Page 62 - Walton Living

The Walton County Special Ops Team is headed
up by Capt. John Hall, a nine-year veteran officer
of Walton County Fire Rescue and includes swift
water rescue as well as a public safety dive team
along with other specialized training.
“The team will be called the Walton County
Special Ops Team and will encompass a dive team
that includes Walton County Sheri ’s ffice as
members of the team. All other aspects of the team
will be made up of Walton County Fire Rescue and
Loganville Fire Department at this time with the
invitation to all other fire departments in the county
to join,” Hall said. “This includes high angle and
low angle rescue as well as hazmat and trench
rescue. Types of rescues may include bringing
someone down from high places such as o of wa-
ter towers or roofs or bringing someone up a steep
embankment. Hazardous materials include gas
spills or unknown chemicals that may be released.
Unfortunately when we may need the dive team
it will probably be for a recovery after a drowning
or assisting Walton County Sheri ’s ffice with
looking for evidence.”
Special Ops team member Kevin Vermillion said
there are several benefits to ensuring that the team
is trained in rope rescue.
“Like if somebody is stuck in a ravine or if a car
ips over into a ravine and it’s too steep for us to
walk up and down the hill - we’ve got to have ropes
so we can put somebody in a basket and bring them
up,” Vermillion said. “These are all special ops
training that we’re working on - the first being the
dive and swift water rescue.”
Hall said the team obtained its open water certi-
fication in August 2 1 , receiving the certification
through Dolphin Dive in Athens, and is hoping
to be fully certified in public safety diving by this
spring. According to the Professional Association
of Diving Instructions, besides the open water
certification, public safety divers also train in scene
handling, victim recovery and other rescue tech-
niques.

“Unfortunately when we

may need the dive team
it will probably be for a

recovery after a drowning
or assisting Walton

County Sheri ’s ffice

with looking for

evidence.”

62 Walton Living Magazine