Sunday morning brought out the Mahopac Falls VFD Dive Team to the school beach at the end of Croton Falls Rd. and East Lake Blvd. to hone their ice rescue and recovery skills with some new information brought back by Dive Lieut. Brandon Dwyer and Past Dive Capt. Aaron Wisotsky from a recent seminar held in Connecticut. On a dive call, there are many phases of response for the fire department, the Dive trailer is set up to the Brush truck for transport. The Rescue truck responds for support with tools and a warm place to rehab the divers and one of the Falls ambulances is dedicated to the Dive Team members only, with a full EMS crew.

Today, Chief Brian Sacher took lead as Incident Commander, with Asst. Chief Bob Trace in charge of

Operations. Safety and Security are paramount and Fire Police kept curious neighbors at a safe distance. Scene tape and safety cones are set up designating the DIVE SCENE, only members(tenders) with life jackets go about their jobs of setting up Staging, where all equipment needed is brought out and set up for use by the divers, before being assigned to the diver that they would be responsible for. Necessary ropes and tools are brought to the edge of the ice as a crew with a chain saw makes access holes for the divers to go to work.

The day was a good one for all involved because you could see everything that was being taught. Many times, the team is not so lucky and has to respond in the middle of the night or during inclement weather. That is where the importance of training comes into play.