The Lubbock Fire Department Dive Team spent the day out at the Pete Ragus Aquatic Center, where some of the new dive members were finishing up their last bit of skill training.
Each member of the dive team has to undergo 400+ hours worth of training, Cory Powell said he’s been training with the team for the past six months. At the aquatic center he was training with the dry suit for the first time, which protects the divers from contaminated water.
“Water is very unpredictable you know you can’t really control people’s training or how well people can swim and there’s always all kinds of freak accidents that can happen,” Powell said. “They can hapen in any kind of lake, any playa lake or a big lake like Lake Alan Henry,”
With 30 divers, 10 people are on each shift at a time. The team can respond to a wide range of calls, everything from severe weather, to drownings, to rescuing vehicles underwater or even bodies. At the aquatic center, Powell said
“Our next shift we are going to Lake Alan Henry four our final training day we will do our dives there and once we do our dives there we will be certified to dive in our dry suits and the full face,” Powell said.
