Sunday, October 20, 2013

Longshoreman Dies After Vehicle Falls into Water at Port of L.A.





The man was operating a utility tractor rig on a dock at the Evergreen terminal when it fell into the main channel off Terminal Island on Monday afternoon.
The vehicle, similar to a big-rig cab and chassis, is used to move shipping containers. 
The vehicle sank to the bottom of the 50-foot channel, where the victim was pulled from its cab by Los Angeles Fire Department SCUBA divers, officials said.
It was unclear how the vehicle ended up in the water, where rescue divers encountered zero visibility during their search for the man.
"We're not sure what happened. That's what's being investigated," port spokesman Phillip Sanfield told The Times.
The man was taken on an LAFD boat to a nearby fire station as rescuers tried to revive him. His name and age were not released.
Sanfield said longshoreman have a "high-risk job" but added that Monday's incident was an "unusual occurrence."
See bio, contact info, and more articles from KTLA 5 Web Staff
07/01/13
by 



A longshoreman has died after a vehicle he was driving at the Port of Los Angeles plunged into murky waters, a port spokesman said Monday evening.
lafd-rescue-boatThe man was operating a utility tractor rig on a dock at the Evergreen terminal when it fell into the main channel off Terminal Island on Monday afternoon.
The vehicle, similar to a big-rig cab and chassis, is used to move shipping containers.
The vehicle sank to the bottom of the 50-foot channel, where the victim was pulled from its cab by Los Angeles Fire Department SCUBA divers, officials said.



UTR Recovery at Evergreen Terminal

Photo of the recovered UTR that drove off the wharf at the Evergreen Container Terminal.  One male victim was pulled from the wreckage by LAFD divers at a depth of 50'.


Buoy marks the location of the submerged UTR. The vehicle entered the water narrowly missing the push pad and bollard. LA Port Police Dive Team on scene to investigate the wreckage

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Breakwater Rescue


Boat 5 rescued 6 fishermen who's 20' vessel capsized outside the LA Breakwater.



USAR Marine


On September 9, 2013 members from Task Force 85, USAR 85, Engine 49, Engine 112, Boat 3, Boat 2 and Battalion 6 were utilize to extricate a 65 year old male who passed away in the V-berth of his 40' cabin cruiser.  Engine 49 was called to assist mortuary workers in removing the deciest and discovered a 500 lbs male who passed away 8 to 10 hours prior to the assistance request.  


Members from USAR 85 cut through the boat deck to access
The boat was packed with personal items inside and on the deck limiting access


After accessing the victim, the vessel was move
to a remote location for better access
Boat 2 uses it's crane to remove the packaged victim



CBRNE Training

Members of the LAFD CBRNE Response Unit joined Boat 3 and multi-jurisdictional law enforcement units in an exercise in the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach. (CBRME- Chemical Biological Radioactive Nuclear  Explosive)




Smoke Showing


Boat 2 responded to reported smoke


First glance appeared to be....

False Alarm







Captain Dies While Participating in Advanced Dive Training at Quarry—Ohio




This investigation was published on August 20, 2013 detailing the circumstances surrounding the death of a firefighter participating in advanced dive training.

Read the full report at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face201225.html

On August 10, 2012, a 46-year-old male volunteer captain drowned while attempting to complete an advanced underwater diving course at a county park (formally a stone quarry). The course was to consist of two dives and focus on underwater navigation using a compass. The victim experienced buoyancy problems during both dives. The victim started with a reported 28 pounds of weight in his buoyancy control vest. He borrowed two 2-pound weights from his partner on the first dive. While on shore between dives, the instructor gave him what is believed to be two more 2-pound weights, making a total of 36 pounds. During the next dive, the victim and his partner attempted to surface because the victim was low on air. When the victim surfaced, the victim's buoyancy compensator was not inflated, he was out of air, and he appeared to be in a panic. His partner got him under control and began to drag him to the dock. The victim became unconscious, and due to being overweighted, his partner was not able to hold onto the victim and the victim sank to the bottom at a depth of 60 feet where he drowned.

Dive Team in Action


Dive Team Meeting

Submerged Vessel Berth 161





Josh Butner- Aqualung, John Drewniak- Whites Drysuit
Keith Hodak- Bauer Compressor visit Fire Station 49, Boat 3
to discuss public safety diving.

LAFD Stand-by LAFD land units, Boats and Dive Team
stand-by while Port PD searched for a suspect
who jumped into the water at Berth 73 to evade arrest

