Saranac Lake
Volunteer Fire Department
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Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department |
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 Saranac
Lake is a popular tourist area for boaters, fisherman, and other water
enthusiasts. Water accidents occur frequently year round. Saranac Lake
is located in upstate New York in Franklin County. The Volunteer Fire
Department Rescue Squad has the largest rescue district in New York
State, covering approximately 600 square miles. In this vast territory
there are dozens of lakes, ponds, and rivers common to the Adirondack
Mountains.
The Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department Dive Rescue, and Recovery Team was first started in 1960 by Chester Fobare. Mr. Fobare received his dive certification and then his instructors' certification. He then trained a few interested members in becoming certified divers for the department. Today the team consists of nine (9) certified divers and is headed up by Dive Captain Ken McLaughlin. The dive team utilizes (3) boats for operations. The boats consist of an eighteen (18)foot john boat with a forty (40) horse power motor, a twelve (12) foot v-hull with a fifteen horse power motor and a new twelve (12) foot hovercraft donated by Mooney Bay of Plattsburgh,N.Y. These water craft are also used on any fire or rescue calls as needed.
In addition to common equipment used on most rescue, and recovery teams, such as scuba gear, ropes bouys etc. The Saranac Lake Fire Department Dive Rescue, and Recovery Team has also equipped it's boats with sophisticated communication, global positioning, and sonar depth finding equipment. The equipment and the department's trained divers are not only an asset to the area surrounding Saranac Lake. The team frequently travels out of the area in a mutual aid capacity. In 1997 the department trained and equipped 3 new divers making the team one of the largest, and most active teams in the area. | ||||
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Saranac Lake, New York 12983 518-891-2333 email: Saranac Lake Fire Department
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Safety
is the key word for dive team members, no member is required to dive
if they do not feel capable of the task. The team has a maximum dive
depth of sixty (60) feet, although some team members have dove to one
hundred (100) feet for victim recoveries under certain circumstances.
The dives we make are considered cold water dives as the lakes, ponds,and
rivers are under seventy (70) degrees Fahrenheit year round. Visibility
is considered poor and ranges from zero (0) feet to five (5) feet in
most, if not all bodies of water. Rescue, and recovery dives have been
made in open water in June as well as under the ice in February. Down
time for each diver is limited to twenty (20) minutes due to the water
temperature.