Surf & Inlet Extraction Drill 2014....

Sunday was the teams drill to get ready for the upcoming summer season. It was a tune up of the teams surface rescue skills. Tom, Joe X2, Sue, Ali, Bob, Greg and Linda were suited up and ready to go. First aiders Max, Sarah, Corinne and Captain Jerry were also there as surface support.

We started out with using a rescue can as an aid for swimmers, and moved on to entry in to the water with the rescue can with both fins on and without fins. It is not always easy getting in to the water. With waves and currents it can become difficult. With some divers acting as victim and other as rescuers the divers were in and out of the water many times. Entering water and swimming out to the victim and towing the victim back in to the beach and getting the victim out of the water and into the hands of the first aiders.

   We also trained on the miller man back board. This is a piece of equipment that we have on the dive truck and all the squad’s ambulances. It is used if there is a neck or back injury. It has a lot of straps and it’s not the easiest thing to use when you can’t stand and you’re floating. So we do train using it. So if we need it to get a victim out of the water we’ll be ready.

   After a few hours of all of this we called it a day, Tom wanted to get a picture and we lined up so he could get his shot, he has us all jump up in the air and I got a great group shot of all of us in mid air.

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In the debriefing after the drill I reminded the team and the first aiders “anything can happen “so you have to be ready.

As we started back towards the building we stopped to check the inlet to see if we had any visibility so we could dive. What no one knew was I had planned to have Sue jump in to the water and play the victim. She did it so well! No one saw her jump in and it was a surprise to everyone. Linda was the first to act and was in the water in seconds holding sue afloat, she was followed by OJ, Ali, Greg and Bob. The first aiders got the miller man and passed down to the divers and working as a team had Sue strapped down and ready to be lifted out of the water in minutes. Lines were tried on the board and the first aiders had Sue up and out of the water and into the ambulance in seconds.

Photos by Tom Conroy...

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Tempus Frigid

On Sunday January 26, The Point Pleasant Dive Team was able to take advantage of the cold temperatures affecting the east coast. The temperature stayed below freezing long enough for ice to form on some of the local waterways. The conditions looked perfect for some Ice diving training.

Ice can form quickly in the local waters if the conditions are right. This beautiful formation can be dangerous as it presents an enticing new playground to walk across or play upon.  Many times the ice can be deceiving. Weak spots can form near pilings or cracks can be hidden just under the surface. These can cause the unsuspecting victim to plunge into the water or under the ice without warning. The Dive Team must be prepared to respond to these emergencies, so when we get the opportunity we train in the surrounding areas waters.

We headed out to a quiet spot in Bayhead. This area presents a perfect place for the team to train. It is off of major roads and the terrain offers many areas of interaction with the ice pack.

Chief Nesley led the day reviewing the many techniques specific to Diving and Rescue Procedures on Ice. Four divers took turns falling thru the ice into the frigid waters. There is nothing like feeling first hand your body falling thru the ice and the feel of the ice cold water shocking your body. Even wearing the appropriate exposure suit the cold can quickly zap the strength from your fingers and extremities.

Ice diving requires specific techniques be applied for the safety of the divers and support personnel. One of the most important is the use of Line Communications. As each Ice Diver is required to be tethered via a line while under the ice, communications to surface personnel are executed via a series of line pulls. Each one letting the Line Tenders know of the divers’ current situation or needs.

Joe, Linda, “OJ”, and Bob each took turns diving under the ice while the others acted as surface support.  While under the ice, each diver practiced Navigation and/or Search and Recovery techniques. As well as tasks like finding our Chiefs foot stuck thru a hole in the ice.

It was a cold day both under and above the ice. However, each of our divers will walk away with just a little more understanding and experience of the local waters during the winter.

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Ongoing beach inspections...

On the morning of Sunday May 26, 2013, the Point Pleasant First Aid and Rescue Squad diver’s Michael Bond, Bob Schmidinger, Milton Rodriguez, Joseph Sinkus, David Gibson, and Chief Diver Chet Nesley met at the squad building with no real plans to dive. However, knowing that a west wind had been blowing hard for the prior day and a half, everyone was curious to see what the water conditions were like. Was the waters visibility atrocious? Perhaps the biggest question in mind was whether the ocean was flat and clear to continue our beach surveys as requested by Point Pleasant Beach, Bayhead and Mantoloking? At 0800 we made our traditional ride down to the foot of Broadway to gage the beach conditions and then to the Manasquan Inlet to check on the water clarity. The water was “lake surface” like and was definitely conducive to shore entry by divers because of the lack of waves. Better yet, it was determined that Rescue 34, our zodiac and jet ski would be great assets in the underwater survey by pulling the divers along behind.

