By PETER W. BLAICH
As civilian drowning casualties began to steadily increase around the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, New York, from 2008 through 2009, Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Battalion Chief Michael McGrath sought input from the various FDNY resources that respond to water emergencies to streamline FDNY operations within his command. Subsequently, McGrath inquired into the feasibility of conducting a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) familiarization course for chief officers within his battalion.
Considering that New York City (NYC) has more miles of waterfront than Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, and Portland combined, the rescue battalion cannot be readily on scene at every water emergency, when FDNY divers are required to enter the water for a perceived rescue. Ultimately, responsibility rests with the assigned battalion chief or ranking chief officer on the scene of a rescue SCUBA dive operation.
At the time, I was the Special Operations Command (SOC)/SCUBA dive liaison officer. Rescue company captains and I conferred with Rescue Battalion Chief Donald Hayde to discuss an underaddressed operational factor with regard to FDNY SCUBA dive rescue operations. As a result, the dive liaison officer was instructed to compile information on the required supervisory knowledge an officer must obtain to lead a rescue SCUBA dive operation. It was apparent that chief officers lacked familiarization to cognitively supervise a rescue SCUBA diving operation pending the rescue battalion’s arrival. McGrath and numerous division and battalion commanders throughout the department echoed this factor verbally.
Armed with this additional feedback in the days following McGrath’s request, it was apparent that chief officers had received no SCUBA operations familiarization training despite their responsibility for supervising dive rescue operations pending the arrival of the SOC battalion chief or a higher-ranking chief officer. After assessing this vital data, authority was given through Chief of Training Thomas R. Galvin, to Chief of SOC William C. Seelig, to then-acting Battalion Chief of Rescue Operations Thomas Richardson, and finally to Hayde to develop a familiarization course of instruction for immediate distribution to chief officers working in the field. Within several weeks, the SOC SCUBA unit began developing a course of instruction for chief officers in rescue company SCUBA operations. After the course passed its developmental stages, unit members did the following for the course to receive accreditation.
The course, “Dive Leader/Supervisors Awareness Course,” met the certification requirements of the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI), a world-recognized SCUBA agency, which then adopted the course. FDNY’s legal division then successfully authorized the course; it now publishes the course annually and certifies it in an official letterhead report with the names of those members authorized to teach FDNY SCUBA courses.
On the federal level, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards were addressed and met as per NFPA 1006, Standard for Technical Rescuer Professional Qualifications, which affirms training for rescue SCUBA divers and rescue SCUBA dive operation supervisors. On the state and local levels, New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control (OFPC) Deputy Chief Brian Rousseau also certified the course. As of this writing, the Program on Non-Collegiate Sponsored Instruction Board is determining the number of college credits the course will offer. FDNY’s legal division, the NAUI, and the OFPC now recognize the instructional course and have approved its nomenclature.
The goal of the training was to recognize the assigned battalion chief, working in tandem with a rescue officer, as the supervisor of the rescue dive operation pending the arrival of the SOC battalion chief or higher-ranking chief officer. The course also familiarizes chief officers with FDNY dive rescue operations, equipment, and procedures, offering students an overview of safe SCUBA diving operations conducted for life safety and under- pier firefighting.
This 10-hour course is divided equally between the classroom and a practical dive training exercise at the FDNY pier in Bayside, Queens, at Fort Totten. The course highlights covered extensively in the classroom include the following.
History of the FDNY Dive Program. The FDNY SCUBA dive program began in 1981 to fight pier fires and consisted of only eight members. Today’s dive program includes a rigorous 120 hours of training in which all rescue companies take part. They train and dive for life safety purposes and under-pier firefighting.
FDNY Dive Regulations. Focuses on several of FDNY’s dive operation parameters, such as limiting SCUBA dive operations to 60 feet in depth and 20 minutes in length. Operations also cannot be conducted in water moving faster than two knots, as determined by the responding marine company fireboat. The course also covers guidelines such as NFPA 1006, Chapter 13 (Dive Rescue); NAUI certifying standards; and New York State dive rescue technician requirements.
FDNY Dive Operations. Focuses on rescue vs. recovery, working within the city incident management system, New York state and federal boating laws, and crime scene preservation.
FDNY Equipment. Focuses on buoyancy control devices, SCUBA tanks, regulators, AGA full face masks, weight belts, and dry suits.
Communications. Focuses on hands-on instruction with wired communications lines, wireless communications, and signal line pulls.
Also covered in detail are SCUBA Training BF-4, SCUBA diver accountability, diver points of entry, diver and rescue victim retrieval planning, different diving environments, diver rest and recuperation, the role of the fire department dive tender, using the dispatched company for roles in certified first responder/defibrillation patient treatment, and diver and victim decontamination.
All chief officers and selected captains and lieutenants can receive this training, but preference is given to line members operating in the field or in specialized units. As of today, the SOC/SCUBA unit has trained 19 deputy chiefs, 150 battalion chiefs, six captains, and four lieutenants.
The SOC/SCUBA unit has also lectured on SCUBA operations at division conferences at the request of various deputy chief officers. Ongoing improvements to the course include but are not limited to the following:
- The course has been adopted into the “Chief Officers Command Course” and is mandatory training for new chief officers. Logistical concerns are being worked out to offer the course to covering SOC officers, squad company officers, SOC support ladder company officers, and water rescue company officers assigned to calls for “persons in the water” who often assist rescue companies during dive operations.
- Chief officers attending the course receive additional insight into the “Surface Water Rescue” training bulletin as well as A.U.C. 337, “Water Rescue Emergency Using SCUBA Checklist.”
- Marine Company 4, stationed at Fort Totten, gives chief officers an overview of the small boat program, emphasizing water communications between the various local, state, and federal agencies.
- The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is requested every time the familiarization course is given; it sends a representative to further instruct on USCG operations and assets available to the FDNY within the maritime community.
It remains the SOC/SCUBA unit’s mission to ensure that all diving carried out under the auspices of the FDNY is conducted to minimize accidental injury or occupational illness and to set forth rules; regulations; and standards for training, qualification, endorsements, equipment, and operations. The SOC/SCUBA unit is a valuable resource for battalion and division chiefs to use to preplan responses to locations frequently prone to water emergencies. It also helps in preplanning potential responses around the evolving NYC shoreline and waterways.
Any chief officers who want to receive this training can contact the SOC SCUBA unit at SOCSCUBA@fdny.nyc.gov.
PETER W. BLAICH is a lieutenant and a 13-year member of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), assigned to Hook & Ladder 2. He was detailed to the Special Operations Command to administer SCUBA training and revamp the SCUBA Dive Rescue curriculum. He has an MS degree in fire protection management from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, teaches and develops courses for John Jay College and the FDNY, and has authored the book The Benefits of Behavioral Research to the Fire Service.
