NEGAUNEE, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Marquette County Sheriff’s Department Dive Team held its annual ice rescue training on Wednesday in Negaunee.
Scuba diving in these harsh conditions is a valuable training tool because people falling through the ice happens far too often and can be deadly.
In fact, while we were shooting this story, the US Coast Guard responded to a person who went through the ice in Marquette’s Lower Harbor.
“Training in these cold conditions hones our skills, makes us better divers, and so when we’re ready for the real thing, we’re good to go,” said Marquette’s Undersheriff, Lowell Larson.
Larson says the members of his dive team are fully protected from the cold by wearing dry suits and full-face masks.
“So there’s actually no part of the diver that actually touches the water. Now, with ice operations, we want to make sure we don’t have a lost diver. So what we do there is we always have them carabinered into a rope at all times,” said Larson.
Jumping into a frozen lake doesn’t seem that comfortable. However, Larson doesn’t agree.
“It’s nice and quiet underneath there. So once you’ve done it a couple of times, it’s actually a very cool and interesting thing to do,” said Larson.
Safety is always the top priority, so the divers are tethered to a safety line at all times. The divers are also in constant contact with team members on the surface using an intercom system. One concern on Teal Lake is visibility.
“Teal Lake visibility isn’t really that good. There are a lot of suspended particles that are in the water, so we also have a lot of snow that’s on the ice, so not a lot of that light is going to reflect in there, so it’s going to be kind of dark,” said Larson.
Larson says the best way to avoid needing an ice rescue is to simply stay off the ice if you’re unsure about its thickness.
