The Miller County Emergency Management Dive Team will be conducting a fundamental dive exercise at Lake Dieffenbacher in Texarkana at Bobby Ferguson Park on Saturday, October 9.

According to a press release, this exercise will coordinate with Miller County Sheriff's Office, Texarkana, AR. Police and Fire and other emergency response agencies in Miller County like the Volunteer Fire Depts. The exercise will focus on operational response, communications, and coordination among agencies. Several scenarios will be provided to test evidence location and retrieval, remains recovery, etc.

OEM Director Joe Bennett said, “This exercise provides an opportunity for the volunteers who comprise a large majority of the Miller County Dive Team, to showcase their abilities and training.”

The Dive Team is headed by OEM Deputy Coordinator and Mandeville Fire Chief, Travis Loehr, also a Master Diver. “The dive team is off to a great start with several members certified. We had the unfortunate duty of retrieving a drowning victim from the Red River last year and have had several requests for divers, so the team was resurrected, trained, equipped, and is now in active service.” Loehr said. Another vision for OEM and Miller County is a Search and Rescue Team in which Bennett and Loehr will start recruiting volunteers for soon.

Mario Garcia
Mario Garcia
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They're hoping to increase their Search and Rescue Budget for 2022 to include paid training for volunteers interested in being a part of these teams. Anyone interested in assisting, volunteering, or financially supporting the Dive or Search and Rescue Team, please email Joe Bennett at joe.bennett@millercountyar.com or Travis Loehr at travis.loehr@millercountyar.com .

The public is invited to observe the exercise but please stay out of the immediate area so all these agencies can train.

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