Penn. Rescue Squad Rolls Out New Boat, Sonar

LAKE HAUTO, Penn., Aug. 15 -- A new rescue boat and state-of-the-art sonar unit were recently placed in service by the Ryan Township Emergency Rescue Squad, boosting the team's ability to handle almost any type of emergency situation.

On Tuesday, dive team members gathered at Lake Hauto in Rush Township to train on both 2005 Mirrorcraft River Runner boat and Humminbird Down Image sonar unit.

"These two pieces of equipment will let us find a person faster in a rescue and life-saving situation or locate the body of someone who has drowned and bring an end to a tragic situation," Chief Darryl Harris said.

Harris said the squad bought the boat from a private owner in Norristown and chose the 18-foot craft due to its ability to be used in minimal depths of water.

At 86 inches wide for carrying divers and equipment, the boat also sports a Mercury 65 90HP jet engine that requires no propeller.

Harris said the boat can operate in as little as 1 and 1/2 feet of water and, since there is no propeller, the chance of catching on the bottom or injuring a diver is eliminated.

At a cost of $28,000, Harris said the boat was money well spent.

"This is not only able to search in lakes and larger bodies of water but can be used in areas where flooding happens and the water is not that deep," he said.

Its maiden voyage came earlier this month, when dive team members joined other teams in searching Beltzville Lake in neighboring Carbon County for a fisherman who fell from his boat and went missing.

Although members of the Ryan Township Emergency Rescue Squad were not the ones who recovered the man's body, Harris said the opportunity to search gave the team a chance to become familiar with the boat and its capabilities.

Along with the boat, the squad bought and installed a Humminbird sonar unit that can detect images below the boat and to each side.

Harris said the device can scan and produce images 21 feet off each side of the boat and search to a depth of 250 feet in the Down Image mode and as deep as 600 feet in the regular sonar mode.

Moreover, the chief said, the unit is equipped with an SD memory card and can record an image of a particular area of interest. The image is saved to the card that can then be placed in another computer with a larger screen for more in-depth analysis.

Harris said in addition to the boat, new sonar unit and an older sonar unit, the squad's support unit carries a computer for reading the SD card and other uses, underwater cameras and imaging equipment, underwater communications equipment, a full range of emergency medical and dive equipment and more.

The dive team has 12 certified public safety divers, some of whom are also trained and certified in ice water rescue.

Harris said the divers are certified through both Dive Rescue International and the Professional Association of Dive Instructors. In addition, any member who operates the rescue boat is public watercraft and boat-certified, Harris said.

"Our people have the training and now they have the up-to-date equipment needed to perform their jobs better," said Harris, a certified diver and emergency medical technician.

Based in Barnesville, the Ryan Township Emergency Rescue Squad dive team is one of three in Schuylkill County. The others are the Schuylkill Haven Fire Department and the West End Rescue Squad in Mahanoy City.

The Ryan Township Emergency Rescue Squad was organized in 1980 as an emergency medical services unit and in 1994, the dive team was established, Harris said.

In addition to the EMS and dive team units, the association also operates a rehabilitation unit for emergency situations and also performs operations in search and rescue.

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