First responders across Pinellas County can now respond to water rescues faster, thanks to local departments using rapid response dive packs.
- Dive Packs condense amount of equipment divers use
- Condensed equipment less cumbersome in the water
- Previous packs also took more time to prepare
"We can have this rig on in less than a minute and be in the water," said Steve Peters with Clearwater Fire & Rescue.
Firefighters from multiple fire rescue agencies across the county participated in a training drill at Maximo Park in St. Petersburg to get familiar with the new dive packs on Friday.
"Literally, it’s like half of a full regular unit," said St. Petersburg Fire Rescue's Lieutanant Rick LePrevost. "The air is smaller, they can minimize a lot of what we use and make it smaller.”
Previous packs could take minutes to prepare. The more condensed equipment means less time suiting up, speeding up the time it takes to get in the water and increasing efficiency once the divers are underwater.
"There’s a lot more freedom swimming in this,” said Peters, referring to the packs. “It’s more comparable to something like what a lifeguard would do, being able to use their arms and use their feet and swim completely freely out to the water, out to the victim."
St. Petersburg Fire Rescue currently has two of the new packs and hope to get more. Clearwater says it has two, with three more on order, while East Lake has four.