Cape firefighters participate in public safety diver class

Four members of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department (CGFD) took part in a "Public Safety Diver" class last week. The training included diving skills with focuses on evidence recovery, body recovery, search patterns and safe diving practices in blackout water areas, such as the Mississippi River.

Fire department members from St. Louis, Farmington and Saline County also participated in the training hosted by the Muddy River Divers. Captain at the Cape Girardeau Fire Department and member of the Homeland Security Response Team Andy Matthews has participated in the training in previous years and said this was refresher training to polish the members' skills in diving and search and rescue.

"The whole premise of the class is for public safety diving in specifically blackout water conditions," Matthews said. "I would say 98% of the diving situations that we deal with in the fire department it is in water where visibility is less than a foot. We practice how to perform search patterns by being guided by the 'tender' on the shore through rope signals."

The person in the role of "tender" assists divers by pulling on a rope attached to the diver, giving them directions on where to search while they are submerged. The diver, tender and crews on scene communicate through wired communication as well as rope signals in the case communications are not functioning properly. Both the tender and diver are required to perform a swimming test.

"The diver is basically strapped to a harness, so that way if anything happens to the diver, they would be able to pull them back in," Matthews said.

He said the divers use full-scuba gear during searches and performing dives requires good buoyancy control in muddy bodies of water because as a search is performed, moving too much of the dirt around can cause visibility to worsen.

Divers from the CGFD have performed searches and rescues in the Mississippi River, the Headwater Diversion Channel, rock quarries and various ponds within Cape Girardeau County. Matthews said the divers have also assisted neighboring counties when help is requested.

"We've had to use those skills multiple times, whether it is a vehicle in the water or an unfortunate swimmer accident," he said. "It is something that is definitely useful and beneficial when you do recovery and stuff of that nature. It gives an opportunity for a family to have closure."