Posted by tleemay on February 06, 2001 at 15:17:10:
In Reply to: Huntington Lake posted by JRM on February 06, 2001 at 13:26:56:
The best S&R courses I knew about when I lived in
the Visalia/Fresno area were administered by the
Tulare and Kings County Sherrif's Dept. While I
had a brief stint with the Tulare County operation,
I really don't have any recent first hand knowlege
of what they are doing nowadays.
Both Kings and Tulare Counties still have deputy
teams specially trained in such operations since
the bulk of the incidents/S&R they are in involve
swift water rescue (read that as ditches, canals,
aqueducts, and the Sierra/Valley Rivers). Their
idea of an easy op was when a car plopped over
the side of Highway 198 and ended up in Lake
Kaweah.
I remember doing CC for a situation where a
drunk driver ran off the Ben Maddox Avenue bridge
just N of Visalia and into the St. Johns River.
Car entered after jumping off the levee at 90 mhp
plus and landed in 5 ft of water. Problem was
the water was really swift, so the Water Teams
were sent in to recover. Watching something like
that op really makes you appreciate such training
and not take water rescues for granted.
I have a high school friend who currently is a
Kings County Deupty involved in their S&R Ops.
His name is Mark Lusk. Maybe you can seek him
out and inquire about their training program.
On a side note, dive June Lake and see the
old saw mill steam boiler on the edge of the S
edge of the dam. It's on a slope in only 50' of
water and the vis is usually 100'+. Lot's of
BIG trout to see too.