Fire Fight Underwater Recovery

10/06/2022

There will be a Memorial 'splash' for Fire Chief Stephen D. Boynton this Sunday, Oct 9, at Wheeler Branch Lake, in Glen Rose, TX. 1pm, if you can clear your schedules, come out and support his family. All are welcome, bring your gear for photos & video, which will be posted afterwards.

If you have a "Fire Fight" shirt, or a Team shirt, wear them proudly, for a group photo.

09/19/2022

There is a memorial dive being planned, for Fire Chief Stephen D. Boynton, of DeCordova Bend/Acton VFD. Please keep this date open on your calendars: Oct 9, 2022, 1pm, Wheeler Branch lake, Glen Rose.

07/29/2022

Night dives with Waxahachie Fire dive team. B shift rocks! Great divers, great shore support, great Department. Blue Lake, surface temp: 99°, 20' depth: 88°, vis: 25'.

07/29/2022

Waxahachie Night Diver cert dives. A beautiful evening. Conditions: air temp: 98°, water temp: 88°, no thermacline. Blue Lake, off 287.5 divers.

07/21/2022

This.....from last night. Send good thoughts to our Firefighters, Public Safety Responders, property owners, medical staff, and our fellow Texans. From Sommervell County, Texas.

07/08/2022

7/7/22: 110° with clear sky. Surface temp: 86°, Depth temp (20'): 84°.Blue Lake, Waxahachie. A perfect day for PADI Dry Suit Diver certification course!

Waxahachie (Tx) Fire Rescue Dive Team has a new member, & he has taken to dive training like he was born to it!

Public Safety Divers have to be able to wear a dry suit, year-round, to protect us from water-born contaminants (hydrocarbons, acids, biological). "We train like we fight, & fight like we train".

This agency responds to water-born emergencies throughout Texas, flooding, underwater recoveries, etc.

I enjoy working with professionals.

(L to R) Danny, Matt, Scott, Aaron.

06/05/2022

We'd like to congratulate two Public Safety Divers, on their completion of the PADI Distintive Specialty PSD Advanced Wreck Diver certification. Open only to PSDs, the course consists of a pool session, during which the student follows a weighted line through a small structure. While being entangled 8-10 times by their safety diver, clearing their entanglements, finding a victim, buoying the location, and surfacing safely. While blindfolded......the student always has a safety diver within reach.

The lake session consists of several dives on a submerged structure. In this case, a submerged aircraft, forty feet long, 32 feet depth. The student will don a blacked-out mask, descend to the aircraft, clear the rooftop hatch, tie a line to the exterior. Entering headfirst to clear the cockpit, then the passenger compartment. Once the forty foot cabin is cleared, the student exits the aircraft, and safely ascends to the surface. And then removes their blindfold.

Shaun and George performed flawlessly during this course, and we are very proud of them.

05/23/2022

Starting a new dive class with WFR, pool session today. I've been looking forward to this.

05/18/2022

These Public Safety Divers completed several missions shortly after completing their course. 1. A vehicle recovery in Lake Granbury.2. Body recovery in the Brazos River. 3. An LEO duty weapon recovery in the Trinity River.

We are very proud of the hard work these PSDs have done to get where they are. A quick fact: the PADI Public Safety Diver certification is more difficult to achieve than the PADI Master Scuba Diver certification! Great job, guys. I'll dive in any conditions, with you as my Safety.

05/08/2022

The last day of training with Waxahachie (Tx) Fire Rescue Dive Team. This was 'B' shift, with Scott, Mat, Jeff, and Aaron. These guys are a very active Team, responding all over Texas. From Grapevine to Waco, to Houston, they respond to rescue the Rescuers. We are proud to work with them.

05/04/2022

Training with Waxahachie Fire Rescue Dive Team, really good guys, great divers. This training session covers basic Scuba skills (we hit these every training dive), cutting tool exercises (every PSD should carry two; do you know how your cutting tool works underwater?), body recovery (using a mannequin and mesh body bag), and heavy recovery using a lifting device (a plastic 55 gallon drum, rigged for lifting). These guys did great!

