The Sound Beach Dive Team is equipped with state-of-the-art diving and water rescue equipment. The team is thankful to have the continued financial support of the community. This financial support has made it possible for the team to purchase equipment and to conduct advanced public safety diving programs for members of the Department.
suited up in preparation for a dive.
Due to the nature of public safety diving and the poor conditions our divers often encounter, each diver is fitted for a dry suit, hood and gloves and is equipped with an individual deployment bag. The individual diver is responsible for maintaining their own bag and ensuring that the equipment is ready for immediate use.
Providing each diver with their own set of gear ensures that the gear fits, is properly maintained and is in a deployment state. Just like one shoe size doesn’t fit every foot, there is not one dry suit that can fit everyone on the team. Each dry suit has to be cut for the individual diver to ensure that the seals around the neck and wrists do not leak. While it costs more to outfit each individual diver, it provides additional protection from the environment and any contaminants (such as gas or oil) that maybe in the water. On average, it costs approximately $4,000 to outfit each diver on the team. It is also not uncommon for dry-suits to be replaced every 4-5 years based upon wear.
Dive Gear
The team is equipped with the following gear:
- Dry suits and thermal suits for each diver
- 6 AGA full face masks with integrated wireless communications
- Sealed first stage regulators for ice dive operations
- 6 Commercial grade buoyancy control devices (BC’s)
- Each diver receives a set of gloves, fins, a hood and 2 knives
- Underwater flashlights
- Surface based communications equipment
- 16 aluminum dive tanks and 4 pony (backup air) bottles
- Replacement parts
- 10′ Zodiac rescue boat
- Replacement parts
The Dive Team is looking to purchase additional equipment in order to outfit additional divers and to expand the services it can offer to the community. To learn more about how you can help the Dive Team, please click here.
Capabilities
The team trains year round in various types of weather and water conditions. This training, combined with the latest advancements in diving equipment, affords the team to offer value added services to the Town. The Team’s capabilities including:
- Surface water rescue (and swift water rescue capabilities)
- Underwater rescue operations
- Underwater recovery operations
- Underwater search operations
- Boat based operations
- Ice-diving operations
- Surface ice rescue