MCAFD Dive Team/Swift Water
Rescue Team

Meadowood Underwater Rescue Team was originally the Connecticut River Valley Underwater Rescue Team which was founded in the early 1980’s. In 1994 the Meadowood County Area Fire Department adopted the divers as a specialty unit within the department. The team performs rescue dive operations and has assisted the State of NH Fish and Game Department with body recoveries.

We have 14 members of the Underwater Rescue Team, 13 of whom are divers with the minimum experience of Rescue Diver and Public Safety Rescue Diver. Other divers are PADI and/or TDI certified Master Instructor, Instructor, Technical Divers including Ice Diver, Cavern Diver, NSS-CDS Full Cave Diver, Nitrox and Technical Nitrox Divers, Deep Diver, Equipment Specialist, and many more specialties.


Our team, as a team, presents at least two classes each year at Meadowood’s Fire Schools. “Aquatic Accident Scene Basics” is primarily for the area fire, EMS, and police personnel. This class covers what the first personnel at an incident can do in preparation for a rescue or for a potential dive scene. “Public Safety Rescue Diver” is a 16-hour course which we developed and was accepted by PADI as a specialty certification. Each new member on our dive team is required to complete this course with in their first year.

Our “Standard Operating Guidelines” outline our training and diving requirements for each membership category. Divers must annually complete a minimum of 18 dives, at least 6 of which must be training dives with the team. These must include a variety of specific types of dives (ie. overhead environment, low visibility/night, etc.). As a team we schedule at least one training session (dive) per month as well as a regular monthly meeting.

The dive team has a 14’ Quicksilver inflatable craft with a 25hp Mercury motor, a Rescue Alive (for thin ice rescue), and each member carries a full compliment of underwater gear in their POV’s. Additional support equipment is carried on MCAFD’s heavy rescue, 11R1.

In 2002, the dive team members along with several firefighters from the department became certified as Swift Water Rescue Technicians. The team performs rescue operations in moving water, such as rivers and streams. At that time we added a number of ropes and hardware for rigging lines to our equipment inventory.

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