Kent Firefighter Trains Baltimore Dive Team

Kent Fire Capt. Dave Moore returned from Baltimore, MD, after a recent trip to train members of the Baltimore City Fire Department Dive Team.

Moore, who is commander of the Portage County Water Rescue Team, also is a corporate trainer with Colorado-based Dive Rescue International, a firm that provides water rescue training and equipment to public and private bodies around the world.

Moore spent three days in July teaching nine new members of the dive team.

“I was teaching drysuit and full face-mask classes,” Moore said. “These are new divers they’re ramping up for their dive team.”

The classes started with instructional time in a classroom at the Baltimore fire department’s training academy and then progressed to the city pool and finally and open-water course at a quarry lake in Pennsylvania.

Moore has traveled around the country instructing divers for various fire departments, and each time he returns with something new he’s learned—or just a renewed excitement for the job.

“What benefits the city of Kent is, me being a corporate trainer, every time I go out and teach I learn so much,” he said. “It’s two-fold. The city definitely benefits and the county definitely benefits by the experience I bring back and the lessons that I learn.”

As for Baltimore, Moore said he found the firefighters their to be welcoming and dedicated to learning about diving.

“They put the extra effort in to learning their craft, which is the biggest thing for me as a trainer,” he said.