IFD Div
T
he Indianapolis Fire Department made an attempt to establish a dive team in the late 1950s or 1960s by a handful of firefighters. They trained for rescue, and lasted for perhaps a year or two. However, due to a lack of funding, the team did not continue long term. As the city of Indianapolis grew, so did the bodies of water within it. Two of the larger bodies of water, Geist Reservoir and Eagle Creek Reservoir, were constructed in 1943 and 1972. The White River and Fall Creek also ran through the city. With more people and more recreational waterways came more water rescue runs. Attempts to coordinate with the existing Marion County Sheriff and Indianapolis Police Department dive teams in the early 70s and 80s proved problematic due to the different types of responses by each agency which resulted in either long waits for equipment to arrive or having to attempt rescues without proper equipment. As a result, in 1984, Captain Tim Whitaker, Captain Robert Zickler, and Lieutenant Richard Longerich began the task of putting together a plan for IFD to have its own dive team and water response that could respond, fully equipped and was self-sufficient from a central location. In 1985, the first IFD Dive School was conducted and by early 1986, the team was fully operational. In 1997, the second team went operational at Station 14. From this point on, until 2002, the dive team was trained by an outside instructor who also acted as the team commander.
In the beginning years of the team, standard scuba equipment- mask, fins, snorkel, single 80 cubic ft. tanks and wetsuits were used to perform dive rescue and recovery operations. But as time went by and improvements in dive equipment developed, the team purchased and implemented new equipment such as full face masks, drysuits, and wireless communication. The biggest changes were still to come, but not by necessity but tragedy.
In August of 2000, IFD Diver Pvt. Warren J.C. Smith was performing a training dive in a rock quarry when he lost his life in a tragic accident. Just under two years later, in June of 2002, IFD Diver Paul Jolliff also lost his life in another accident during his last dive of the IFD Dive School. After this second fatality, major changes began to happen. In 2002, the Chief of IFD, Louis Dezelan, created the IFD Dive Team Commander position as we know it. The new Commander, Dave Owens and his assistant Trevor Hanshew, set out to gain as much knowledge and information they could, to completely transform the way the team operated. The changes made then, are still in effect today. The IFD Dive Team operates out of two stations, Station 7 and Station 14. Both are staffed 24/7 with a minimum of 3 divers on duty each day. Overtime or at-large divers are called to fill in as necessary. Each house has an engine, ladder, squad and heavy rescue equipped with fully assembled scuba units. The team currently has just “under 60 divers.” (continued on the next page)
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