Water Rescue & Recovery

Water Rescue & Recovery

Lieutenant Dan Ritchie MABAS 19 Dive Team

The Orland Fire District has 18 members that are part of the MABAS 19/22 Water Rescue and Recovery Team. Our team responds to all water related incidents involving rescue or recovery within the MABAS 19/22 jurisdiction and beyond, on an as-needed basis. This response area covers about 450 square miles, which includes a variety of water ranging from numerous retention ponds, rivers and navigational waterways.

Team training was conducted twice a month which consisted of:  Annual Swim Test and SCUBA skills review  Ice Diver Training  Scenario-based training (surface and subsurface)  Surface Supplied Air training  Swift Water Technician Training  Sonar Training  Underwater Evidence Recovery Training  Water Craft Training Even with COVID 19 interrupting our typical training schedule, our members were able to remain current in their skills. Our members put in over 380 training hours this past year. Some of our newer members were also able to obtain their Illinois State Fire Marshall certificate for Water Operations and Water Craft Technician. Our team is looking forward to more training opportunities in 2021 to further advance our skills and abilities. Our team responded to 5 incidents in 2020. These incidents included calls for cars into ponds and for people missing in various rivers.

Incident in Bradley, IL on the Kankakee River Boat Operations on the Cal Sag

Surface Ice Rescue training with on duty companies