TEXARKANA -- The Miller County Emergency Management dive team will be doing a fundamental dive exercise Saturday in Lake Dieffenbacher at Bobby Ferguson Park.
"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," said Office of Emergency Management Director Joe Bennett.
The public can observe the exercise but must stay out of the immediate area so all of the agencies can train.
This exercise will be coordinated with the sheriff's office, Texarkana Police and Fire departments, and other emergency response agencies in Miller County.
It will focus on operational response, communications and coordination among agencies. Several scenarios will be provided to test evidence location and retrieval, and remains recovery, Bennett said.
The dive team is headed by Office of Emergency Management deputy coordinator and Mandeville Fire Chief Travis Loehr, who is 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.
Miller County Office of Emergency Management also hopes to start recruiting volunteers for a search and rescue team soon.
"We're hoping to increase our search and rescue budget for 2022 to include paid training for volunteers interested in being a part of these teams," Bennett said.
Anyone interested in assisting, volunteering or financially supporting the dive team, or search and rescue team can email Bennett at joe.bennett@millercountyar.com or Loehr at travis.loehr@millercountyar.com.
More information is available on Facebook at Miller County Office of Emergency Management or at www.millercountyar.com.