We went back to the building and got our gear and vessels ready for our mission. Our plan was to launch the vessels at the end of Bay Ave, Point Pleasant Beach and have the vessels go through the Point Pleasant canal and Manasquan inlet to meet us just off the beach at Trenton Ave, in Point Pleasant Beach. Dive Unit 347 carried our equipment and divers to the beach, while our first responder vehicle towed and launched our rescue boat and when finished was utilized on the beach to move gear and divers.  To make our plan work we had to make a few phone calls. After all, this was very spur of the moment decision but we could not pass up very good diving conditions. We contacted the squad captain, Sabrina Fioretti who had access to the squad’s first responder vehicle 346, which has four wheel drive and EMT Jerry Meaney who also has a beach capable truck.

As planned Rescue 34 and the jet ski, towed two divers behind underwater. Both divers held onto a line one hundred feet behind the vessels. Every time a diver found a large piece of debris that posed a danger to swimmers, they came up and signaled to the beach surface support on shore. They in turn marked the area in which the debris was found by positioning the vehicle on the beach directly in perpendicular with the divers. By doing this the divers had a point of reference if the object was dropped before recovered. Surveying was done in water depths of as little as three feet and as deep at twelve feet. In the 2.1 mile of Point Pleasant Beach and Bayhead beaches surveyed we found scraps of metal, a sign post, a bed frame and small chunks of masonry blocks which is not a lot for the area we covered. The area was surprisingly clear of debris. 

The safety of our beaches is an ongoing concern and we will be continuing when the conditions both sea state and the visibility underwater allow and manpower is available. As of today, we can say there is no large debris from Manasquan Inlet to Mount Street in Bayhead. Everything is being done to make the beaches as safe as possible by the Townships, Dive Team, the Point Pleasant First Aid and Emergency Squad, the lifeguards, and all the beach owners. No one can guarantee that anything is totally safe. Everyone is doing the best they can.

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Post Sandy Beach Clean-up...

 

On Sunday the dive team answered a request for our services. A call was made for the team to search the beachs  for storm debris before the start of the swimming season. We were asked to search the shallow waters along the shore for large debris and to remove it.

A plan was made and the call went out for divers, it was a good turnout. We had ten divers and six first aiders show up ready to go to work. We had three trucks on the beach to carry all the dive gear and diver up and down the beach. This made it a lot easier on the divers and saved us a ton of walking.

 The weather was on our side, with sunny skies and waves no bigger than three feet and warm temperatures, not to hot and not to cold!

 

 

 

We put our rescue boat ( rescue 34 ) in the water to ward off wayward boaters and to give surface support to the divers if needed. Tom C. was our coxswain for the day and did a great job. Once rescue 34 got on location we started our search at the foot of broadway.

 

 The plan was for the two divers to go out to between eight and fourteen feet and search swimming south. The search was done on the high tide so even at low tide the area search would be the area used by swimmers. The first team was Joe S. and Tom T. With the water temperatures at 44 and a pretty good surge running also a current running to the north at just under a knot each team was going to be in the water only a little over a half hour.

Tom and Joe got the ball rolling covering over two city blocks, at the end of the dive tom T. got in the boat with tom C. to be on hand if tom C. needed the help. They did run into some small debris pockets, but nothing that would be a risk to swimmers. It was also moving with the current.

 

As teams were getting in and out of the water and gearing up it was the training that both the first aiders and divers had that made it look easy. Everyone helping each other, as divers came out of the water they were helped up the beach to the back of jerry truck and sat down and their gear was removed and the next team was briefed by the first team and geared up and helped into the water.

 

The second team was Sue L. and Ali B. and they showed up the guys today. They covered right up to jenks main building. The first pair of divers were hard to spot from the beach so Sue and Ali were send in with a surface float which made it easier for the shore people to see them. When they came out they reported no debris at all.

 

Joe S. and Bob S. were the next team in and they covered the area from jenk’s main building to pass martell’s. They also find no debris at all.

The last team in was a solo dive done by Chet N. and he covered the last of the search area up to the foot of Trenton ave. He also report no debris.

 

Many people came up to us to find out what we were doing and every one took the time to tell them what and why we were doing the search. It was a long day for everyone. To be in a dry suit for 7 hours is not a good thing. The smell of all the food cooking on the boardwalk had our mouths watering, but food had to wait . We had gear and trucks to clean!