Alexander Rescue Squad Places New Equipment Into Service

“Technology Hits the Water”

In the vast field of Rescue work, it often takes many different types of equipment to locate, access, stabilize and transport our victims. For many years in the past, victims of the water were sometimes at best difficult to locate. In many instances one of the main reasons that area Rescue Squads were formed was to locate drowned victims. It was a mixture of equipment and some skill but largely luck to find a victim underwater. Drag hooks with ropes attached and grappling poles were about the only means to locate victims. In recent years divers have been a more popular means of victim location; however in our bodies of water it is difficult at best to see much more than two or three feet around you. Diving certification is very expensive and the cost and maintenance of equipment makes this type of victim location not cost effective. Alexander Rescue maintains mutual aid agreements with several agencies in our region that are certified in open and black water dive and recovery.

In late August 2010, Alexander Rescue Squad took a major step in modern day technology to locate victims underwater. The Squad purchased and has installed on one of the departments three boats a Hummingbird Side Scanning Imaging (Sonar) Device. The unit (pictured above) is the 1197C Search and Rescue Model.

It will provide operators a view of the water column between the surface and the bottom as well as a picture of the bottom of the water body. The unit has the capability of an onboard Global Positioning System (GPS) for marking the location of the victim or other objects of interest. The unit gives information as to the depth, temperature and how fast the boat is traveling. This tool along with the regional diving capability and the current means of underwater search will greatly enhancement the overarching safety aspect, a quicker victim recovery and should reduce overall response cost of underwater search.

If you look to the top left (indicated by the arrow) you will see an actual victim image as it appears on the bottom of the body of water. This picture is courtsey of Roseboro Rescue & EMS, Inc in Sampson County, North Carolina.This victim was located and recovered in a matter of a few hours (a process that otherwise may take several hours to a day or more).

Squad members will begin training on the use of the device over the course of the next few weeks. The Squad has made contact with the marketing company for Johnson Outdoors (parent company of the Hummingbird brand name) who will be sending a Technical Specialist Representative to train Squad members in its use.

The members of Alexander Rescue Squad would like to thank the Citizens of Alexander County and The Town of Taylorsville; along with both governing bodies for your continued support and our Board for allowing us to purchase equipment that greatly enhances our jobs and helps us to bring closure to families who suffer this type of loss.


Wes Blackwelder
Public Relations Officer
Alexander Rescue Squad


Alexander Rescue Squad is an agency of the United Way of Alexander County