Nemacolin Dive & Rescue

The Nemacolin Volunteer Fire Department’s Dive & Rescue team will celebrate 25 years as an important part of the department next year. Being so near the river, it seems that it was inevitable that Nemacolin would create a dive and rescue team. There were a few incidents that led up to its creation, but it wasn’t until a very sad and tragic event 26 years ago that the ball really got rolling.

It was an incident in 1992 that served as the catalyst for the Nemacolin VFD to add a dive and rescue team to their lineup. A 5-year-old girl was with her uncle down by the Nemacolin ferry landing. Neither of them could swim well and she fell off a log and into the river.

“She was just 12 feet under and we couldn’t see her,” said Drew Cubic, Sr. “We called for helicopters and support, but we couldn’t do anything. We could only stand down there. After that, we thought, ‘We’re right by the river. We’ve got to have this.’”

Jim Schiffbauer remembers that day, “I wanted to go in, I knew just where she was. I swam that river all my life, but we weren’t allowed to go in. We had to wait for divers from Greensburg to arrive. It made me mad and that’s when I decided ‘We need a dive team.’”

Before the tragic incident in ‘92 that left the fire department feeling helpless, the Nemacolin VFD had used other people with diving experience to help if available. After the incident, they began the process of getting an official group together, equipped, and trained. The Cumberland Township supervisors granted permission to the fire department to start a team and the program was state-funded through the Nemacolin VFD Relief Association. The original team consisted of 6 men, including Drew Cubic, Sr., Bob Schiffbauer, Jim Schiffbauer, Ed Walkos, Sr., Max Brozik, Jr. and Les Siebert, Jr. Drew was the first captain of the team and is president of the Relief Association.

Equipment for the team was purchased and their first boat was acquired through donation by a former member. George Hixon had a boat just sitting around for years that was very much in need of repair. After his death, his son-in-law offered to donate it the fire department, “It’s yours, come get it, for what it’s worth,” and in return a plaque was placed on the boat honoring Hixon. “We worked on the boat and trailer ourselves over a few months to get it ready for the river,” Bob Schiffbauer, a lifetime member of the Nemacolin VFD since 1997, says.

“We discussed amongst ourselves when we were starting it that we would do this just for rescue and recovery, in order to prevent getting burnt out. We dove a lot for training, usually a few times a month, and we dove recreationally,” Bob adds.

The team spent approximately six to eight months completing dive training. There were 5 different levels of training on open water to 60 feet, the more advanced open water to 130 feet, and cold water diving. They also trained to be forensic technology and equipment specialists, and learned search and recovery techniques, which included various underwater patterns. They trained at Inter-State Aquatics in Morgantown, with dive instructor Master Diver Keith Golden.

The fire department has continued to update and make additions to their equipment. Their original boat was replaced with a new 18-ft pontoon boat that was purchased about 6-7 years ago. They also have a 20-ft trailer stocked with a range of dive gear, including swift water gear.

Current captain Jeremy Nelson says that the department makes sure to stay on top of training. “All the divers are PADI certified. We perform check dives in the pool. Throughout the year, we take the boat out on the Mon and complete some training dives,” he says. “We also travel to the Yough for deep water dive practice.”

Jeremy has been on the dive team since 2009 and has been captain on-and-off for a few years. The current team consists of Jeremy, Paul Kozlowski, (a former dive team captain), Lucas Cubic (currently in the Air Force), Drew Cubic, Jr., Drew Cubic, Sr., with Jim Schiffbauer serving as a reserve diver. Two volunteer firefighters from Carmichaels are also part of the team: Rob and Bob Schiffbauer. Nemacolin VFD member Ed Helman helps pilot the boat.

“We’ve been called out to locate stolen firearms, missing bodies, and perform community service, like the one time that we were called out to save a farm pond that was bleeding out. We also helped out at Riverfest for a few years,” Jeremy says.

When asked about a memorable call from his time on the dive team, Jeremy and Paul Kozlowski recall a certain New Year’s Day when they were called to the western part of the county. A 4-wheeler had been found abandoned, floating in a pond, with no one around.

“We were called out to look for the rider, to see if he was in the pond,” Jeremy shares. “Luckily, he wasn’t in there.”

Paul adds with a laugh, ”He wasn’t in there – he was safe at home watching it on the news after having some New Year’s fun!”

The team has worked all along the eastern part of the county, often in conjunction with other fire departments. Like the incident with the 4-wheeler, they have also been called out to the western side of Greene County, as well, because there are only two dive teams in the entire county. The other dive team is part of the Rices Landing Volunteer Fire Department.

Published June 2018 GreeneScene Magazine.