Benton firefighters receive training in water rescue

Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series.

A project of the Benton Fire Department started as an idea after bouts of rain created flooding and rescue efforts.

Though the program is still in its infancy, the department has acquired a boat from a northern Illinois fire department.

Steve Buntin, a certified dive instructor with the Rend Lake Search and Rescue Team, said the county’s emergency management agency director, Ryan M. Buckingham, had the idea two years ago to have trained personnel and a rescue boat to help with rescue and recovery efforts as needed.

Benton Fire Chief Gary Kasper obtained the boat that for now bears the name of its former owner as firefighters continue training in scuba gear in the West Frankfort Aquatics and Activities Center.

They will advance for dive training at Mermet Springs, located near Vienna, after completing the three classes at the aquatics center.

The final two firefighters to take a dive on Tuesday night, Shane Cockrum and Jeff Coleman, are enthusiastic about adding another layer of service to help fellow residents.

Kasper is quick to point out that he was amazed that the department did not have a rescue boat and trained personnel in place before now.

When he took command of the Benton Fire Station more than a year ago, Kasper started scoping out the terrain and realized the three bodies of water located within the fire department’s jurisdiction are potential hazards in terms of drownings, people being trapped in vehicles that are in submerged in water, residents falling through the ice and a host of other possibilities.

Kasper said the jurisdiction includes Lake Benton, Lake Hamilton, Lake Moses and Mirror Lake, not to mention the strip ponds filled with water. The abundance of boats coupled with recreational activities including hunting and fishing prompted Kasper to work with Dennis Miller, public health and safety commissioner, and the city of Benton to bring the program to life.

“Because a bulk of the waterways are in our jurisdiction, we want to promote safety and a secure response when needed,” Kasper said. “All full-time firefighters will be trained and certified in water search and rescue efforts, and we will extend our services to agencies as part of our Mutual Aid Box Alarm System affiliation.”

He and his department are very mindful of the Rend Lake Search and Rescue team and said they do not want to step on the toes of the volunteers who dive below the water’s surface when the need arises.

Buntin said he welcomes the additional help. He said the dive team was founded in 1991 in conjunction with Sheriff Bill Wilson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mark Roderick and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

“The three entities agreed that this is something we needed,” Buntin said. “The then chief deputy Dennis Davis was put in charge of putting it together. Rick O’Keefe put the team together. He recruited a lot of people. Myself and Dennis Sneed are the only two from the original dive team.”

Buntin said between 12 and 15 people comprised the original dive team.

“We started with open water certification for scuba diving and took further classes to become search and recovery qualified,” he said. “We are also certified in first aid and CPR for the rescue side of the team requirements.”

Buntin said the dive team is certified in open water search, recovery and rescue efforts.

“Not everyone wants to be in the water so we also have ground support,” he said. “Those people are just as important as the divers. Those on shore arrange for lights if the search and recovery efforts go beyond the daylight hours. They also provide food and water to the divers as well as shuttling used scuba tanks to be filled if we are involved in an extensive search. The surface support members are a huge part of the team.”

Buntin said divers have issues and needs to be met while in the water, which frees them from concern. “The divers can focus on what they have to do, knowing the surface support team members are performing their very critical duties for a successful rescue,” he said.

Not all efforts are successful rescues, Buntin said. That’s when the laws of nature take over. “When rescue efforts are suspended, everyone focuses on the recovery efforts that may take several days,” he said.

Buntin said rescue and recovery efforts are not what they seem to be to those watching from the shoreline.

“My biggest fear lies to the east of Route 37 at Rend Lake,” he said. “The recent rain has flooded that part of the lake and the trees are now submerged. That makes the rescue effort even more difficult.

“It is similar to going on vacation and spending the night in a motel,” Buntin said. “If you have ever done that and gotten up in the middle of the night, this is a good example of what divers face. While you are groping along the wall searching for the light switch, that’s what divers are doing under the water’s surface.”

He said divers are attached to a rope and a member of the surface support team but they are guided by feel.

“One of my first dives involved in search and rescue efforts at Rend Lake,” Buntin said. “It is pitch black underwater.”

Buntin said a myriad of items lie below the water’s surface.

“I found a boat stuck under Route 154 during one of my dives,” he said. “The boat capsized and finally lodged between the bridge supports. I even found a blanket on the bottom of Rend Lake. People have no idea what is on the bottom of the lake, especially on the east side of Route 37 where the trees and stumps are located.”

Buntin said that’s not the only things beyond the water’s edge.

“You might get tangled up in a piece of fencing while diving or injure yourself on a piece of concrete,” he said. “The beaches are relatively clear of debris but I found a piece of concrete with an iron bar attached to it in Rend Lake. It is outside the swimming area. Members of the Rend Lake Search and Rescue dive team plan to try to get it out of the water.”

Buntin said members of the team assist other communities in need.

“In 2007, four boys drowned in Kentucky Lake,” he said. “I got a call from one of the divers who lived in Marshall County to help with the recovery efforts. I had my hands in front of me trying to feel as I went along and wound up in a hollow log. The debris from the log followed me in and when I tried to wiggle back out of the log, the debris kept pulling me back in and I was stuck. I finally managed to wiggle free.”

Buntin said he was one of the divers that worked to locate the boys with the assistance of sonar equipment.

“It is not like crawling along the carpet,” he said. “Everything is an unknown. You can’t see anything. On rare occasions divers have between six and one inch of visibility and sometimes we get lucky.”

Buntin said since 1991 he and other members of the team have been called to assist efforts in other counties.

“In addition to Marshall County, Ky., some of us have been called to help in Jackson, White, Jefferson and Union counties in addition to Franklin County,” he said. “All of us are volunteers and if we are needed we make arrangements to be allowed to travel.”

Buntin said it makes sense for the local fire department to be involved. “They will be trained and are already on call so if the need arises, they can make it to their destination before we can arrive on the scene,” he said. “In my case, sometimes I am here in Benton but not all of the time. If, for example, I get a call to help and I am in Hamilton County, that’s about a 45-minute drive just to get to the lake. By the time I could get here from Hamilton County, the Benton firefighters could already be on the scene with the boat and save someone’s life.

“Only three members of the Rend Lake Search and Rescue dive team live in Benton,” he said. “Other members live in Hamilton and Williamson counties, as well as Mt. Vernon. There are currently 30 of us. That includes Jefferson County Sheriff Roger Mulch and Franklin County Sheriff Don Jones.”