Rescue dives on Lake Lanier will slowly fade out as the county turns to technology to guard the local waterway.
Hall County Fire Rescue announced Thursday that its Marine Rescue Team will begin using a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for search and rescue missions starting next summer.
“They can be quickly deployed, and have the ability to retrieve and carry much heavier payloads than human divers, which is an obvious advantage,” says Hall County Fire Chief Chris Armstrong. “The use of underwater drones can also reduce the risk to human divers in contaminated water and dark water environments.”
In a press release, Armstrong says the ROV “will supplant our divers.”
The ROV can dive to depths of up to 1000 feet (305 meters), grasp onto a drowning victim with a robotic arm, and tow them to the surface. The device has a sonar system, navigation and a dual mode HD camera which provides live video feed to the operator.
Different “add-ons” make the unit adaptable for a range of underwater search and rescue operations, as well as salvage and recovery. The operator can add buoyant robotic arms, sonar, navigation, and other search and recovery tools.
Speed is also an advantage, officials say. The ROV can be deployed in three minutes or less after arriving at the launch site.
According to HCFR Public Information Officer Kimberlie Ledsinger, the ROV will slightly change the Marine Rescue Team’s mission but, she adds, “we will still have a presence patrolling Lake Lanier on the weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day every year providing emergency response to medical incidents, watercraft accidents, fires, and robotic search or recovery.”
