BCFD Dive Team August 22, 2020

I went to my most frequent spot to watch ships come and go at Baltimore, Maryland today and happened upon an unusual sight. 3 fire trucks from the Baltimore City Fire Department, one with two rubber boats, were in the parking lot.

It turned out that the Dive Team was undergoing practical exams on this day.

Five candidates finished their training in order to join the Baltimore City Fire Department Dive Team in a class hosted by Dive Rescue International on the use of DUI dry suits.

The final step on this day was for the candidates to pass a skills test by Dive Team leaders after which they become full team members.

When their time was up they came to a station where they were sprayed with soapy water, then rinsed with water, then further scrubbed down before removing their drysuits.

I am unfamiliar with drysuits but these had the logo of Diving Unlimited International on them.

With the accident in Houston, Texas where a dredger hit a pipeline resulting in an explosion the need for a team like this could not be more clear.

Maritime and other waterborne work in Baltimore is a 24 hour 7 day a week 365 year business with ships of all description coming and going intermingled with tugs doing local work and many local pleasure boats. Things can and do go wrong and we are fortunate to have such a team on standby.

I have a lot more photos, click here to check them out!

Update: Here’s more recent photos of BCFD Dive Team training taken by another Flickr user at a different Baltimore location on September 4, 2020. I’m told all the members passed this training as well.