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January 1999

OPERATIONS

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February 1999

TRAINING

Paul and Steve watch from the surface console as divers practice flooding and clearing the full face masks.		Tim and Kyle review procedures before going into the deep end.

Take advantage of the mild air temperatures and do some fun dives. The water will still be cold for the next three or four months.

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March 1999

PAGER REPLACEMENT

If you have one of the old pagers you must get a replacement. Tim Hoffman currently has the new pagers. You can get your replacement at the next meeting or training dive.

PUBLIC SERVICE DIVE TEAM COMPETITION

• A combined river search and rescue and physical conditioning evolution.
• A blackwater obstacle course.
• A criminal evidence recovery scenario.

This year's competition was won by the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Dive Team. The competition was so close that only 20 points over two days of competition separated the highest and lowest scoring teams.

The Competition is sponsored by the SWT Criminal Justice Department's Underwater Institute.

OPERATIONS

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April 1999

TRAINING

DIVE RECOVERY SEMINAR

OPERATIONS

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May 1999

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

Check the Diver Assignment Schedule and call one of the Team officers to sign up for a shift. (It takes a few minutes for schedule changes to show up in the Diver Assignment Schedule on the web site after updating the database.)

OPERATIONS

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June 1999

TRAINING and OPERATION

Fifteen divers and surface support personnel started early Saturday morning June 5 from the Park Ranger's Station in Pace Bend Park. The recovery went smoothly except for a few problems which the divers solved as they arose.

JULY 4 WEEKEND

OPERATIONS

June 13, 1999: At about 4:50 pm a woman was reported missing in Hamilton Pool. The Dive Team was called at 5:07 pm. First arriving Dive Team members set up a search with divers from the Hudson Bend Fire Department and Pedernales Emergency Services. The recovery was made quickly when Dive Team members set the search buoy anchor less than four feet away from the subject.

June 29, 1999:: Shortly before 3:30 pm Pace Bend Park rangers received a report of a vehicle in the water off a cliff near Marshall Cove. The dive team was called at 3:43 to investigate. The vehicle was unoccupied and had been reported stolen in Austin. Divers rigged the vehicle for a wrecker to haul it back up the cliff.

Divers report the vehicle's identification and condition to the Sheriff's boat (left) and discuss rigging strategy. After rigging the vehicle to be lifted (right), divers wait safely far out of the picture as a wrecker winches the vehicle up the cliff.

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July 1999

TRAINING

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

The schedule will be similar to the July 4 weekend: Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with daily shifts probably 10 am to 8 pm, noon to 10 pm, and 4 pm to 2 am. We will have the final schedule at the August meeting, so be ready to sign up. This is a valuable service to the Sheriff's Office and you'll see the lake from a whole different perspective.

OPERATIONS

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August 1999

TRAINING

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Check the on-line Diver Assignment Schedule and sign up for a shift. Call Tim or Larry to sign up, or send an e-mail message to Tim (timh@texas.net) or Larry (lhunter@lhunter.com) to sign up. (It takes a few minutes for schedule changes to show up in the Diver Assignment Schedule on the web site after updating the database.)

The 4PM-2AM and 2PM-Midnight shifts on Sunday night and Monday night may dock early if things are slow.

PAGING CHANGES

If you are responding to a callout, please send a page that you are responding:

• If you have the MessageFlash software and a telephone modem you can send alphanumeric pages.
• You can still send numeric pages to the All-Call number. To announce that you are responding to a callout, enter:
  

  Your UNIT NUMBER, then * , then a 10-code message.

  
  For callout responses use just one of these two 10-code messages. (These are based on Military Police 10-codes. They are both different from APCO codes but seem to be more common in this area.)
  

  10-code	Meaning
  1076	I am en route to the callout.
  1077*MIN	I am en route and I will arrive in MIN minutes

  
  For example, if your unit number is DT88 and you will arrive at the callout scene in about 20 minutes, enter this numeric message: 88*1077*20
  A * in a message displays as - on the pager.
• There is an e-mail address you can use to send alphanumeric pager messages. Contact one of the Team officers to get the address. (This way may have long delays - up to an hour.)

