Hamilton County Marine Rescue saving lives

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (WDEF)-Hamilton County Marine Rescue might not be an organization you’ve heard of very often or at all. However, they are some of the people who perform water rescues and dives to rescue people or allow a family who lost a loved one to have closure.

“We deal with a lot of this day in and day out someone not wearing their life jacket. How much it really affects a family. Someone passing away because I didn’t wear the proper PFD,” said Hamilton County Marine Rescue’s Josh Little.

They were at the Chattanooga boat show this weekend as a means to connect with the people they serve, explain what they do, and hopefully save lives with information.

“somebody not just wearing a PFD. Not being prepared for water temperatures. How much that water temperature really affects the body. 3° your body goes into hypothermia,” said Little.

Little loves the water and being in it but he also knows it can be dangerous if the proper safety measures are taken.

“Without the proper gear, we can’t get to a person. You can’t help them. If they’re trapped underwater it’s really important we have dive gear we can’t get under without it,” said Little.

Hamilton County Marine Rescue also walked people like us at News 12 through what equipment their boats have and need to save lives. Such as a wide flatboat that can get easier access to places and a way to easily get in and out of the water with full scuba gear on.

“The dock flips over and probably a foot and a half 2 feet of water. So the divers can deploy and recover back on the direct regardless of the depth of water we’re in. And 100 feet of water, 20 feet of water we’re still fighting at the same depth. That gear is very heavy,” said Little.

Plus uniquely designed and adjustable storage bins to allow for storage.

“It just carries some of our gear that maybe we will need. Rope, spotlights, emergency blankets, anything, there’s a tool kit in there, anything that we may need on a call we have in these boxes,” said Little.

and the ability to be out of the way in case of a life-saving emergency.

“We prefer the center being open So if we have a patient that requires CPR we can lay them on a solid surface and start administering CPR while en route back to shore to save somebody’s life,” said Little.

Little says training is key with hours of scuba safety, practice, and being put in numerous situations where visibility is minimal in the bodies of water in Hamilton county.