05/03/2022

We have the opportunity to train with the Waxahachie Fire Recue Dive Team, over the next few days. This agency is part of a three County Task Force, covering thousands of square miles. This team is very active locally, but does travel all over Texas for flood and Swiftwater response.

05/01/2022

Thank you, Stephanie, for these great, personalized tumblers for the Public Safety Divers that attended our class. Please check out Stephanie's Krafty Things VIP. She did a great job on these, and she offers much more. Please give her a shout.

04/30/2022

The PADI PSD course, 4/2022, briefing scenarios before our response.

04/29/2022

The final day of the PADI Public Safety Diver course, Wheeler Branch lake, Glen Rose. TX. For one of the first exercises, I announced a two-mile run. Students had set up the dive site, prepped their gear, checked for leaks, and just looked at the staff in amazement. Everyone had to get out of their 'suits, find socks & running shoes, & go to the start line. Everyone was ready to start, I readied my watch, was about to say "Go!", when a bystander asked: "Are you really going to make them run two miles?".
I said: "No, I just wanted to raise their heart rate!" It worked. And I'm very proud of the entire class for being ready to respond to the ridiculous!

04/29/2022

Preparing for the final day of the PADI Public Safety Diver course. This will be a full day, starting with a two-mile run to get their heart rate up!

Okay. Maybe not a full two miles.

04/27/2022

Attendees at this PADI Public Safety Diver Course include Public Safety divers from Hood County Sheriff's Department, Tarrant Regional Water District, DeCordova Bend/Acton Fire Department. Subjects covered were: self-rescue, unconscious swimmer/diver recovery, blacked-out mask drills, an underwater maze, entangled/entrapped diver rescue. Every diver worked hard to assist their fellow divers. This is a great group of students.

04/19/2022

We'd like to welcome a new staff member to Fire Fight Underwater Recovery, Billy. He was a member of the DeCordova/Acton Fire Department for several years. They called to see if he could join our training team. With the Fire Department, he weighed in at 190 pounds.

Firefighters and Police Officers trained with him during their annual physical agility tests.
During the transfer to our team, he underwent a crash diet, now weighing in at 25 pounds!

He joins a long time team member, Bob. Together they will continue to train with Public Safety Dive Teams throughout the country. Be sure to signal "okay" to them when you see them in our area lakes.

We'd like to thank Lone Star Scuba, in Fort Worth, for their long time support. They are great folks, who have worked with local, State, and Federal PSD Teams for years. Thank you!

01/19/2022

01/19/2022

01/19/2022

01/19/2022

10/27/2021

A great class. And: "Dang it!" That's as good a crew as I would want to save me!

These guys train hard, risking their lives, to save you & yours. As volunteers...

Tell me, how did you help your neighbor today? Did you help someone with loading their groceries into their car? How about letting someone merge into your lane on the highway? But cutting off that wa**er roaring up on you?

Please don't dismiss those that wish to help others, no matter how small the service. A warm & caring heart can move mountains.

Good morning! Our next Flood And Swiftwater Technician class coming up on Nov. 12-14, 2021 in Dallas! Still have a few slots left if you want to come play. See you there! Go to www.rescueti.com and click on the course in the course calendar to register.

08/23/2021

There is a new underwater feature at Wheeler Branch Lake! "Wheeler's Run" was designed as a combination cave/wreck trainer, for diver's use to better their skills. The tubes are four feet long, and thirty-two inches (inner diameter). That sounds small, and it is. Recreational divers should not make pe*******on until they have been trained and certified in these skills.

Many volunteers assisted getting these together, building the cradles, delivering the tubes, placing them in the water, moving to their final location.

Thanks go out to Brian, Jason, Randy, Will, Kevin, John, Westen, Ross, Shane, and many others.

08/15/2021

Today was a great day for diving. Wheeler Branch lake, water temps were 87° at the surface, the thermacline a bit cooler at 21 feet. Vis was poor, so we stayed on the sight lines. PADI Boat Diver Specialty course. Great job today, Bethany, Annabelle, Jason, Brian, Milton Keath, Carl, & Jenna. Fun times.