The mission of the Berkeley County Rescue Squad's Dive Team is to provide professionally trained divers and rescue personnel to the scene of any water related emergency for the purpose of victim rescue and recovery.

The Dive Team was founded as a special unit of the Berkeley County Rescue Squad. Today there are more then 10 divers on the Team. The Dive Team responds to all water rescue calls within the county and is called out to other areas as needed. All of the divers must attain at least Rescue certification, advanced training and certifications are encouraged and some members are certified Divemasters.

The Dive Team is organized for rapid rescue response – responding quickly, gathering information, and deploying one or two rescuers to perform a rapid and effective search and retrieval. Due to the variety of water environments in the area (lakes, rivers, ponds, drainage ditches, etc.) the dive team must be prepared for several types of water rescue situations. Rescue of accident victims while they are still on the surface of lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water. Underwater or river Rescue is where Scuba divers perform underwater search patterns to locate near-drowning victims often with very limited or zero visibility and swiftly moving water. And finally, Recovery Diving is the search for and Recovery of victims.

TRAINING.
The dive team prepares for surface and underwater rescue, establishes rescue priorities to reduce the risks to themselves and deploy as quickly and efficiently as possible. The Dive Team strives to successfully rescue water accident victims, in a professional manner, whether they are on the surface or underwater. Training is performed frequently, through diving at different locations, where team members hone their skills and gain knowledge and experience at various dive sites and conditions.

In the hope of preventing a water related tragedy, the Berkeley County Rescue Squad will, when invited, provide public education to targeted audiences on water safety issues.

Each Diver team member is required to furnish and maintain his or her own gear and the team provides additional air tanks as need for emergencies. The Dive team's High Pressure Refill station is also available to members for recreational diving. During the warm months, members are out almost every weekend artifact hunting in the Cooper River.

If you would like more information or would like to dive with us contact Trevor King, Dive Team Leader or any dive team member. All of our meetings are public so stop by and meet everyone. We are currently looking for qualified divers to join our Dive Team. If you are interested in joining the Dive Team but don't want to respond to other types of calls, please contact us, we have room for you too.

Copyright © 2008 Berkeley County Rescue Squad. All rights reserved.
All applicants are considered for membership without regard to race, color, religion, sex, nationality, age or disability.
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Last updated: February 20, 2008.

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