New members train for county’s water rescue team

When a water rescue or recovery is needed, the Dodge County Water Rescue team is called in.

Up until recently, that team consisted of 17 trained scuba rescue divers and was made up entirely of firefighters from the Fremont Fire Department.

That number has dwindled to 10 because of people leaving or finding new jobs.

Now, four younger firefighters are training for water rescue. Two Dodge County deputies, B.J. Reynolds and Mike Ough, also joined the team, recently completing their required open water dives and are now certified scuba divers.

The firefighters who are in earlier stages of training are: Troy Nott, Rick Buesing, Wyatt Swartz and Nick Morris.

Once the four firefighters complete their open water dives, they and the deputies can be trained in search and rescue.

“We’re used anywhere from two to three times a year,” said Todd Coffey, of the Fremont Fire Department and coordinator of the water rescue unit. “That can be anything from drowning to a car in a lake or recovering crime items thrown into the water.”

While most of the unit’s calls are to the Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area, it has been called to Johnson Lake and other smaller bodies of water. It also is often called to Colfax, Washington and Burt counties.

Now that Reynolds and Ough are certified scuba divers, all they need to do is take that final step to become certified public safety divers.

Coffey said the deputies will make a good addition.

“With crime scenes and stolen property being recovered, we thought it would be good to have some law enforcement involved,” Coffey said. “In other areas the sheriff’s office runs water rescue.”

Coffey said it was the deputies’ idea.

“We actually approached them about it and asked if it would be possible to have deputies involved since it’s funded by the county,” Reynolds said. “We’re going to be out there anyway, so why not be involved?”

Dodge County Water Rescue receives about $3,000 from Dodge County annually.

“The sheriff’s office itself allowed any deputy interested to submit why they thought they were qualified,” Reynolds said. “We both had life guard training.”

He said the deputies are planning on keeping their basic gear in their cruisers. The rest of the equipment, including air bottles, are brought in the van with the firefighters.

Reynolds said while firefighters are suiting up on the way to the incident, the deputies can be suiting up at the incident to be ready to go.

“They’ll have their water rescue equipment in their trunks for ice breaks and drownings,” said Sheriff Steve Hespen. “They’ll be available and most likely the first to respond. They’ll be ready before the rest of the dive team gets there.”