Thank you Tracy. You don't know what your love and encouragement means to me.

Dumb question: why did they send a crew to drive from Hackensack to make a "rescue" in a remote area in Mahwah? I would think that takes a long time. Don't they have a helicopter with a diver? I'm just asking ,I dont know. Seems like any big accident, they can get a chopper in quick. Did they call in Mahwah rescue?

Hank, you don't just put a diver on a helicopter and have him rapell into the water and start roaming around a 300,000 sq ft lake. That only happens in cheap action flicks. The idea is not to make matters worse and end up with additional people needing rescue.

Dive operations require not only divers, but also surface tenders (who can see which area a diver is searching, and direct the diver which area still needs to be searched), ready-divers (fully suited, standing by to assist the in-water diver in case he/she runs into trouble underwater) - and extensive amount of equipment.

Very seldomly can you just jump in the water (e.g., when you can see where a submerged vehicle is). In yesterday's case, the location of the victim was not even known (the reports say the female didn't realize the male was missing until she got to the far side of the lake - so the male could have turned around at some point, could have changed direction to aim for a closer point at the shore,...). So you start with an interview of witnesses to see if you can establish a submersion point.

People don't realize how important qualified/trained surface support is when conducting a search. You don't want to search the same area twice (loss of crucial time), but you also dont't want to skip a small patch and miss precisely what you look for.

cont...

People also don't realize what the bottom of these lakes look like. Imagine decades of organic debris (leaves, branches) having decomposed and accumulated all along the bottom. Some places you can stick your arm to your shoulders into the soft "muck" and never be able to actually reach hard bottom!

Just the act of swimming across that bottom can kick up that silt and instantly turn this into a "black water" dive - where you cannot see your own hand in front of your facemask. Lights and eyes become useless and you operate strictly by sweeping your hands across the bottom while the surface tender keeps track of your position and guides your every move.

In addition, there might be monofilament fishing line and lost hooks that can snag you up. There can be submerged trees and branches that create entanglement hazards in zero visibility.

So - this is different from "liveguarding" at the town pool, where you have (fairly) clear water and a clean, hard and even bottom - and ideally you just jump in, see the victim on the bottom of the pool, swim over and pull them up. Dive operations are carefully orchestrated and very involved - with the goal to have efficiency while managing the risks to the diver.

Thanks Andy for the info. I just thought it strange the county stated they got there to rescue someone. If your coming from Hackensack there is no rescue. I guess you only have a few minutes to rescue someone who is missing in a lake.
I doubt if you can stop people from swimming up there. It is a traditional spot to swim for a long time. We used to sneak into Graydon pool at night and it was in the middle of Ridgewood down the street from the police station, sometimes someone would get caught but it never stopped us.

Hank - remember, no one actually saw a person "go under". All that was reported was that he was not at the far end of the lake. He could have had a cramp, or tired, and just turned around, passed out on the shore etc... I would expect them to conduct a search of the shore line, hoping for a "rescue" before assuming the worst.

As far as rescuing someone who has been submerged - your best chances are in sudden submersions into near freezing water (because of the slowing of the metabolism triggered by the mammalian diving reflex) and with small children - in an extreme case up to 20 minutes. With a swimmer who had been acclimated to the water temperature, and with fairly warm surface water, chances of reviving someone are fairly small.

I agree with Jimmy. Why?!! The Mawah residents who volunteer their services knows Mahwah and could of gotten there a lot faster then someone who has no idea where to go from Hackensack. Mahwah has an excellent FD and Rescue team which BTW has a DIVE TEAM!! Why didn't we utilized them? I guess this is another way for the Mayor to say Mahwah couldn't do the job fast enough.

Mahwah's dive team is out of service. Regardless, they were never requested.

Cheryl - you seem to think that the Mayor answers 911 calls?

This is a County Park and thus policed by the BCPD! The leadership at the County Police then has to make quick decisions. To them, the state of their OWN dive unit is a known entity (they know their ready-status, who is already on duty and who can be alerted, the type/extend/frequency/recency of training for its members, ) - so I'm not surprised they would activate their own team immediately, and then assess whether any municipal resources are needed.

I don't think the newspaper reports supply enough information to know all the factors that went into County's decision.

Don't know if there's an "official" figure - my personal observation a while ago had been around 25 ft.

Ed, why would the M.E. order one?

Thanks, Ed. I don't know the current policies in Bergen County, that's why I asked for your insight.
As far as the public's interest, it would suffice to know that it was accidental, no contagion was suspected,etc. - the rest is a private matter. So the M.E. might have just confirmed a manner (drowning).

Of course, the family might have an interest to learn more - but sometimes loved ones don't share the public's curiosity in times like this, and see no need to request a more in-depth study.

Anyway, I saw the article this morning as well.