Enhancing Diver Safety During Search and Rescue / Recovery Operations
Keeping divers safe during rescue and recovery operations is equally as important as finding a drowning victim. Learn how sonar can be part of the safety equation.
The team at CCG Rescue knows how to keep divers safe because that is the life we lived for over three decades as U.S. Navy Master Divers. From salvage operations in the Yellow Sea to SAR operations to complex special operations diving in support of national mission tasking, diver safety was always at the forefront of planning. While completing the mission was always a must, diver safety wasn’t an option, it was an imperative as it is for every water rescue team.
Like military divers, public safety divers routinely encounter:
- Zero-visibility conditions
- Strong currents
- Debris fields
- Entanglement hazards
- Extreme temperatures
Using rescue sonar technology allows teams to gather valuable information from the surface before entering the water. Reducing unnecessary dives helps minimize risk while improving operational effectiveness.
Many dive team leaders share a common philosophy:
“A dry diver is a safe diver.”
By reducing exposure to hazardous underwater environments, agencies can better protect their personnel while maintaining mission effectiveness.
Fire departments and law enforcement agencies increasingly serve as the primary response agency for water emergencies in their communities and many missing person incidents occur in recreational waterways where rapid deployment can significantly impact search effectiveness.
As military divers, our sonar of choice when looking for a lost diver or recovering drowning victims was and is the AquaEye Pro handheld sonar. Prior to putting a diver in the water to conduct a search for a victim, we took the following steps:
- The Point Last Scene (PLS) is marked with a buoy
- A rapid response plan is developed using systematic methods to ensure complete coverage of the search area and swift communication to the Dive Supervisor
- AquaEye Pro is deployed
- Identified target(s) are marked with a buoy while the recovery diver is being briefed
- Diver is deployed on the exact spot identified by AquaEye Pro
- Recovery is made
These operations are easily repeated in all environments – rivers, flood environments, lakes, and open ocean. These complex search conditions in ever-changing environments demand quick situational awareness, rapid plan development, briefing the team, and executing the plan with clear and concise information flowing up and down the dive team chain of command.
Rapidly deployable sonar systems that are specifically looking for human targets have been a gamechanger for these complex operations. While planning and execution have a lot of variables, the AquaEye Pro helps to minimize those underwater variables that you cannot see.
For departments seeking to enhance their water rescue capabilities, AquaEye Pro provides a valuable addition to existing operational resources.
AquaEye Pro handheld rescue sonar helps first responders rapidly assess underwater environments, support drowning victim recovery operations, reduce diver exposure, and improve overall search efficiency.