep off the bottom.
Equally important when you are inside the wreck is maintaining your distance between the floor and roof of any compartments. Unless your buoyancy and trim are under control, you will end up kicking up the silt and being unable to do tie offs within the wreck. Line laying is also an essential skill for wreck penetration, as it is the only guaranteed way to find your way out in a silt out.

Cold water adds to the challenge, as cold hands loose dexterity and feeling. This can make it harder to lay line and increases the amount of equipment we need to take on any dive.

Do you have any special remedies for sea-sickness?
Sit under a tree. I used to get sea sick but in recent years I think I have
built up my tolerance to it. So my remedy is to do more wreck diving.

What’s your favorite wreck diving story?
My favorite story involves a diver who was doing a penetration dive on the Zenobia in Cyprus. He had led his team into the engine room and then took several minutes to decide where to do the next tie off. It was as if he was thinking in slow motion. After the dive he thought he had only looked around
for a few seconds and didn’t realize that it had in fact been a few minutes until we told him. He was at 40m (120ft) at the time, and was using air as backgas. This was the best illustration I have seen of narcosis slowing down your thought process and judgment. The task loading of navigation and line laying increased the effects of the narcosis and convinced me that wreck penetration can add 10m (30ft) to your level of narcosis.

Any tips for new divers who are interested in wrecks?
One of the best ways to improve your enjoyment of wreck diving is to learn a little bit about the structure of wrecks. One of the main reasons people don’t enjoy wreck dives is because they don’t know what they are looking at, so it all looks like a jumble of metal. Once you start to understand the layout and structure of ships then you can start to identify the various bits of the wreck you are looking at. This makes the dive much more interesting and also helps you to be able to navigate the wreck. A good Wreck or Advanced Wreck instructor will be able to give you the knowledge and enthusiasm for wrecks that will help you get the most from any wreck dive.

Thank you, Mark.

My pleasure, thank you and good diving!

Get Certified for Advanced Wreck Diving

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Advanced Wreck Diving and Need for Training and Equipment

For many years people have enjoyed the beauty in wrecks, some enjoy the glimpse into history, for others it is the research of the wreck and the part it played in the maritime industry and still others just like the marine life that this man-made structure attracts. Wrecks are in nearly every body of water, fresh and salt, and they vary in size from small pleasure crafts all the way up to aircraft carriers. In some locations, wrecks are the attraction, such as: Chuuk Lagoon, the eastern seaboard of the United States, the English Channel, the Great Lakes and the list goes on. For some divers, staying on the outside of the wreck is all they want to do, but others…they want to see what’s on the inside.

While the outside of the wrecks present some dangers- cuts from sharp steel, being pulled into the wreck through an opening (typically only when there are large waves or groundswells), possible entanglement from lines on the wreck for fishing gear – going inside requires very specialized training. To gain access to most wrecks, divers have to take a boat, which means divers are pretty familiar with boats and their layout,while they are floating in their upright position. Problems is, most wrecks don’t land like this. Wrecks can land on their sides, upside down, even vertically or ripped in half by wave action or during the sinking process. All of these different positions present unique challenges to the diver and an experienced TDI instructor will help you gain the knowledge needed to navigate these challenges.

A TDI Advanced Wreck course builds on the knowledge and skills gained during a basic wreck course. It takes the information learned, such as wreck charting (noting different depths on the wreck, entries, exits, orientation, etc), laying line, and air management and extends them to going inside the wreck. Unlike being outside the wreck, there is no direct path to the surface and in most wrecks there is no or limited ambient light. These two factors alone need to be seriously considered. Your TDI instructor will also teach you the research skills you need so you have a better understanding of the wreck, its design and how long it has been resting on the bottom.

Entering into a wreck, or any overhead environment, requires more and specialized equipment. Advanced wreck divers should carry at a minimum two lights, a primary and a back-up, two cutting devices, two reels, two lift bags and a redundant air supply. While this may sound like a lot of equipment, a TDI Advanced Wreck Instructor can teach divers where to stow this equipment and still keep very streamlined in the water. Having the equipment properly attached in the right locations is beneficial in reducing the possibility of entanglement and having the equipment in the right place in the event of an emergency.

There are few diving activities more rewarding than wreck diving, especially if you have an interest in history. Having the knowledge of wrecks is also very beneficial for those that are interested in spear fishing or photographers. You never know where that fish might end up or where the best angle is for the cover photo shot. Like any technical dive, the diver must be engaged in what is going on around them and make well thought out decisions. Proper training is essential, but being vigilant does not end after certification.

Get Certified for Advanced Wreck Diving

Contact TDI SDI and ERDI

If you would like more information, please contact:

TDI

Tel: 888.778.9073  |  207.729.4201

Email: Worldhq@tdisdi.com

Web: https://www.tdisdi.com

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