VIDEO: The Minocqua Fire and Rescue, Newbold Fire Department, and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Dive Team partnered up to practice diving through ice and lost diver drills.
The agencies trained together with their airboats and divers to practice diving into icy waters in case of a real-life emergency.
“Basically what this training is about is the use of the airboat by the Oneida County and the Lincoln County Public Safety Dive Teams for emergency situations, like where maybe somebody goes through the ice while their ice fishing,” said Captain Terri Hook, of the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office.
Captain Hook said the dive team trains together once a month. “The airboat people see what kind of equipment the divers need, and the divers get to what the airboat looks like and what kind of vehicle they’ll have to get onto quickly in order to get to a scene,” said Captain Hook.