Lake Area Fire Districts Participate in Dive Team Exercises

Lake area fire districts take advantage of the weather last week to hone in on skills when it comes to one of the un-thinkables that happen all too often at Lake of the Ozarks…having to hit the water to rescue a person or recover the body of a victim.

Mid-County Fire Chief Scott Frandsen says personnel from his district along with the Sunrise Beach and Rocky Mount districts and the Missouri Department of Conservation participated in the latest round of training.

The hands-on training consisted of underwater search techniques to tender operations, scene management and communication skills.

The training is part of an ongoing larger cooperative effort between eight different lake area fire districts to create a regional water extrication team, or Project WET.

One of the main goals of the project is for first responders around the lake being able to reach potential victims sooner with the operation being a rescue instead of reaching them later when the operation would likely be a recovery.

Project Wet is being funded through a shared pool of resources between the participating districts and community donations.