Date: Fri 20-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

dive-rescue-NUSAR-Taunton

Full Text:

With cut: Dive Teams Train In Newtown

Dive and rescue teams from Connecticut and New York gathered in Newtown last

weekend for a Rescue I dive class conducted by Dive Rescue International of Ft

Collins, Colorado. Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue (NUSAR) sponsored the

class, and teams from Bethel, Redding, Norwalk, East Haven, Rochester, N.Y,

and the Poquonic Fire Company participated in the exercises.

The first two days of the class included 11 hours of classroom work and six

hours of practice in a pool and in the open water on Taunton Pond. These

sessions included training on basic search techniques, special equipment use,

and communications.

On the third day, Sunday, October 15, the teams responded to two mock

emergencies on Lake Lillinonah in the Albert's Hill Cove. The first scenario

was a canoe accident with one floating victim and one missing victim, with

evidence to be found on the lake bottom. The second scenario was a double

homicide and a suicide - the result of a lover's triangle - with one victim in

a boat and two in the lake.

Topics covered in the training included team organization; cold water

near-drowning and hyperthermia; equipment selection and use; accident scene

evaluation; interaction with family and the press; interview techniques;

victim retrieval; search patterns; drowning investigations; and evaluating

underwater crime scenes.