Minutes of the April BAMSAR meeting, held at Center Moriches. Thanks to Chief Paul Colon and his Assistants
for their
hospitality.
Present: Bayport, Bellport, Center Moriches, C.G. Group Moriches, Eastport, Mastic, Mastic Beach, Southampton Fire
Chiefs, Southampton Town Police, and Westhampton Beach.
No old business to discuss.
Training:
Dive Rescue International Course:
Members attending the weekend of 4, 5, & 6 May are: Bellport, with 4 divers; Center Moriches, with 1 diver;
Mastic, with 6 divers; Mastic Beach with 5 divers, Westhampton Beach, with 2 divers; Suffolk Fire Academy, with
1 diver; for a total of 19 divers. This leaves only 1 spot open for this weekend.
Members attending the weekend of 18, 19, & 20 May are: Eastport, with 5 divers; and Westhampton Beach, with
7 divers; for a total of 12 divers. This leaves open 8 spots. Southold has been contacted to see whether or not
they wish to attend this session.
Final tally must be in to Dive Rescue International by no later than Monday, 16 April! Please get your final totals
to either Tim Dahlen (e-mail: TSDahlen@aol.com), or John Foley (e-mail:
o_foghladha@yahoo.com) by that time.
All
checks must be made out to Dive Rescue International, and sent with your completed registration form, to : Dive
Rescue International, 201 North Link Lane, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80524-2712. John has forms and will be getting
them to you over the weekend.
New Business:
Quite a lengthy discussion was held about what the Coast Guard expects of us, and what we can expect from the
Coast
Guard. Todd Nelson, Group Commander, assured us that we'd be used, but he had some reservations about
calling us
all to the scene, at the same time. He reasoned that this could cause a great deal of chaos, and possibly, some
bad feelings if units got called, but not used. All agreed that this was a very valid point, and that we should
restructure our
call-out procedures. If we do get called, but not immediately used, we should pass to the CG Command
Center that we'd
be willing to go back to the scene later, along with CG units to assist, especially if there is
a prolonged search, with any
possibility of finding the victim alive. It was agreed that we'd do this also. (If
there is any possibility of finding a live victim,
the CG will keep us in/on the water as long as necessary, to
provide for an adequate search. They won't tell us to go home
unless all search efforts prove fruitless.) The CG
will also give us search patterns to do, if we're available to do them. Todd
was asked if a BAMSAR coordinator
might report to the Command Center to assist the Group Duty Officer, if needed.
He said that would be very helpful.
He'd also like to see better relations develop between us, and Suffolk PD. We said
we'd like to meet with them,
even though past attempts haven't been successful. A suggestion was raised that we critique
all cases, as soon
afterward as possible, to see how we can improve our responses. That too, was agreed upon. In
response to a question
about who the ranking CG person should be at a scene (should it be a Petty Officer, or, someone
higher), Todd said
he wanted his Station Commanders to be there if he couldn't. This would be someone of the rank of
Senior Chief
Petty Officer (as for the CG Cutter Ridley), Warrant Officer (most Stations), or an Officer. He also said that
he's going to meet with Dave Fischler about this very subject.
As far as activation procedures go, the suggestion was for OICs to request the nearest BAMSAR unit to the east,
and the
nearest BAMSAR unit to the west, a BAMSAR Coordinator to respond to the CG Command Center at the East Moriches
Coast Guard Station (Group HQ), and a second BAMSAR coordinator to respond to the scene. Further BAMSAR
response
would be coordinated by the CG, Fire Chief in whose district the call occurred, and the two coordinators.
This
will require some further fine-tuning at next month's meeting.
Next month's meeting will be held in the Westhampton Beach Firehouse, on Thursday, 10 May, 2001, at 1930.
Anyone
needing directions, please contact the Secretary, John Foley, at 878-9217 (H), 344-2350 (W),
or e-mail: o_foghladha@yahoo.com
.
Please remember to get your registration and money in to Dive Rescue International as soon as possible, if you
plan to attend
the Public Safety Diver courses! Thanks.