Warsaw firefighters, police and first responders from outside the area converged at Hidden Lake in Warsaw Wednesday morning to brave cold temperatures.
It was part of training required to be a member of the Warsaw Dive Team.
The 12-person team is divided equally between Warsaw Police Department officers and Warsaw Fire Department firefighters.
Wednesday’s scenario was meant to be as realistic as possible for ice rescue.
Groups will go out for training in June to practice with warmer conditions.
WPD’s Joe Hawn serves as the dive team commander.
Hawn spent the week working closely with Dive Rescue International out of Fort Collins, Colo., and its trainer Dave Moore.
Trainees spent a week in the classroom then went out in the field to dive.
Nineteen went through the classroom training while 11 went out in the field to dive.
Hawn said the training helps the young guys going through training with the basics.
“You need to stay calm, take it easy and go slowly,” said Hawn.
As commander, Hawn has plenty of experience in dive team scenarios.
But even he has taken something away from the training.
Hawn said he’s learned through the training the importance of having a liaison.
The liaison works with the family of drown victims as well as the media.
“I’ve had to make calls where we’ve gone from rescue to recovery,” said Hawn. “Those make for extremely tough days. This training has helped me out tremendously.”
And with so many lakes in the Warsaw area, the county has its own dive team, Hawn knows that this training will unfortunately come in handy sooner than later.
Ideas like patience and taking things slowly may seem contradictory in drowning scenarios.
“What we talk about is taking time to save time,” said Moore. “Over the past five days we’ve done work in the classroom about surface ice rescue and below-surface rescue.”
While Moore spent most of the time training those willing to brave the cold waters of Hidden Lake, he also had some advice for residents.
“Especially this winter, with the weather we’ve had, you have to consider any ice, unsafe ice,” said Moore. “And if you’re going to be out on the lake, let your family know exactly where you’re going to be and what time you’re going to be back.”
Moore said simple precautions like that can make a huge difference.
Wednesday’s dive scenario at Hidden Lake included a communications system on land to talk to divers in the water.
The goal was to keep the exercise as realistic as possible.
“That’s huge to have,” said WPD Captain Bryan Sherwin of the communications system. “It calms the guys down. With all that water you get down 40, 50 feet and you go dark. All you have is that voice.”
