LOCAL NEWS

Rescue teams get their feet wet: Firefighters, police don wetsuits at Hopkinton State Park drills

By Ben Ratner
Sunday, August 25, 2002

HOPKINTON - Twenty-one members of the Mass Southern District 14 Technical Rescue Team hit the waters at Hopkinton State Park yesterday to train for future water rescue situations.

The District 14 rescue team is composed of firefighters and police officers from communities throughout MetroWest - including Framingham, Natick, Northborough, Southborough, Hopkinton, Ashland, Westborough and Milford - who were all ready to get their feet wet at the training sessions offered Friday through today.

Within the last year and a half, local fire chiefs have developed a technical rescue team combining officers from different towns. The team was built in order to respond to special rescue situations as quickly and as safely as possible, according to Peter Chisholm, assistant public relations officer for the Ashland Fire Department.

Those rescue situations may include cave-ins and cave and drowning rescues.

Chisholm said Hopkinton State Park was chosen as the training spot because of what it has to offer.

"It certainly has the most facilities here," said Chisholm. The size of the reservoir and the accessible boat launch are important features.

The dive rescue training is a way the district keeps up on its rescuing practices.

A professional rescuing instructor from Dive Rescue International, an organization based out of Ft. Collins, Colo., sent one of its 40 nationally- stationed instructors to conduct the clinic.

Daniel Moore of Dive Rescue International said, "We provide training in public diving to departments across the country."

With scuba tanks, wet suits and other equipment lining the park's boat launch, Moore helped divide the officers into teams in preparation for the drills.

"Our main goal in training is to promote safety in public safety diving," said Moore.

Drills mainly included diving into different depths of water for brightly marked clay pigeons that were tossed by the instructor.

District 14 rescuers also hope they can be of help to surrounding communities who may need assistance in special rescue operations.

Anthony Duca of the Ashland Fire Department says the rescue team "is still pretty much in its infancy stage," but hopes future training will help the program grow stronger.

"We train every month and hopefully we will be able to train with other departments and get on the same page with everyone," said Duca.

Duca also said, "We want to be available to other dive teams who need help with prolonged assistance."

During the day's exercises, the divers used a motor boat provided by a private rescue company, but the district hopes to purchase a boat of its own for future rescues. An old ambulance from the Ashland Fire Department has also been transformed into District 14's official technical rescue truck.

"I think the rescue team is very essential for the amount of water we have in the area. I'm surprised there hasn't been more accidents," said Mike Prescott, of the Hopkinton Fire Department.