Search for lost diver continues
Incident again raises controversy about limits on Fire Department

Thursday, March 30, 2000

By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER


While ferries glided slowly across Elliott Bay yesterday, divers
continued searching off Alki Beach for one of their own.

The divers spent the day in waters as deep as 140 feet looking for a
man who disappeared Tuesday afternoon as he ascended to the surface.

Although the Divers Institute of Technology was unsuccessful in
finding the man's body, the divers were intent on continuing their
search into the night with special equipment.

The incident, meanwhile, has rekindled the controversy over a decision
by the city to take scuba gear away from the Fire Department.

Shelia Strehle, a fire department spokeswoman, said firefighters
arrived four minutes after receiving the 4:30 p.m. Tuesday call for
help, and they were in the water by 4:37 p.m.

However, they were equipped only with snorkels.

Pam McCammon, a police spokeswoman, was unable to provide a time line
for police divers, who arrived some minutes later.

Last month, fire crews equipped with snorkels arrived 19 minutes
before police divers at the scene of a large floating dock that
capsized on the north end of Harbor Island.

That accident pitched two brothers into the cold water. One died.

The rift between the police and fire unions began last summer, when
the Fire Department proposed forming a diving crew to help
firefighters who fell overboard in dock or ship fires.

The police union immediately filed a grievance because it said its
members would lose work. The grievance was suspended when Mayor Paul
Schell decided not to so equip firefighters.

After last month's accident, Schell asked fire and police officials to
look into the matter.

Dick Lilly, the mayor's spokesman, said the city has reached an
agreement with the unions on their issues, but not on matters that
relate to public safety.

Firefighters now can conduct surface rescues with snorkels, but still
don't have the equipment to dive deeply.

Medical experts told the city last summer that most drowning persons
must be pulled from beneath the water within about four minutes to
survive.

"We are still studying better ways to do this and look for anything
that might really improve public safety," Lilly said.

"If we see it is important to make changes it could take some time
because we would have to reach a negotiated agreement with the unions
involved. At this point, we don't know if we will need a change."

Yesterday, authorities said the certified diver in Tuesday's accident
was a man in his 20s.

He was about 100 yards offshore and was ascending from a depth of 130
feet. His partner lost him about half way.

The diver's tanks, carrying air at 3,000 pounds pressure, were
half-full, authorities and witnesses said.

At the scene where the diver disappeared, family and friends of the
missing man paced the dock around the Alki Fish and Crab Cafe
yesterday, looked over the calm water and hugged one another.



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P-I reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or
michaelbarber@seattle-pi.com