OPERATIONS

August 10, 1999: Early Tuesday evening August 10 a swimmer was reported missing in Giles Cove in Pace Bend Park. The Dive Team was dispatched at 7:13 pm. Several Team members were en route when emergency personnel at the scene located the subject at 7:35 pm.

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September 1999

OPERATIONS

September 6, 1999: Early Monday morning September 6 a swimmer was reported missing in the Colorado River near Garfield. Several people attempting to wade across the river had lost their footing in the swift current. The Dive Team was called shortly after 5:30 am. Team members joined emergency service workers from SETCO Volunteer Fire Department, Austin EMS, LCRA, and the Sheriff's Office already at the scene. After sizing up the situation Team members requested assistance from Travis County SAR search dogs.

Underwater search operations began at about 8:00 am. Fast current made it difficult to operate boats and impossible to set buoys for line patterns. Divers were able to work 30-foot pendulum patterns from shore out to about 10 feet. SETCO VFD members advised that the depth and current would drop significantly through early afternoon. Divers continued sweeping near shore for about 200 yards downstream.

At about 10 am divers left the water and search dogs began working into the search area. Two dogs working independently both alerted in an area in midstream.

By about noon the water depth and current had dropped significantly. Divers started working 60-foot pendulum patterns but anchors still would not hold in midstream. Divers next set up a 30-foot drift pattern with support personnel in a boat guiding alignment. With current still over 2 knots and visibility less than 6 inches, we ran two passes covering a sweep about 60 feet wide for 400 yards. Divers then searched overhangs and snags on the outside of the bend where the drift patterns had reached shore.

At about 2:30 pm divers left the water to rest and evalutate the situation. At about 2:50 pm a fisherman sighted the subject in shallow water about 50 yards downstream from the search area. We determined that the search dogs had probably alerted on scent drifting upstream in light wind and eddying behind a sharp bend.

Three divers run pendulum patterns near shore. The picture on the left was taken at about 9:30 am, when the current and depth had already dropped significantly, but the divers still leave a wake in the current. SETCO VFD kept a safety boat downstream and ferried divers and equipment.

Divers continue running pendulum patterns as StarFlight scans the shoreline. Four divers trade off as anchor and pendulum. At right the LCRA jetboat prepares to transport divers and TCSAR dog Snickers to mark an area where two search dogs had alerted.

A large number of personnel from SETCO VFD, LCRA, TCSAR, Austin EMS, Victim Services, the Sheriff's office, and the Dive Team participated in the search. With air temperatures in the 90's and water temperature in the 80's the search was difficult and exhausting. Austin EMS set up a field support unit and the Salvation Army sent a field kitchen. The Dive Team's light trailer generator powered the rehabilitation area for several hours.

September 8, 1999: At 12:39 pm the Dive Team was dispatched to Lakeway Marina to search for a reported missing swimmer. A resident at the resort had reported seeing someone swimming across the lake and disappearing near the channel marker buoy. The PLS marker was in mid-channel in 123 feet of water. Divers sent a search team to do a circle search around the PLS anchor while other Team members and LCRA divers manned the decompression stop. Nothing was found although the search team reported surprisingly good visibility at maximum depth. Search operations were suspended pending further investigation.

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October 1999

NEXT MEETING

OPERATIONS

Sunday - the topside crew and safety divers man the command post in a boat moored over a platform with the decompression stop. The search team has been down for five minutes and is in about 140 feet of water. Monday - one team completes the first sweep. The debarkation point and decompression stop were moved to a stairway for easier access. High winds from an approaching front make surface swimming and boat handling difficult.

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November 1999

DIVE TEAM 6 COMMUNICATIONS KIT

We will have pictures and operating instructions for the new paging system later this month.

OPERATIONS

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December 1999

TRAINING

The Team has a new Garrett metal detector and we will make an underwater video covering its operation. We will start at the January training dive. We will do the work in Lake Travis if visibility is good. Otherwise we may use the large ARL test tank.

OPERATIONS

YEAR 2000 OFFICERS

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