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DART Water Rescue began in the late summer of 1997. From humble beginnings it has grown to become a significant addition to the overall DART team. |
The Water Rescue team consists of a small number of DART personnel who train and organize for water response operations in addition to their normal DART activities. It is cooperatively managed by a team captain and an assistant captain such that either can lead a water response. In the event both captains are unavailable, a designate captain can be selected from qualified team personnel.
The water rescue team's primary response is to the evaporation ponds, sloughs, and bay regions around Moffett Field for an incident that originates from Moffett Field.
Training is conducted in classrooms, local training facilities, or off-base sites. Classroom facilities are located at the DART Operations Building. Moffett Field training sites include the DART training grounds and the Moffett swimming pool. Off base training sites include local lakes, lower San Francisco Bay, Guadalupe Slough, and evaporation salt ponds. Training spans the spectrum from swiftwater to flood operations.
Training is module based with each module occurring at least twice a year and increasing in complexity. Typically the training times are every other Tuesday evening and all day on a weekend once a month. Night exercises are held during winter months during the regular training times.
Organization, equipment and training are continually being upgraded with a focus on meeting state OES operational requirements (ICS-SF-SAR-020-1) and NFPA standards (1670 and 1006) for technical rescue. The team is continually refining tactics and logistics, reviewing protocols and personnel requirements and hazard mitigation. Training continues to become more focused and response oriented as the team builds on its current skill base.
Equipment
is split into a response trailer, larger boats (on trailers) and a central gear
cache. Since much of the team's response area and training is conducted outside
of the usual boundaries, the response equipment cache is kept mobile and response
oriented.
The response trailer holds equipment ready to deploy for a Type II team as per OES Operation System Description. It includes two inflatable boats and engines for shallow water, standard personal protective equipment (PPE), typical command and logistics equipment, and a variety of patient packaging and treatment supplies.
Two
larger boats (15 ft, 70 hp, rigid hulled inflatables) are on trailers and used
for deeper water (>4ft) and rough weather.
Central gear cache includes BDU's, cold weather clothing, wet weather clothing, wet suits, dry suits, footwear, and other PPE. It also houses the team's complete command, training and non-prestaged logistics functions.
