The Dive Team was founded in 1993 as a special unit of the Warrensburg Fire Department. Since that time all of our department members have been trained to be ground tenders and we have over 20 divers on our department. One of our divers is a certified instructor through PADI and a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer. The Dive Team responds to all water rescue calls within our county and is called out to other counties in need of mutual aide.

Prior to 1993, individuals on the fire department paid for their own training and purchased their own equipment for diving. In 1993 the Warrensburg Fire Department budgeted for the Dive & Recovery Team. New scuba gear and equipment was purchased and 5 department members were sent to Dive Rescue I class. In 1994 several members went to swift water training through DRI. Later that year a dive boat was purchased.

Warrensburg’s Fire Department Dive Team is organized for rapid rescue response – responding quickly, gathering information, and deploying one or two rescuers to perform a rapid and effective search and retrieval.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Due to the variety of water environments in our area (lakes, rivers, ponds, drainage ditches, etc.) the dive team must be prepared for several types of water rescue situations

Underwater Rescue: Scuba divers performing underwater search patterns to locate near-drowning victims.

Surface Water Rescue: Rescue of accident victims while they are still on the surface of lakes, ponds and other types of still water.

Swift-water Rescue: Rescues performed anywhere near rivers and other types of moving water.

River Diving: Rescue or recovery of victims using underwater search patterns in a moving water environment

Evidence Recovery: We assist law enforcement agencies, locally and through mutual aide in crime scene investigations and evidence recovery operations.

TRAINING

To save a life is what public safety water rescue is all about.

The dive team prepares for surface and underwater rescue establishes rescue priorities (surface victims first, underwater victims second, if a choice must be made) reduce the risks to themselves deploy as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The Dive Team strives to successfully rescue water accident victims, in a professional manner, whether they be in the surface or underwater.

Training is performed monthly, through diving at different locations, team members gain knowledge and experience of both their skills and the dive site.

Each year, active dive team members are required to participate in academic and practical training in addition to their firefighting and emergency medical training.