(NETWORK INDIANA) Indiana has six new public safety divers. Their job, after undergoing some intense training, is to be able to handle water rescues and the unfortunate job of recovering people and cars from the water.
“The majority of our divers that are coming into it have never dove before,” said Dept. of Natural Resources Capt. Jet Quillen. “They might have went snorkeling on vacation or something like that.”
Quillen said classes are from the ground up, with each diver learning basic diving skills, before going into the more intense training.
“You actually get into the science of diving and you learn in depth about the type of injuries you can actually succumb to,” he said. “Eventually they’ll be doing body recovery, vehicle recovery. How do we get a truck out of the water that’s 100 ft. off shor. So, they have to troubleshoot that.”
Quillen said with the six new divers, there are now 47 public safety divers working for the DNR.