Case Study Fire Dept. LODD involving SCUBA

Demographics Indiana June 14, 2002, 1243 hours 37 year old career fire fighter drowned during the final dive of a diver training course

Demographics 747 Uniformed fire fighters Serving population of 400,000 Geographical area of 93 square miles All firefighters trained to NFPA FFII Requires annual physical examinations of all members Members selected for dive team must undergo additional medical screening

Facts Advanced SCUBA class Final dive 2 Instructors 22 Students Search and Recovery Exercise

Water conditions Sunny Mid-80’s Calm winds Private lake Max depth 70’ VISIBILITY ZERO Water temp 40 degrees

The Drill Search and recovery exercise Descend buoy line anchored to small weight at bottom of lake Conduct a circular pattern & locate cinder block When found, release air filled milk jugs attached to block at bottom Attach 5’ lanyard with one end to cinder block and other end to improvised lift bag and bring to surface

Training Instructor and Dive master placed buoy makers 30-40’apart, depth of 50’ Sank cinder blocks within 5-10’ of marker and returned to shore

Training Dive teams checked in with beach master and reported air pressure before boarding boat Safety boat dropped each teams at respective buoys After teams were in place at surface, dive master would signal for teams to begin dive

Events Victim and partner were one of six teams on last scenario Victim and buddy began dive Buddy was stationary at bottom while victim used a circular search After each circle, buddy gave 2 tugs on rope to acknowledge the pattern was completed and would let out additional rope

Events Victim found object and gave 2 tugs to let buddy know Buddy followed line to victim (Note- electronic comms were inoperative at this point) Buddy joined victim Buddy began to cut milk jugs Victim began attaching lanyard to cinder block

Events As buddy was finishing rigging, victim attempted to remove buddy’s face mask The force from victim pushed buddy on side Victims weight belt landed on buddy

Events Buddy surfaced to report diver in distress Safety diver entered water and descended the buoy line Safety diver attached search line to buoy and began patterns

Events During safety diver search, boat crew raised buoy line to see if victim was attached This brought up the safety diver, prematurely ending his search Victim was recovered 2 hours later using SONAR ALS initiated and victim pronounced dead at hospital

NIOSH Recommendations Equipment checks before and after every dive or after repairs Buddy pre-dive safety check Test electronic comms before dive Surface tenders must be able to monitor diver Equipment problems fixed before dive

NIOSH Recommendations Practice specific evolutions in a pool before open water “The complexity of PSD can not be understated” New skills should be tested in a controlled environment Victim transported lanyard attached to vest Attached on end to cinder block Other end was still attached to BCD Distressed victim removed weight belt but lanyard was attached to cinder block Victim was recovered with cinder block still attached

NIOSH Recommendations Ensure SAR Ops establish and use reference points to conduct searches Establishment of LSP is primary objective when beginning SAR Ops 1. Witness Interviews 2. Use of reference points and reference objects 3. Physical Evidence First dive used buoy line as a reference point Fourth dive, the crew on the safety boat removed the buoy line, eliminating the reference point for future searches