Black water: Firefighters' dives often dangerous

Israel Infante begged emergency responders to allow a friend to dive into the murky, muddy water to search for his son’s body.

“I just want to find him,” the man said last week as he watched crews with the Mission and Alton fire departments floating on a small red boat nearby.

The 16-year-old had drowned in a retention pond near McCook, and the hours slowly dragged on as the Mission Fire Department dive team dredged the pond’s bottom in search for the lifeless teenager.

“People can get impatient,” said Capt. Joel Dominguez, a member of the 12-man team. “But it’s not as simple as holding your breath.”

Dive team members didn’t enter the water until about four hours after being called to the scene. But Mission fire department officials say that’s not uncommon in rescue and recovery operations in the Rio Grande Valley, where danger often lurks beneath the surface of heavily contaminated resacas and ditches.

Before plunging into “black water,” the team must complete preliminary search efforts, Dominguez said. Otherwise divers could easily get sucked away by rip currents, entangled in tall weeds or they could cut themselves on sharp metal objects. They can also encounter snakes and alligator gar, an enormous primitive fish with two rows of large teeth.

Emergency responders refer to “black water” as foggy water in which divers have little to no visibility — much like the smoke that engulfs structures that firefighters often enter.

When searching for a body inside such water, the team first uses a long pole to skim the bottom surface to identify its possible location. Afterward, the group uses sonar to detect sunken items. These procedures also allow emergency responders to locate objects that might impede search efforts and place them in immediate danger.

The team can also use underwater cameras and metal detectors during search efforts.

Once they’ve exhausted those resources, the dive team goes in. Dominguez said it takes about 10 to 30 minutes for three members to suit up for a dive — one plunges into the water while the other two serve as backup.

“We need to size up and survey the scene,” Dominguez said. “We need to minimize our time in the water.”

The diver uses a microphone installed inside his oxygen mask to communicate with the rest of the team above.

“The time in the water takes a toll on you,” said Robert R. Alvarez, another team member. “If you’re in cold water, you don’t last as long because your body gets stiff. And if it’s hot, you really sweat and you can dehydrate.”

The team, which began with four members in 1994, is made up of 12 Mission firefighters that are always on call for emergencies. Other emergency response agencies that operate a dive team include the Weslaco, San Benito and Brownsville fire departments. The teams also help law enforcement agencies search for evidence such as weapons — that’s usually when they use metal detectors.

Sometimes, divers accidentally pull up objects they weren’t looking for.

“We’ll find shopping carts, fridges, boats,” Alvarez said. “Once we even found a small box of gold.”

Alvarez said the team frequently conducts rescue efforts in the summer, when children and teens swim in contaminated water to cool off. He warned that this is very dangerous, and parents should drive them to a swimming pool instead.

“The top of the water can look real calm,” Alvarez said, “but sometimes it’s different below.”

Ana Ley covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4428.