By JUSTIN THOMPSON
Interagency cooperation has hit new heights. Volunteer members of the North Bend (OR) Fire Department (NBFD) have teamed up with U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Air Station—North Bend to provide 24-hour dive team response to emergencies and other disasters. The team responds to calls along the entire Oregon coast from Washington State to California, as well as most of Oregon’s inland waterways including the infamous Rogue River.
The joint response program originated in 1998 as the result of a casual conversation between USCG Lieutenant Brian Edmondson and NBFD Training Officer Rick Cooper. The program has grown into a first-rate emergency services resource for mariners, residents, and tourists.
USCG rescue swimmer protocol prohibits its personnel from going beneath the water’s surface during operations. For safety reasons, USCG crew members must always maintain visual contact with the mission’s helicopter team. This means that other agencies must conduct rescue or recovery efforts for overturned vessels and vehicle submersions.
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(1) USCG Air Station—North Bend has a complement of six Dauphin P53H helicopters. Called “Screaming Pumpkins,” the helos are the backbone of Coast Guard/fire department dive operations. (Photos by Jason Oak.) |
When budgetary constraints forced the Coos County (OR) Sheriff’s Department to disband its dive team in the late 1990s, the large stretch of Oregon’s Pacific coast and its vast inland waterways were left without a resource for underwater emergencies.
Talking after church services one Sunday morning, Edmondson and Cooper shared their worry about the county’s decision. The discussion led the two to decide to combine their teams’ unique skills into a cohesive squad that could serve the community’s ongoing needs.
The first meeting and training session between the two agencies in 1999 was very tentative, says current NBFD Dive Training Officer Bob Hood. “They didn’t know us, and we didn’t know them,” he says, “so we were all very cautious in our approach.” Time overcame the suspicions and, as training operations continued, the two teams developed a respect for each other’s skills and an understanding of their respective capabilities.
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(2) Department Training Officer Bob Hood is lowered from the hovering helo with full dive gear in place, ready to begin underwater search and rescue efforts. |
From the very beginning, the USCG Air Station saw the opportunity to enhance its resources. At the same time, the fire department divers knew that a close working relationship with the USCG could provide enormous safety to the coastal and offshore maritime industries, the local commercial fishing community, the tourist population, and pleasure boaters.
In 2002, Hood took over the team’s leadership with Fire Department Captain Kent Lucas and immediately implemented regularly scheduled exercises. A six-year Navy veteran, Hood is very familiar with military courtesy and insists that his team operate within strictly defined rules of conduct. “It’s their house,” says Hood about the USCG. “We’re guests, and we abide by their rules on the base, on the boats, and on the helos.” Once in the water, he says, operational control shifts to the dive team, and the USCG provides support until the divers are safely back onboard.
Each of the team’s 10 members carries a standard NBFD pager and is “toned out” when the USCG needs divers. They respond directly to the USCG helipad, where they are met by other firefighters who assist them to put on drysuits, SCUBA gear, weight belts, radios, emergency flotation systems, and related equipment. From alert to liftoff is often less than 15 minutes.
TEAMWORK IS KEY
Flexibility is the keystone in developing this unprecedented relationship. As they began to work more closely together, the NBFD team members realized that some of their procedures were inconsistent with the more refined USCG practices. To ensure safe operations, the fire department divers adopted the USCG methods. “Simple things like hand signals were changed,” says Hood, “so that everyone could work from the same playbook and implement the safest response.”
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| (3) NBFD divers work in two-person teams to ensure safety. |
The teams continue to improve their techniques as they mature together. Hood says that during the original training missions, the USCG lowered the divers and their equipment separately into the water in the rescue baskets. This was time-consuming and forced the divers to don their gear while fighting tides, waves, wind, and rotor-wash. “Several times we got beat up pretty bad,” he notes, suggesting that safety was compromised.
Recognizing the inherent danger in this routine, the teams agreed to change the pattern. Through repeated evolutions, they found that allowing the divers to don their gear before commencing flight operations was less tiring and much safer. This allows the helicopter to lower the fully equipped divers into the water in torso harnesses. Then they could detach and undertake subsurface operations. The new method was faster and less tiring.
All of the dive team members are NBFD volunteers. They train monthly in helicopter deployment and are routinely transported offshore, where they are dropped into the ocean for simulated emergencies. After completing in-water practice deployments that last from 30 minutes to an hour, the helicopter picks up the divers and returns them to base.
The USCG, like other branches of the military, operates under new protocols that encourage increased collaboration with local fire and rescue agencies to improve readiness for disasters and to provide more comprehensive life-saving service to the public wherever feasible. For example, the Los Angeles County (CA) Fire Department (LACFD) and the USCG are working together to establish an oceangoing technical rescue capability in addition to the current partnership that pairs LACFD firefighters/paramedics with USCG helicopters that respond to medical emergencies at sea and also between USCG and LACFD lifeguards. This is part of the new paradigm of local/state/federal partnerships for emergencies and disaster response supported by the National Response Framework.
If you are interested in starting a similar cooperative venture with your local USCG station, Hood offers the following advice:
- Get a copy of the USCG rescue/swimmer operating protocol, and understand the job’s demands. It’s the USCG’s house, and you are a guest.
- Nominate one or two members of your dive team to contact the USCG station commander and introduce yourselves and your proposal. Make it friendly but professional.
- Invite the USCG to visit your facility and learn more about your dive team’s skills.
- If approved, schedule a “test run” in some calm, shallow water that allows you to familiarize yourselves with each other’s capabilities.
- Train, train, train! Not every operation has to be with the USCG. Your divers can improve their skills and ensure safe operations through constant practice.
JUSTIN THOMPSON is a 25-year volunteer fire service veteran. He served as captain of Rockville Centre (NY) Fire Department Hook & Ladder Co. 1 and commissioner of the Halesite (NY) Fire District. Thompson was awarded the National Fire Protection Association International Fire Command Fellowship in 1994.
