Their work isn’t everyone’s idea of fun

The department’s scuba team began in 1959.

By ALISON KEMP

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Scuba diving in pitch-black water, looking for weapons, a car or a body is not everyone’s cup of tea, but for members of the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Dive Team, this is what they do for fun.

Some team members will perform only certain operations, said Ben Kailer, assistant chief diver, but there are five or six divers who will dive anywhere under all conditions.

Two of the 37 divers who compose a 55-person dive team presented a program about their work to a group of 16 adults and children as part of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County’s summer reading program, Get a Clue @ Your Library, at the West branch on Mahoning Avenue.

The dive team works as volunteers on an as-needed basis.

Capt. Will Hack started the team in 1959 with the sheriff’s department after a 1958 drowning in Mill Creek Park. Hack found the body.

He had been diving for four years at the time and has now been diving for 47 years. Hack turned 72 on Tuesday.

“I don’t want to give it up. I really like the sport,” Hack said.

Buddy diving signals

The program began with explanations from Kailer and Hack about the uses of the equipment. They shared unique and dangerous dive stories, and ones that required specialized equipment, such as a metal detector.

Kailer, who has been diving for 25 years, explained that divers always dive in pairs unless some special circumstances prevent that. The divers use a buddy line — a rope about 5 feet long with a handle on each end — when underwater to keep from getting separated.

The have a Morse code of diving to talk to each other while underwater. Two pulls on the buddy line means, “Are you OK?” Kailer said. Two pulls back answers yes.

Four pulls means “Come to me. I found something,” Kailer said.

In addition to not diving alone, the divers do not return to the surface alone. The signal, which the buddy must respond positively to, is a grab of the buddy’s hand and a point of the thumb to the surface.

“Without your buddy, you’re risking yourself,” Kailer said.

Diving safety

After surfacing from a dive, the fire department and a Haz-Mat team must decontaminate the divers before taking their suits off.

Kailer said he dislikes diving in the Mahoning River the most because of all the materials that are still in the river from the mills, which can be dangerous. He swallowed some water from the river once and was sick later that day.

All of these stories ended with an address on water safety. Riding on a boat is no different from riding in a car when it comes to protection, Kailer said. He said everyone should wear a life vest like they wear a seat belt.

Brent Miller, 8, of Youngstown said his favorite part of the program was the safety discussion. He also said he would like to try diving one day because “you can find old stuff.”

Sheryl Eckert of Youngstown and her grandson, Zachary, left the program with a new understanding about the dive team.

“I think the whole thing was wonderfully informative. I have a new respect for what these men do,” she said.