Minn. dive team willing to take on risk

JENN BROOKENS, The Sentinel of Fairmont

TRIMONT, Minn. (AP) -- It was a full day on Big Twin Lake recently for the South Central Volunteer Dive Team.

A truck went into the lake after a man was ice-fishing on ice compromised by the warm weather. Luckily, the man and his dog were able to escape before the entire truck became submerged in about 12 feet of water.

The vehicle was about 50 yards from the peninsula that sticks out into Big Twin, but a long snowbank with about six feet of snow pack blocks direct access to land. Driving across the compromised -- or candled -- ice appears to be the only option.

"There are enough inches of ice, but it's candled," said Melvia Nelsen. "It's become porous and not safe."

Nelsen assists the diving team with various duties, from coordinating necessary paperwork for the non-profit organization, to serving as the runner on shore during dive activity.

The recent situation may sound unusual, but unusual situations are the norm for the dive team.

"About 80 percent of the problems we find are unusual," Nelsen said.

Her son, James Nelsen, helped create the dive team and has served with the volunteer fire department. James Nelsen had always been interested in diving.

"I remember watching Jacques Cousteau, and wanting to do that," he recalled. "But I thought it'd be in the ocean, not in Minnesota."

It was during a recovery mission in the late 1990s that Nelsen, and another volunteer firefighter Gale Odegaard, realized a dive team was needed locally.

"We were on the river by Winnebago in fire boats, and we were dredging for a homicide victim," he said. "At the time, the only dive team in the area was from Mankato. They don't even exist anymore. But it was taking one and a half to two hours to get there after they were called. Gale and I kind of looked at each other ... We didn't really say anything, but we were both thinking that was taking way too long. Both of us ended up signing up for diving rescue classes without telling the other one what we were doing."

More local and regional volunteers were recruited, and by 2004, the South Central Dive Team was an official non-profit organization.

"All of our dive equipment is our own," James Nelsen said. "We got some grants for some, but a lot we purchase on our own."

Steve Nelsen, who operates the sonar, spent thousands of dollars on the equipment used.

"It's sight imaging, so we can actually see a picture of what's down there," he explained.

The two pieces of equipment total more than $3,000. And it all came out of his own pocket.

The large dive team rescue truck was a hand-me-down from the Okoboji Dive Team.

"We work closely with Okoboji," Nelsen said. "We call them when we don't have enough people, and they do the same."

The South Central team has about 12-15 members, with at least 10 who are consistently available for calls. The team meets on a monthly basis and also trains monthly to help maintain skills.

The job got done recently, even though the recovery of the sunken truck took most of the day. The team was able to get closer to the truck's sinking site when they received permission to go through a nearby field. But there were still variables to figuring out the best and safest way to bring the truck out, and not knowing just how much the ice on Big Twin Lake had weakened. The truck was eventually hoisted out of the water around 6 p.m.

"It's kind of a relaxed day, since they are not in rescue mode; it's a property recovery," Melvia Nelsen said.

But when someone without proper training attempts to recover property themselves, it can mean more trouble and turn into a rescue.

"When you see other people not trained trying to do these things, they could end up killing themselves or others," James Nelsen said.

"It's the risk versus the benefit," Melvia added.

Risk versus benefit is a big part of what drives the dive team. With members mostly paying for their own gear, these volunteers, in a sense, pay to be a part of the team. The team is not funded by any city or county entity, and as a policy, they don't charge to rescue or recover a drowning victim.

"Trimont is willing to allow us to store our truck there, but we are not affiliated with Trimont, or any of the towns or the law enforcement," Melvia said. "We are our own entity."

And with the expenses from boats to diving equipment to the training needed to save lives, it adds up fast.

"We are grateful to all the organizations that have helped us in the past," Melvia said. "It all adds up, especially when a diver is wearing $7,000 worth of gear when he needs to go in. We also are in need of a new boat, and soon we will need all new radios with the ARMER upgrade."

In spite of it all, the team is ready to act at a moment's notice.

"It's like a volunteer fire department," James Nelsen said. "We've been fortunate that employers have been willing to let us respond when we get the call ... We never know, we can have one season when we are called out once, and the next season we're out constantly."

It always comes back to risk versus benefit for the team.

"If it involves water, call us," Melvia said, "Don't take a risk by doing it yourselves."

___

Information from: The Fairmont Sentinel

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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