Regina Fire dive team working on underwater recovery skills
A team of Regina firefighters is taking a deep dive into training this week, as they work towards underwater recovery certification.
Regina Fire and Protective Services members were at Lovering Lake practicing their skills during a training session Thursday.
Since January, a team of 12 firefighters has been training to receive deep water underwater recovery certification. Saskatoon Fire has been the acting dive team while the team has been training, but the service hasn’t been needed.
Previously, the Regina Police Service was responsible for the recovery dive team, but three years ago it was decided Regina Fire would take over.
“If there's any request that comes through, Regina, police or surrounding area. We would now be the agency that would be involved for the below surface recovery of any evidence or anybody,” Neil Sundeen, the Deputy Fire Chief, said.
Conditions were ideal for diving on Thursday, but the team said that’s typically not the case.
“Last week, we were diving at Katepwa, and as soon as you were more than eight feet under the water is kind of black as midnight down there. We'll be moving to different lakes and different environments, just to get the guys trained in those low vis situations because as public safety divers, we don't really get to choose our dive sites,” Luke Sitter, the dive instructor for the underwater recovery team said.
The training is meant to give the divers a taste of some of the challenges they may face in real emergency situations.
The team is hopeful they will be fully qualified by October, but they’ll need to certify during the winter in order to perform ice dives.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.