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Truckee Police andamp; Fire Dive Team participate in Truckee Day

Special to the Sun
Submitted to aedgett@sierrasun.comTruckee Police Department's Sgt. Jason Litchie gets geared up and ready to dive into Donner Lake for trash recon on Truckee Day, June 4.
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TRUCKEE, Calif. andamp;#8212; On Saturday, June 4, the Truckee Police andamp; Fire Dive Team participated in Truckee Day by conducting several dives to clean up trash in Donner Lake. The Dive Team routinely uses Donner Lake for training dives and was excited for an opportunity to participate in the clean-up. Focusing mostly on the public docks and heavily utilized areas, team members dove between 10 feet and 40 feet while collecting everything from discarded cans to vehicle tires. Water temperatures were as low as 42 degrees at depth. Although dive team members often try to bring up small bits of trash they come across on their normal training dives, it was a great opportunity to focus solely on recovering trash submerged on the bottom. Smaller items were collected and stored in mesh bags which each diver carried on their person, while larger items were lifted to the surface using specially designed air bags called andamp;#8220;lift bags.andamp;#8221; Submerged divers would secure a line to the heavy items and fill the lift bags with air from their tanks which creates buoyancy and causes the submerged items to rise to the surface. The lifted items were collected by dive boats and support crews.Following the dive, team members attended the block party where the dive gear was on display with team members who provided information about the equipment and the dive team itself.The dive team is comprised of four members from the Truckee Police Department and 10 members from the Truckee Fire District. Dive team members hold a minimum certification of rescue diver with some certified as dive master. In addition to the basic certifications, several team members hold specialty certifications as altitude diver, dry suite diver, ice diver, deep water diver and equipment specialist. Fire personnel also train and are certified in swift water rescue.For information, contact Sergeant Rob Leftwich at 530-308-0874 or Sergeant Jason Litchie at 530-550-2345.andamp;#8212; Submitted to aedgett@sierrasun.com


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