It was a cold day for a swim, but that did not deter more than a dozen personnel from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, Warsaw police and fire departments and out-of-state departments who gathered on a voluntary basis Thursday afternoon at Hidden Lake, SCUBA gear in tow.

Hosted by the sheriff’s department, Colorado-based Dive Rescue International is in Warsaw this week, presenting an intensive, three-day training program on underwater search-and-rescue and recovery.

Training kicked off Tuesday with classroom time in the morning, then moved to a local swimming pool so participants could practice with the equipment.

Yesterday’s session included three parts: Sweep patterns, circular search and victim recovery. In sweep patterns, a diver, attached to a line, makes passes back and forth over the search area. In a circular pattern, the diver goes in a circle pattern, moving out from a center point. In these scenarios, the divers were attempting to locate clay pigeons in near-zero visibility conditions.

Divers discuss safety aspects of a search-and-rescue dive. (Photos by Amanda McFarland)

The recovery station included a mannequin that the divers had to find and bring to the surface.

In all of these scenarios, DRI Trainer John Soderberg explained, the divers were attached to lines, guided by an on-shore team, with a backup diver on hand in case a problem occurred.

“Absolutely, this is one of the riskiest things you can do,” Soderberg said. “If these guys go out and get tangled up, they only have so much air.”

Divers were, in fact, getting their lines snagged in the relatively shallow water. Always, communication was open via intercom, with the diver and shore team in constant contact. Don McCune of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department described the scene from underwater.

“There’s not much visibility right now,” he said. “I’m in a big cloud of mud.”

McCune also compared it with other diving he has done in the past.

“This is more technical because you’ve got a group and you’re looking for something,” he said.

Prior SCUBA experience was required for today’s training. The sheriff’s department has had a dive team in place for years and has undergone training in the past, though nothing to this extent.

“It’s just to make us a better team overall,” Lt. Don Wiesehan of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department said.

In the future, the department plans to take advantage of the next level of training DRI offers, which includes larger catastrophes like tractor-trailer recovery, bridge collapses.

“This is just the first stage,” Wiesehan said.