There are easier ways to carve pumpkins ...
Photo by MANDI BATEMAN Bryant Brown, Dave Kramer, Levi Falck, Travis Stolley, Clint Randall and Caleb Watts took to the Kootenai River on Friday to carve pumpkins ... and train for potential river rescues.
Photo by BCSO Levi Falck made a pretty pumpkin.
Photo by BCSO Pumpkin guts released into the river.
Pumpkin guts are released into the river (top photo). Below, Caleb Watts and his glowing underwater jack o’lantern. Photos by Boundary County Sheriff’s Office.
Photo by MANDI BATEMAN Divers emerge from the depths with their works of art.
Photo by BCSO Clint Randall with his completed pumpkin.
Photo by BCSO Travis Stolley with his completed work of art.
Photo by MANDI BATEMAN The divers had to battle the buoyancy of the pumpkins in the water.
Photo by MANDI BATEMAN The divers prepare to take on ther challenge of carving pumpkins underwater.
BONNERS FERRY — What a better way to get into the spirit of Halloween, than carving a pumpkin? That is exactly what members of the Boundary County rescue dive team decided to do — underwater.
They gathered around noon on Oct. 25, at the city boat launch, geared up and took their pumpkins into the Kootenai River, then descended to carve their masterpieces. The six divers were members of the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office and Boundary County Search and Dive Team.
People were on hand to assist and watch the proceeding, waiting eagerly for the divers to emerge from the depths with their works of art. The Boundary County Chaplain Corps, with Angel 1, was on hand to serve food and hot drinks to the participants.
While it was festive fun, it was also a skills training for the divers. The divers had to work with the buoyancy of the pumpkins and the current, and at the same time maintain enough dexterity to use their knife and carve a pumpkin.
“We just put together a fun event for the divers to practice some skills with handling items underwater — being able to think a couple steps ahead what they’re going to do,” said Boundary County Sheriff’s Detective Caleb Watts. “These are simple skills but we rarely practice it: training underwater, managing an object, and using sharp instruments underwater.”
The pumpkins all had a hole cut in them to help the divers submerge the floating gourds.
“Even with the holes you could definitely feel the force wanting to come back up,” said Watts. “It wasn’t a lot of force, but it was enough to continually acknowledge that if you let go of your pumpkin, it is going to float to the top, so you need to pay attention to what you are doing.”
For the team, proper equipment is key in being able to safely respond to rescue situations, and that has been a struggle.
Most of the team are volunteers and the equipment they are using is 10 years old or older. They are looking for options to fund the equipment, which can be expensive.
“Bear Auto donated to the search and dive team,” said Watts. “We just recently purchased three sets of dive fins, three sets of flashlights, and three knife sets with that donation, so we appreciate that.”
“We need all kinds of gear to be able to operate safely and efficiently underwater, and unfortunately this part of search and dive team — the gear — is expensive, but rightfully so,” said Watts. “Working in cold, dark waters, you need the right equipment to get the job done. Without the equipment we are going to have a hard time responding to any issues in the waterways in Boundary County.”
The trouble with gear became evident during the training exercise.
“We did have one diver that did not complete the dive because of gear malfunction, and that goes back to not having the correct gear for the job,” said Watts. “He exited the water safely and we continued with the dive.”
For spectators at the event, once the divers went down, there was not much to watch except for the occasional pumpkin eyeball floating to the surface, but it was easy to see that the current came into play during the exercise. It was evident from bubbles coming from beneath that the divers were moving around some.
Bonners Ferry Police Corporal Travis Stolley solved the problem. He found a submerged stick and stuck his pumpkin on it, holding it in place for ease of carving.
The divers all emerged about the same time with their successfully carved pumpkins.
“It was fun. It is something that we are looking forward to doing every year,” said Boundary Search and Dive Rescue Team member Levi Falck. “It is good practice for the divers.”
The pumpkins were donated to the divers by Super 1 Foods, and they were able to warm up with hot pizza after the dive that was donated by Pizza Factory.
“Next year we might make this a bigger event with some competition in it, and maybe some more people can come out and watch it and have a good time,” said Watts.