TSI


Harbor Sunset




Sonar Device Gives Long Beach, Calif., Rescue Divers New Eyes


By: Jessica Hughes on July 22, 2013
Long+Beach+dive+team+sonar+device In Long Beach, Calif., rescue divers searching for submerged victims once swam patterns near blind through murky waters — but they now have the gift of “sight” thanks to a new handheld sonar device.
The Long Beach Fire Department recently acquired the technology, called the Shark Marine Navigator, so that the city’s Public Safety Dive Team can conduct even quicker rescues — and act with sight during that 20-minute sensitive period where victims still have a chance of survival.
“For us it’s just night and day; clearly, it’s the ability to see where you couldn’t see before,” said Gonzalo Medina, operations captain for the Long Beach Fire Department’s Marine Safety Division.
During rescue missions, divers steer the heavy-duty device and its laptop-size screen through the water using its metal handles. The device illuminates up to 250 meters underwater in zero visibility, and also has the capacity to take video and photographs. All the information is stored, and can be managed and shared using the device’s software, according to Shark Marine’s Web site.
The device’s display is similar to an ultrasound — the 2D version, that is, with some depth. Medina said the diver can see green tones, where bright green indicates something is there. And it is easy to see objects that are out of the ordinary, he said, such as a body.
The city’s fire department purchased its Shark Marine Navigator for $200,000, using federal Port Security Grant Program funds, Medina said. The city’s police department, which also has divers on the dive team, has two of the devices for its underwater investigative efforts.
Medina said the city’s dive team, which also includes the port’s salvage efforts, has focused more recently on conducting even quicker rescues — and deploying new technology toward that aim. For instance, divers are now available 24/7 to respond either by boat or truck. In fact, the new device is stationed on the team’s Marine Safety Rescue Boat, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.
“This technology allows us to make those rescues much quicker and get patients care, which greatly increases their chance of survival,” said Medina, who is also the team’s dive officer.
Although the device has not been used in a search and rescue yet, all 15 fire department divers are learning to use it during lifelike scenarios, Medina said, adding that he is in awe of how much easier the diver’s job looks using the technology.
Still, there’s a learning curve.
For instance, divers need to float several feet above the bottom so that the device can identify more of its surroundings — much like how a flashlight casts a wider glow when it is held away from a surface as opposed to close to it, he said.
Once the target is found, the technology can be used like Google Maps, with the diver dropping a target on the device’s screen and then kicking toward that target.
Though the device was originally developed for military divers to navigate the water unnoticed, Long Beach — home to the second busiest seaport in the country as well as many bridges and waterways –will use the device in cases where vehicles are submerged or swimmers are lost, with at least a few of these cases reported per year, Medina said. Many times, he said, they happen after hours or during Long Beach’s off season when no life guard is on duty.
While submersions don’t happen often, they can be costly in time, money and manpower. The new technology cuts down on personnel costs because it makes for “a more efficient and lean operation,” Medina said. Also, a modular design allows the device to evolve with new technologies, according to Shark Marine.
The use of sonar is not new, but the dive team’s old sonar device was deployed during the recovery period, and not during the rescue mission as is envisioned for the new device. Previously, rescuers watching a laptop connected to a sonar tripod circling the water remotely directed the divers.
This roundabout communication worked, but it meant for a long process, Medina said, and so the information wasn’t used until one hour after the mission began — after the hope of rescuing the victim had passed.
The primary difference, then, is that the new device is in the water with the divers. “It’s the difference between an iPad and a huge desktop,” Medina said. “You can do everything with the desktop but you can’t move with it.” And that difference, he said, is a game changer.
Marine Safety Chief Randy Foster echoed how important the new technology is for the city’s divers, saying, “This new technology is the most significant advancement in the arena of public safety diving in the past 15 years.”
This article was originally published by Government Technology.

Diver of the Month

Dave Brooks, Firefighter/Diver, Fire Station 49-B is highlighted as the diver of the month.  Dave has been a member of the dive team for 8 years and is a member of the Dive Team training cadre.  


In addition to being a certified Public Safety Diver and Divemaster, Dave is an accomplished freediver who has traveled globally to dive some of the worlds finest dive spots. 

Quick Action, Good Luck, Lead to Long Beach Rescue

By Joe Segura, Long Beach Press Telegram



LONG EACH Training and a touch of good fortune may have helped avert a Firefighters, police and members of the Public Safety Dive Team responded to a 9-1-1 call at 12:03 p.m., and pulled a man from the water off the pier, within nine minutes. The unidentified man, who jumped from the pier with a backpack filled with sand, remains on life support at an area hospital.
“The coordinated effort to retrieve a person under 10 minutes is an amazing feat,” said Marine Safety Chief Randy Foster of the Long Beach Fire Department.
Foster said that as long as a person is in cold water — 70 degrees or below — he or she can survive in the water up to an hour, a period known as the “golden hour.” The colder water slows the body’s internal systems, which means the blood doesn’t need as much oxygen, officials said. At the time of the rescue, the water off the pier was in the low 60s.
The rescue effort benefited from a stroke of good fortune, with police divers being near the Termino Avenue beach lifeguard station just a couple of blocks west of the pier, where they were assisting a kayaker.
“A lot of things came together,” Foster said Monday, adding that the quick action Sunday was the third rescue in a row that was made in short time. “In the field of public safety diving, this is unique.”
Thanks to the precise placement of a buoy by rescuers, divers were able to promptly locate the jumper, officials said. New sonar equipment to assist in rescues was not required, Foster said.
The Long Beach Public Safety Dive Team is a coordinated joint effort between LBFD and LBPD. The joint coordination led to the fast recovery, according to police spokesman David Marander.
Cmdr. Alex Avila of the Long Beach Police Department’s port division said there were divers on a training exercise on a new vessel. Of the four officers, three were divers, and they were able to enter the water first.
“It was a coordinated decision,” he said.
At approximately 12:12 p.m., police divers pulled the man from the water.
The man was placed aboard a waiting lifeguard rescue boat and rescuers immediately rendered life safety measures. Paramedics transported the man to the dock where paramedics were waiting and transported him to a local hospital.

LAFD and Long Beach Fire Train Together

On September 4, 2013, LAFD Dive Team members teamed up with Long Beach Fire Life Guards in collaborative training.  Members were trained in use of the Shark Marine Underwater SONAR.  Long Beach utilizes SONAR technology as a means to advance search and rescue capabilities.  "Implementing a technical search element to our LAFD operation is our goal" stated Chief Gomez, Dive Team Commander.  "We need to use technology like Long Beach to improve our capabilities" Gomez continued.

"We were able to make training runs in zero visibility and easily find our target, we need this tool" said LAFD diver Chris Curtis.  "Hopefully we can find  the funding and add this important piece of equipment to our search and rescue operation." Said Curtis.








Vintage LAFD Dive Team

Early LAFD Dive Team Circa 1936

Click on images for larger version 



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