Natick firefighter Mike Haigis knew it was time for a change.
The moment came Oct. 4, 2016, when a man drowned in Morses Pond in Wellesley.
Haigis was the Natick Dive Team leader that day when it rushed to the pond, where it met other dive teams that attempted to save the man’s life.
Haigis said there probably wasn’t anything his team could have done differently that day, but it was a wake-up call.
“It was apparent, (inefficiency) was becoming an issue,” Haigis said.
Haigis knew his team faced a hurdle. It didn’t have its own vehicle for storing equipment, so whenever a water-emergency call came in, his team hastily threw gear into the back of the nearest truck... The problem might be a thing of the past, after the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority donated one of its buses to the dive team.